Folia Historico-Naturalia Musei Matraensis - A Mátra Múzeum Természetrajzi Közleményei 21. (1996)

Clavicula - the shape and size of the omal end of the bone, the width of scapus claviculae, the shape of apophysis furculae. Coracoideum - the shape and size of the omal end of the bone, the presence or absence of processus lateralis. Scapula - the size of caput scapulae, the shape of margo dorsalis at the caudal end of the bone. Humerus - the size of crista pectoralis, the width and bend of the corpus, the size of tuberculum supracondylare dorsale. Radius - the sizes and separation of tuberculum aponeurosis and tuberculum ulnare. Ulna - the bend of the longitudinal axis, the widening of the corpus in proximal direction, the size of the olecranon. Carpometacarpus - the shape of os metacarpale minus, the size of faciès articularis digitalis minor. Sternum - the size of the sternum, the size and shape of carina sterni, the shape of spina externa and the size of spina interna. Pelvis - the elongation of the pelvis, the ratio of the diameter of foramen acetabuli and the distance between the acetabula, the shape of margo ischiocaudalis and ala ischii. Femur - the bend of corpus femoris and its widening towards the ends of the bone, the shape of the crista trochanteris and cristas of trochlea patellaris. Tibiotarsus - the position of crista patellaris and crista interna compared to each other, the size and shape of the condyli. Tarsometatarsus - the size of the ends of the bone, the shape of crista medialis hypotarsi, the relative position of the trochleae. Phalanges digitorum pedis - the thickness of the phalanges, the shape of the proximal end of the bone, (the size of the tubercula), the presence or absence of cristae plantares, the shape and size of the trochlea, the size of tuberculum intercondylaris dorsalis. In the talons the ratio of height and width of the proximal end of the bone, the size and shape of tuberculum extensorium. 3. The high number of measurements (3-10) taken on the bones fills a gap in the literature. As a consequence of the high number of bones measured the statistical evaluation of the data is also possible. The calculated ratios are extremely important in the identification of the species, as these ratios are more characteristic than the absolute sizes. This is particularly important in the case of the fossil material, where we have to take into account the today extinct species and subspecies (e.g. Falco tinnunculus atavus JANOSSY, 1972), too. The different lengths of the bones of the studied species refer to the difference in their stature. We can conclude that the bones of the wing of the Merlin compared to the other species is very short, and that of the Eleonora's Falcon, Lesser Kestrel and Red-footed Falcon is relatively long. In the case of the leg the longest bones are found in the Kestrel and Merlin, the shortest in the Red-footed Falcon, Hobby and Eleonora's Falcon. More calculations can be carried out on the percentage ratios of the certain elements of the bones of the trunk, wing and leg compared to the total length of these parts of the body. These ratio percentages can be applied to functional conclusions. I could not deal with these questions in this work due to length requirements, and these will be treated in a later work. I showed quantitatively the extent of sexual dimorphism of the species with the grouping of data into sex categories within the species. This is greater in the Hobby, Merlin and Eleonora's Falcon to such a degree, that the sex of the specimen usually can be identified from the sizes of the bones. These is not so in the case of the Kestrels, where the sexual dimorphism is much smaller. 68