Ornith. [L. furcula, dim. of furca fork.] A forked bone below the neck of a bird, consisting of the two clavicles and an interclavicle; the merry-thought or wish-bone.

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1859.  Darwin, Orig. Spec., i. (1878), 16. The size and shape of the apertures in the sternum are highly variable; so is the degree of divergence and relative size of the two arms of the furcula. Ibid. (1868), Anim. & Pl., I. v. 175. The sternum, scapulæ, and furcula are all reduced in proportional length.

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