NOTES ON THE CUBITAL COVERTS IN THE BIRDS OF PARADISE 



AND BOWER BIRDS. 



BY 



Leonhard Stejneger. 



In a very interesting paper recently published * Mr. Goodcliild makes 

 out that there is an essential difference in the arrangement of the 

 cubital coverts of the Paradimrida' as compared with the rest of the 

 Paii.seres, and classes the wings of the former, so far as this feature is 

 concerned, under the heading of " the Cypseline Style," that is, the 

 arrangement as found in Ihunmingbirds and Swifts, Cypseliformes, 

 consisting in the absence of median coverts. 



Here is what he says in relation to the subject (p. 322) : 



In the I'aradisidft' every individual I have exaniiiied showed the whole of the 

 feathers above the major coverts lyin<; with distal overlaj), aud with, generally, much 

 the same arraugement as in the Cyptseliformes. The uuuiber of rows, however, is 

 considerably increased in the group under notice. 



And a little further on : 



These I the Passeres] generally possess, in addition to the marginals seen in the 

 Ciipselifonnes, one row of minor coverts, with distal overlap, see tigure of Skylark 

 (Fig. 4), aud one row of medians, whoso overlap is generally proximal throughout 

 nearly the whole of this large group. The Corvidw (see Fig. 5) differ slightly from 

 the normal type, iuasmuch as a few of their anterior medians overlap distal ly. In 

 this respect they make an approach, superficially, to the Paradi8id<r, as they arc 

 commonly believed to do in some other respects. 



Before proceeding farther I will state that an examination of a num- 

 ber of species of Pa mdiscvina' iu the U. S. National Museum has led to 

 an entirely different result, inasmuch as I find at least three of the 

 middle median coverts to have proximal overlap, consequently to be 

 normally passerine and not cypseliform. In most species it is extremely 

 difficult to make out the correct position of these feathers (at least in 

 museum skins) inasmuch as their webs have but little cohesion and 

 consequently they become easily disarranged. In a few, however, in 

 which the margins of the feathers are differently colored, or of a me- 

 tallic gloss, the true arrangement may be very plainly seen. Take, for 

 instance, a full grown male of iSehleoclia icilsoni (U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 

 113848), and it needs but a glance to convince us that of the series 

 overlaying the greater coverts, viz, the medians, three of the anterior 



* The Cnbital Coverts of the Euornithn? in Relation to Taxonomy. <] Proc. Roy. 



Phys. Soc, Edinburgh, x. pt. ii (session 1830-'90\ pp. :U7-333 + pi. xv. 



499 

 Proceedings of tUc National Museuiu, Vol. XIV— Ifo. 875. 



