C. J. Sundevall on the Wings of Birds. 403 



in the females and young. Here belong the so-called 

 subulate, or ensiform, or deeply notched, also, in general, 

 sharp-pointed feathers which only occur among the first of 

 them (nos. 1-3 or 4) . In these the vane seems to be obstructed 

 in its growth; but in the females and young such feathers 

 are always broader and less pointed than in the males. 



The longest remiges primores occur in some strong-flying 

 genera, which have already been cited, namely, Sterna, Larus, 

 Glareola, Pterocles, Falco, Cypselus, Trochitus, Caprimulgus , 

 and Hirundo, in which, in general, the folded wing is twice as 

 long as the trunk from the breast to the insertion of the tail. 



It may be mentioned in this connexion that those birds have 

 raodei'ately long hand-feathers in which the folded wing 

 extends ^-^ behind the root of the tail, e. g. Tardus. 



Rudimentary quill-feathers in the whole wing occur only 

 in two known forms : — Aptenodytes (and Alca impennis) 

 among the Swimming-birds, and the Struthious birds (with 

 Apteryx and ? Didus) among the Wading forms ; but in none 

 of the higher orders of birds. 



2. Remiges cubitales, or Pennse cubitales (arm-feathers)"^, 

 are inserted in the fold of skin along the posterior side of the 

 ulna, so that the root-ends always rest against the outer side 

 of that bone. In form they always differ a little from the 

 quill-feathers of the hand, being blunted and more curved, 

 and especially not so thick and stiff, so that they approach 

 more to the form of the ordinary body-feathers ; their shorter 

 quill-tubes also are much less firmly fixed, for which reason 

 they possess a somewhat higher degree of mobility. Most 

 of them are nearly of the same size and structure, so that 

 when the wing is folded the inner ones usually extend gra- 

 dually beyond the outer; but a few of the innermost 2-5 

 (fig. 3, nos. 14-17, and fig. 8, nos. 8, 9) are always gradually 



* They are also called r. secundarice, or minores, or secundi ordinis 

 (wing-featliers of the second order ; " segelpennor," Markl.) ; but these 

 names seem to me far less correct than the one above employed, which 

 indicates their position on the cubitus. The denominations ^^^-jwja^-ii® and 

 seciindm ice, or primi and secundi ordinis, would be much more suitable to 

 designate the different series of wing-feathers. 



