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



exception for some of the hinder ones to have a greater 

 absolute length than the anterior {e.g. in the Alaudiuse, 

 Tringarise) . It belongs to systematic ornithology to ascertain 

 this. If we wish to have an exact determination of their 

 length, the unequal forward extension of the cubitus just 

 mentioned must be taken into consideration. The best mode 

 of comparison is to state the length of the body, and the 

 distance from the carpus to the tip of the first arm-feather. 



The cubital feathers are shortest in the Water-birds and 

 Waders, especially in those which have the first wing- 

 feather the longest. Leaving out of consideration Aptenodytes 

 and Alca impennis, in which all the quill-feathers are rudi- 

 mentary, the foremost arm-feathers extend only half the 

 length of the trunk in the Pygopodes generally, although 

 the cubitus terminates anteriorly behind the shoulder. In 

 Diomedea they do not reach to ^ ; in the Anates (with Anser 

 and Cygnus) to about | ; in Carbo to | ; in Procellaria 

 glacialis about to | . In Sterna, on the other hand, they reach 

 nearly to the end of the body, and in Lants a little beyond it. 



In the Waders it is a usual character for the anterior 

 arm-feathers to reach to about |-f of the body, as in the 

 Tringarise, CharadriuBe, and Rallinse, But in the large- 

 winged forms, Vanellus, Ciconia, Grus, they reach about to 

 the root of the tail, and in Ardea somewhat beyond it. 



The Gallinse show the peculiarity that the fii'st feather is 

 very short, only |-| of the following one. The latter 

 reaches to |-f of the trunk, and this apj)lies also to the 

 male of Pave, which has the last arm-feathers so remarkably 

 elongated. (Of Argus I have no sufficiently perfect speci- 

 men to examine.) 



In all Raptorial birds the first arm-feather extends con- 

 siderably beyond the root of the tail, except in Falco, in 

 which it about reaches to that point. The arm-feathers 

 are longest in the Owls, in which the anterior ones reach 

 nearly twice the length of the body (e. g. Strix lapponica 

 1|, S. liturata 1|, 8. otus li^. Bubo If). In Eagles 'and 

 Vultures they are usually about 1^. 



In the Coccyges the first arm-feather is often about even 



