Aftershaft of certain Birds. 23 



In the Parrots, according to Nitzsch, the contour-feathers 

 have a large and distinct aftershaft * ; Dr. Rochebrune does 

 not dispute the accuracy of the fact, but makes Nitzsch 

 responsible for having said exactly the reverse : — " Pour 

 Nitzsch une pluirie adventicef large et distincte est pro- 

 bablement moins frequente chez les Perroquets que chez 

 les autres oiseaux/" The quotation is correct, but the 

 omission of a few words at the beginning destroys the true 

 sense of the passage, which in the English translation runs as 

 follows X '• — " Contour -feathers with a large and distinct 

 aftershaft, very sparsely distributed, probably present in 

 smaller comparative number than in any other birds.''' 



Dr. Rochebrune compares the aftershaft in the three 

 genera Poeocephalas, Psittacus, and Palaornis to that of the 

 Accipitrin8eNocturn8e,a comparison which does not hold good. 

 In the feathers of these as of all other Parrots which I have 

 had the opportunity of examining, the aftershaft resembles 

 entirely another smaller feather attached to the base of the 

 stem, and is not at all like that of the Accipitrinae Nocturnse ; 

 in these birds, as already said, there is mei'ely a tuft of barbs 

 occupying the same position, and no doubt corresponding 

 to an aftershaft, but quite different in structure. 



Dr. Rochebrune concludes his remarks upon the aftershaft 

 by recapitulating the chief results to which he has been led, 

 viz. that this structure is not absent in the Accipitrinae 

 Nocturnse, as stated by Nitzsch, but is absent in the Cyp- 

 selidse, where Nitzsch describes its presence. The last 

 conclusion of Dr. Rochebrune has been shown in the 

 present note to be manifestly incorrect ; with regard to the 

 former, the tuft of barbs which represents the shaft in 

 the Accipitrinae Nocturnge is, as Nitzsch has pointed out, 

 quite different from the true aftershaft of the Accipitrinae 

 Diurnse ; to confound them, as Dr. Rochebrune has done, is 

 to render useless a very convenient distinction between the 

 two groups. 



• Op. cU. p. 95. t Op. rif. p. 9f». X Thid. 



