78o REGULUS—REMIGES 



was a Bower-bird (Gould, Handh. B. Austral, i. pp. 458-461) — a 

 fact confirmed shortly after by Mr. E. P. Ramsay {Ibis, 1867, p. 456) 

 who had really observed it earlier. The "bower" of this bird, 

 however, does not seem to be so elaborate as are the structures 

 raised by its allies, but it is applied to exactly the same uses, and 

 has nothing whatever to do with the nest, which is built in a tree. 

 The name " Mock Regent-bird " is said to be given to one of the 

 Australian Honey-suckers, Melijphaga phrygia, from its black and 

 yellow plumage. 



REGULUS, a genus founded in 1800 by Cuvier (ief. d'Anai. 

 comp. tab. ii.) for the Motacilla regulus of Linnaeus (Goldcrest), and 

 often used as an English word ; but it is to be noted that the 

 regulus of classical or at least mediseval writers was the Wren. 



REMIGES, the principal feathers of the wing by which the 

 bird is sustained and rowed forward in Flight, consisting of two 

 series — primaries or "manuals," and cubitals commonly called 

 " secondaries," according as they are borne by the bones of the 

 manus or the ulna.^ If the method of enumeration before recom- 

 mended (pp. 118, 741) be adopted, as long ago suggested by Forbes 

 {Proc. Zool. Soc. 1879, p. 256, note 2), but as yet followed only by a 

 few scientific writers, vague and often contradictory expressions are 

 obviated. The taxonomic value of Remiges is not to be despised, 

 being as good as that of many internal characters ; but it is curious 

 that their least important features are made most of by ordinary 

 ornithological writers, while the really useful information they give 

 is persistently ignored. The phylogenetic development of the 

 Remiges furnishes an interesting problem. The late Mr. Wra}' 

 (Proc. Zool. Soc. 1887, pp. 343-357, pis. xxix.-xxxii.) discovered that 

 in the embryo the first traces of wing-feathers appear on the dorsal 

 surface in successive rows, of which the last but one or last but 

 two grows more rapidly than the rest, and in conjunction with the 

 growing tendinous fascia at the posterior margin of the wing, the 

 stronger series develops into the Remiges, while the weaker becomes 

 the " reversed " tectrices. 



The earliest Reptilian Birds ^ most likely possessed a somewhat 

 uniform covering of feathers on their fore limbs, those of the lower 

 surface being softer and more downy, those of the upper firmer and 

 smoother, while the first that grew out strong and large were those 

 on the upper hind margin of the forearm, with the effect of 

 protecting the sides of the body and possibly of occasionally serving 

 as a parachute, these advantages being preserved and increased by 



since adopted by G. R. Gray and Prof. Cabanis may be grammatically more 

 correct if the word, not a common one, really signifies honey-coloured. 



■* "Tertials," spoken of by many writers, have no separate existence. 



^ " Rerpetornithes," Gadow, Thier-Reich, Vogel, ii. p. 86. 



