On the Position of the Feet of Birds during Flight. 479 



which I am at present acquainted is Lord Walden's (Trans. 

 Zool. Soc. ix. p. 218, 1875), where he notices a male ob- 

 tained hy Dr. A. B. Meyer in this island. This specimen 

 he afterwards, as Marqnis of Tvveeddale, made the type of a 

 new species, Macropygia eurycerca (P. Z. S. 1878, p. 288). 

 Count Salvador!, however, has examined this type specimen, 

 which is now in the National Collection, and considers it to 

 be an adult male of M. tenuirostris (Cat. Birds Brit. Mus. 

 xxi. (Columbse) pp. 346-7, 1893). 



Gallus ferrugineus (Gm.). 



An adult male. 



Though pretty widely distributed in the Archipelago, this 

 bird has Only lately been recorded for Negros by Messrs. 

 Bourns and Worcester {op. cit. p. 29). 



Mr. Keay tells me that this is a very abundant species 

 in Negros, and that numbers are shot for the table. 



Sterna bergii, Licht. 



An adult in winter plumage. 



This is another species that has only recently been added 

 to the fauna of Negros, through the labours of Messrs. 

 Bourns and Worcester {op. cit. p. 31). 



XXXVIII. — On the Position of the Feet of Birds during 

 Flight. By E. W. H. Holdsworth, F.L.S., F.Z.S. 



Mr. Sclater's observations (referred to at p. 376 in the last 

 number of 'The Ibis') on the manner in which the Gulls 

 and Egyptian Kites carried their feet, as seen by him during 

 his recent trip to the Nile, are specially interesting to me, 

 as for many years the position of the feet of birds during 

 flight has been a subject to which I have given attention. 

 Individual inquiries into such a subject must necessarily be 

 incomplete ; but as, both at home and in Ceylon (1865-1871), 

 I have had many opportunities of making observations, espe- 

 cially on the birds found on the coast and at sea, I will offer 

 a few remarks on the subject in hopes of inducing other 



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