nOTES 



WOOD-PIGEON DIPHTHERIA. 



It is very evident from the schedules and communications 

 already sent in to the Editors of British Birds that the 

 Wood-pigeon diphtheria has this season in many places been 

 very prevalent and fatal, and although good help from the 

 readers of British Birds has been forthcoming many more 

 records are desirable to make the enquir}^ as complete as 

 possible. The disease seems to be in some instances curiously 

 local in distribution, and therefore it must be remembered 

 that only by means of the observations of many can the 

 distribution of the disease be \\orked out, and that negative 

 evidence may be as useful as positive. 



It is hoped that every reader of this magazine \\ill send 

 in schedules by the date mentioned therein, whether they 

 have found pigeons suffering from disease or not. Those 

 who have not schedules will be gladly supplied witli them by 

 the Editors on application. 



Very few records have been sent in relating to the wing- 

 feather disease ; this may be possibly due to the time of 

 the year. 



The whole subject will be dealt with fully in a later number, 

 and the result of the encpiiry made kno\\"n. 



C. B. Ticehurst. 



THE DOWN-STROKE OF THE WING. 



In Mr. Headley's note on p. 262 it is stated that the down- 

 stroke of the wing of the bird shown in Fig. 1 (in which the 

 first primary of one \\ing is shown with a distinct upward 

 curve) is "still in full force." In Fig. 2 it is stated that 

 " the down-stroke is almost finished, and the feathers have 

 lost their upward curve." A glance at the two figures will 

 show that the stroke in Fig. 1 is at a much lower point than 

 in Figure 2. Possibly Fig. 2 represents an earlier stage 

 of the down-stroke, or else the upward movement after the 

 down-stroke is finished. 



F. C. R. JOURDAIN. 



[I had mj^self considered the question A\liether Fig. 2 

 did not represent the beginning of the up-stroke, but the fact 

 that the flight feathers are still bent upward, though only 

 very slightly, made me give up the idea. I have now" 



