358 NATURAL SCIENCE. Nov., 



Some time since I discovered that in the nestling of the common 

 fowl, out of the ten developing remiges, the growth of the three 

 nearest the tip of the wing was completely arrested, after a certain 

 stage, until comparatively late in life. 



Here was a mystery which seemed lo admit of no interpretation. 

 What could be the meaning of this extraordinary fact ? The key to 

 this riddle was obtained through the kindness of Dr. P. L. Sclater, 

 who recently placed in my hands for investigation a series of nest- 

 lings of Opisthocomus cristatus, a very primitive and altogether 

 remarkable gallinaceous bird. These were acquired, at the instance 

 of Dr. Sclater, out of a grant from the Royal Society by Mr. Quelch, 

 curator of the British Guiana Museum. For a most interesting 

 account of the habits of these birds I must refer m)^ readers to 

 Mr. Quelch's valuable paper in the Ibis for 1890. With one of the 

 many strange facts contained in this essay, however, we are imme- 

 diately concerned, and that is the wonderful powers of climbing, and, 

 stranger still, of swimming, that the nestling seems to be endowed 

 with. 



It would seem that the habits of this bird are arboreal in the 

 strictest sense of the term. The young are, therefore, reared in the 

 trees; but, apparently, instead of remaining in the nest until they are 

 able to fly, they are in the habit, at a very early stage in their life, of 

 climbing out of the nest,^ it may be to gain a better coign of vantage 

 whence to meet the parents returning with food, or to take refuge in 

 more dense foliage to escape an enemy — sometimes the one and 

 sometimes the other cause impels them to leave their home ; in either 

 case it is obvious that the chances of a fall are exceedingly probable. 

 Nov/, as might have been expected, these youngsters are particularly 

 capable of taking care of themselves, possessing not only enormous 

 feet fitted for grasping — like the parents — but they have powerful 

 auxiliaries in the shape of the beak, which is used much as 

 is that of a parrot in climbing, and wings which are armed 

 with large claws on the first and second digits. On turning to 

 Fig. I., PI. III., it will be seen that the general form of the 

 wing renders such a mode of locomotion quite probable, and 

 may therefore be said to entirely corrobate Mr. Quelch's statements. 

 The hand is considerably longer than the forearm, the pollex or 

 thumb extends beyond the level of the tip of the III. digit, and is 

 provided with a large claw; the II. digit, with an equally large 

 claw, is produced beyond the fold of skin running along the 

 posterior border of the wing, which encloses the base of the quills. Of 

 these, it will be noticed, only i — 8 have extended any distance beyond 

 the wing-fold just mentioned, so that a long free finger-tip is left. 

 As the bird grows and the feathers develop, the proximal ones grow 

 faster than the distal, so as not to impede the freedom of the hand in 



- This seems to be always placed over the water, and should the young by any 

 accident fall in they save themselves by swimming ; if pursued, they dive ! ! 



