780 REGULUS—REMIGES 
was a BOWER-BIRD (Gould, Handb. B. Austral. i. pp. 458-461)—a 
fact confirmed shortly after by Mr. E. P. Ramsay (J0is, 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, Meliphaga phrygia, from its black and 
yellow plumage. 
REGULUS, a genus founded in 1800 by Cuvier (Leg. d’ Anat. 
comp. tab. ii.) for the Motacilla regulus of Linnzeus (GOLDCREST), and 
often used as an English word; but it is to be noted that the 
regulus of classical or at least medizeval 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 
serles—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. Wray 
(Proc. Zool. Soc. 1887, pp. 343-357, pls. 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. 
1 ««Tertials,” spoken of by many writers, have no separate existence. 
2 «« Hernetornithes,” Gadow, Thier-Reich, Vogel, ii. p. 86. 
