72 Recent, Literature. [£* 



rufoaxillaris, and .1/ badius of southern South America, having been as 

 vet carefully studied in the field. Major Bendire here presents us with 

 an excellent summary of our present knowledge of the subject, consisting 

 of his articles on the North American species, prepared for Part II of his 

 ' Life Histories of North American Birds' (issued as 'advance sheets'), 

 and Mr. W. II. Hudson's articles on the Cowbirds of the Argentine 

 Republic, from Sclater and Hudson's ' Argentine Ornithology.' We thus 

 have in the present paper very detailed accounts of the habits and distri- 

 bution of five species and one subspecies out of the twelve recognized 

 members of this parasitic group. — J. A. A. 



Lucas on the Weapons and Wings of Birds. 1 — As Mr. Lucas says, "a 

 more accurate, if not a better, title for this article would perhaps be 'Some 

 Weapons of Birds' " ; and we venture to add that perhaps the title 'The 

 Wings of Birds as Weapons' would be even more descriptive, since the 

 paper relates almost wholly 1o the use of wings as weapons, and to the 

 spurs and tuberosities with which they are armed. Some birds without 

 spurred wings, as the Pigeons and Swans, are good boxers, but some of 

 the Pigeons are not entirely unarmed, being provided with a horny boss 

 or tubercle at the wrist, which adds effectiveness to their blows. The 

 armature of the Spur-winged Geese, the Spur-winged Plovers, Jacanas, 

 and Screamers is described and figured- Spur-winged birds, although 

 apparently so well equipped for warfare, are, however, so far as known, 

 among the most peaceable and inoffensive of birds ; at least such seems 

 to be the case with the formidably armed Screamers, and with the Jacanas 

 and Plovers. Curiously in the latter, the size of the spurs on the wings 

 is correlated with the development of the wattles at the base of the bill- 

 species with large wattles having large spurs, and conversely. 



Mr. Lucas has also something to say about the claws on birds' wings, 

 and their significance as -reminiscences of well-clawed ancestors," citing 

 in this connection the clawed fingers of the Archceopteryx. Mr. Lucas 

 also devotes a page or two to the Hoactzin {Opistkocomus cristatus), 

 figuring the young birds from spirit specimens in the U. S. National 

 Museum, to show the use made of the wing-claws in climbing. In 

 commenting on this antiquated type of bird life Mr. Lucas observes ; 

 "Not the least of the many interesting features of the Hoactzin is the 

 rapid change which takes place in the fore limb during the growth of the 

 bird by which the hand of the nestling with its well-developed, well- 

 clawed fingers, becomes the clawless wing of the old bird with its abortive 

 outer finger." — J. A. A. 



• 



1 The Weapons and Wings of birds. By Frederic A. Lucas, Curator of the 

 Department of Comparative Anatomy, U. S. National Museum. Reprinted 

 from the Report of theU. S. National Museum for 1893 (1895), pp. 653-663, 

 pi. 1 and 8 cuts in text. 



