Denudation of the Shaft in the Motmot's Tail. 337 



Tern-like, or Stone-Plover-like characters which it may 

 possess are superficial characters which appear to have been 

 moulded upon it either through the plastic influences of 

 similar environments and similar functional stresses, or in 

 virtue of descent from a common ancestral type. 



From what one has gleaned from an examination of the 

 skull of the nestling Crab-Plover and of the young Tern, we 

 feel drawn to the conclusion that an examination of embryos 

 of these and other allied aberrant forms would point to the 

 fact that all the Laro-Limicolse (Gulls, Terns, Skuas, Pra- 

 tincoles, Sheath-bills, Crab-Plovers, and perhaps Oyster- 

 catchers) sprang from the main Charadriiform stem prior to 

 the division of that stem into its charadriine and scolo- 

 pacine branches. Furthermore, that the scolopacine branch 

 represents the more direct continuation of the ancestral 

 Charadriiform stem and that the true Plovers (Charadriidse) 

 represent a specialised offshoot from this scolopacine con- 

 tinuation or from the true limicoline stem. 



We shall hope in a future paper to make our meaning 

 clearer by means of a diagram, representing the phylogenetic 

 relationships of the whole order Charadriiformes. 



XVI. — The Denudation of the Shaft in the Motmot's Tail. 

 By Hubert D. Astley, M.A., F.Z.S., M.B.O.U. 



The keeping of living birds in captivity will in many cases 

 very much assist collectors of bird-skins and investigators in 

 museums to solve certain moot points ; because the moults 

 can be studied, and not infrequently the nestling plumage 

 made known, when successful breeding comes about in an 

 aviary. Hence it is that aviculture of late years has become 

 a hand- maid to what is understood as scientific ornithology — 

 an extra horse to go as a tandem and accelerate the pace. 



And aviculture not only helps with regard to the study 

 of the birds, but also in respect to their nidification, habits, 

 and eggs, for the latter may be laid in captivity when they 

 have never been found in the wild state, and, furthermore, 



SER. X. VOL. IV. z 



