124 Prof. W. K. Parker on the presence of Claws 



I had expected. T had heard of Woodpeckers^ Nuthatches, 

 and Crossbills, but I saw nothing of them, and the only birds 

 characteristic of the region were Certhia familiaris and the 

 Parus before mentined, both of which are tolerably abundant. 

 The other birds I noticed on the summit were some species 

 of Eagle (possibly Aquila lieUaca) ,Gyps fulvus, Athene noctua, 

 the Hoopoe, Jay, Dipper, Partridge, Nightingale, Hypolais 

 elaica and Sylvia hortensis, Saxicola morio and Emberiza 

 casia, the two Shrikes, Lanius nubicus and L. collurio, and 

 the Linnet, Chaffinch, and Raven. The last-named bird is very 

 numerous and may be seen every afternoon flocking to the 

 slaughter-house. It is worthy of note that the Grey Crow 

 does not seem to come above Platraes. 



With Troodos my work in Cyprus practically ceased. I 

 returned to Nikosia, June 20th, after an absence of three 

 months and a half, and found the Jubilee rejoicings at their 

 height. I got together my collections and went down to 

 Larnaka, only to find a similar series of fetes just commencing. 

 On the last day of June the mail-steamer came in, and getting 

 my luggage on board I bade adieu to the island and to some 

 of the many kind friends who had done their best to assist 

 me in my wanderings on it. 



— IX. — On the jJresence of Claivs in the Wings of the Ratita. 

 By W. K. Parker, F.R.S. 



It has long been known that the Ostrich [Slruthio) and the 

 Nandu {Rhea) have a horny unguis — a nail or claw on their 

 first and second wing-digits, those which correspond to our 

 thumb and index-finger. 



But in a paper sent by me to the Royal Society on the 

 13th of January, 1887 (only, as yet, published in abstract), 

 I gave an account of the discovery of a small claw on the 

 imperfect third digit of the wing in both the Rhea and the 

 Ostrich — in the latter in a half-grown specimen, and in the 



