WINGS AND FEET 



I have often observed this with the naked eye, 

 although I hesitate to record this observation 

 for fear that someone who has been reading 

 Munsterberg will say that I merely visualized 

 what the photograph made me expect to see. 

 It is an observation, however, that any one 

 can make whose eyesight is ordinarily good. A 

 bird comes sailing down from a roof, and, as it 

 approaches the ground, the bastard wing 

 becomes distinctly prominent, the whole wings 

 are then flapped rapidly, during which it is 

 impossible to observe them distinctly, and the 

 bird drops to its feet. The natural explanation 

 of this action of the bastard wing is that it is 

 used to check the progress of the bird, to back 

 water so to speak, but the bastard wing is so 

 small that its power in this direction must be 

 extremely slight. One might suggest, therefore, 

 that the present bastard wing is but a vestige 

 of its former self, and dates back to a time 

 when its use was of value, or, to go back still 

 farther in the family tree, one might suppose, 

 perhaps fancifully, that the bird thus puts out 

 its thumb as did its reptilian ancestors to 

 grasp the perch to which it is speeding. 



The Labrador coast is a good place to study 

 189 



