ORNITHOLOGICAL CLUB. 63 



tion, go for very little. One of the two little feathers of 9-primaried" 

 birds, as we have seen, certainly corresponds to the spurious or fully 

 developed fh*st primary of 10-primaried ; why may not the other be 

 also a primary 1 ? It is not conclusive argument to the contrary 

 that the feather in question is never fully developed ; nor is it an 

 insuperable objection that the function of the feather is certainly 

 that of a covert. The strongest argument against the view here 

 very guardedly discussed is, that if the feather be not a covert, 

 then the first fully developed primary has none, while the rest 

 have one apiece. While I am far from committing myself to the 

 implied proposition that an oscine bird possesses eleven primaries, 

 I think it proper to bring the case forward as one which will bear 

 looking into, and which will probably remain open until the exact 

 relations between a remex and a tectrix are ascertained. Should it 

 be determined that an Oscine may show traces of two suppressed pri- 

 maries, instead of only the single one which certainly persists in 

 10-primaried birds, the fact would tend to increase the value already 

 justly set upon number of remiges as a taxonomic factor. It is 

 generally admitted, and it seems to be unquestionable, that hei'e, as 

 in numberless other cases, reduction in number and specialization 

 in function of parts indicates a higher grade of organization ; for 

 only the lower birds show the higher aggregate number of remiges, 

 and in none but the higher are the developed primaries ever reduced 

 to nine. A gradual reduction in the number of remiges seems to 

 be directly correlated with that progressive consolidation or com- 

 paction of the distal osseous segments of the fore limb which reaches 

 its climax in the wing of the most highly organized birds of the 

 present epoch. 



THE YELLOW-BELLIED WOODPECKER (SPHYRAPICUS 

 VARIUS). 



BY WILLIAM BREWSTER. 



The Mexicans call the Woodpeckers " Carpenteros," and most ap- 

 propriately, for the chisel-shaped bill not only serves the bird in 

 procuring its daily food, but is also the sole agent employed in 

 digging the wonderful cavities in which the eggs are laid and the 

 young reared. It is probable that, putting aside the universal ene- 



