The Cuhital Coverts of the Euronithce. 327 



tial particulars with that of the Crowned Pigeons, or the 

 GoURiDyE. A reference to the outline (Fig. 16) will serve to 

 make that clear. The Peristeropods section of the Gallinee 

 is that which makes the nearest approach to the Columbae ; 

 while amongst the Pigeons, it is in the GouRiDiE that the 

 group most approximates to the Fowls. It need hardly be 

 pointed out that the evidence afforded by these superficial 

 characteristics is corroborated by a study of other morpho- 

 logical details. 



I do not, of course, seriously propose to include under one 

 Suborder, birds now so diverse in external form and in 

 habits as the Parrots and the Ducks, the Owls and the 

 Herons, the Falcons and the Cormorants ; but their com- 

 munity of structural characteristics, especially of such struc- 

 tural characteristics as in no way influence the welfare of 

 their possessors at this period of the world's history, seems 

 to point to their having had a common Sauropsidan ancestor 

 at no very remote geological period. 



VIII. The Columbine Style. — In studying the wing 

 styles seen throughout the group of Cuckoos, one is led step 

 by step, from a slight modification of the Picarian style, to 

 the style seen in the Ground Cuckoos (Centropodinse). The 

 normal Cuckoos are in this respect intermediate between the 

 Picarian birds and the Pigeons, while the Ground Cuckoos 

 approach the Peristeropods and the Gouridae. In both the 

 CucuLi and the Peristeropod Galling distal overlap char- 

 acterises most of the wing coverts. But both of these groups 

 are mainly quincubital, or possess the fifth cubital remex, 

 and therefore exhibit no " faulting " of the coverts. Were 

 the flight feathers in question absent, and the "faulting" 

 there in consequence, the wing of either of these groups 

 would assume the characters of the Columbae. The Pigeons 

 in this respect, therefore, bear the same relation to the 

 Peristeropods that the Accipitrine birds do to the other or 

 Alectoropod section of the Gallinse. The faulting of the 

 coverts in the case of the Pigeons is singularly well marked, 

 as an examination of the outline drawing of a Pigeon's wing 

 (Fig. 17) will sufficiently show. This, as well as the other 

 outlines, has been drawn from careful measurements, and has 



