The Cubital Coverts of the Euornithce. 329 



that the Medians, to the number of six feathers, show 

 proximal overlap, and that the same mode of imbrication can 

 be easily made out for the two rows of Minors, and there are 

 traces of a third. Above these come the marginals, all lap- 

 ping outward, or in the reverse direction to those below. 

 These are the feathers originating on the Patagium, and they 

 can be easily distinguished from the Minors in this example. 

 The fifth cubital remex is absent. Consequently, we find all 

 the coverts more or less faulted ; in this case, as in the fore- 

 going Accipitrine style, they are faulted outwards, instead of 

 inwards as they are in the Pigeons. The Major Coverts show 

 a trace of the dislocation ; but in the group I have termed 

 the Inframedials (which, of course, represent the outer six of 

 the Medials faulted beyond the rest), the break is particularly 

 well marked. It coincides here with a change in the direc- 

 tion of overlap ; the Inframedials lapping distally instead of 

 proximally, as to the remainder. The curious derangement 

 of the feathers all along the line of the break, up to the 

 anterior border of the wing, is remarkably striking in this 

 case. 



The distal overlap of the feathers on the outer side of the 

 line of break characterises the whole of the birds now re- 

 maininoj to be noticed. The chief modifications that follow 

 relate to the proportion of distal overlap to proximal in the 

 case of the Medians and the Minors on the side of the break 

 next the vertebral axis. 



In the GRALL^, the families next mentioned have sub- 

 stantially the same wing style as the Golden Plover : — 

 Otid^, (Edicnemid^, CharadriiDvE, Scolopacid^ (possibly 

 also the CARiAMiDiE and the Palamede^), Geuid^e, and 

 Tantalus. To these I feel disposed to add the ColymbiDvE 

 and the Algid Jii. Near to the Alcid^ the style of the wing 

 coverts observed in many living specimens would lead me to 

 place (1) the Osprey, and (2) the Lcemmergeier. My son has 

 taken considerable trouble in recording the wing style in 

 living examples of these birds ; and the results certainly do 

 not appear to admit of any other conclusion. Possibly a 

 more detailed examination of these admittedly-aberrant 

 birds will reveal some other points of resemblance to the 



