180 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Socvety. 
the Guillemots to Colymbus I can only guess at; but the 
range of variety of wing style amongst the “ Divers” suggests 
that they have arisen from several different stocks, of one 
of which the Plovers may be regarded as the modern repre- 
sentatives. 
Some of the birds usually included in the Accipitres 
belong elsewhere, if their wing style affords any trustworthy 
indication of their affinities. The groups referred to are 
the Catharte, whose wings have the same style as those 
of Leptoptilus; Gypactus, which may be a Palearctic repre- 
sentative of the Catharte; Serpentarius, which, again, 
resembles the Storks in this respect; the Pandiones, whose 
wing style is peculiar to itself, but comes nearest to some 
of the Divers; and lastly, the Honey Buzzards (Pernide), 
whose wing style would place them not far from the Storks. 
In all the birds just noticed, the first six Medians and 
their respective Minors overlap proximally, and the same 
mode of imbrication characterises a variable number of these 
covert feathers beyond the sixth. In all the birds remaining 
to be noticed the 5th c.r. is wanting, the coverts are faulted, 
and at least the first five Medians have a distal overlap. 
In the majority of the birds only three or four of the 
Medians, usually numbers 6, 7, and 8, are the only 
feathers belonging to this series that show proximal overlap. 
Usually the first eight or ten of the Minors overlap 
proximally, in some birds more than that number. As there 
is no new feature of special importance connected with 
these, they will be passed over with only a brief notice. As 
a central form, around which all the members of the group 
under notice may be placed, is Charadrius, well represented 
by the Golden Plover, whose wing is shown in fig. 18, pl. xv., 
vol. x., Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. Near this 
stand the Cranes, Bustards, and Sandgrouse. The wing style 
of the last-named bird finds its nearest representative in the 
Plovers; it is certainly quite unlike the wing of any Galline 
bird. Near the Plovers also comes Gowra, whose wing 
figured No. 16 (loc. cit.), oceupies an intermediate position 
between the Peristeropod Gallinz and the Pluvialine birds. 
Next comes the normal Columbe (fig. 17). With these 
