﻿Ornithologists'' 
  Club. 
  115 
  

  

  British 
  Ornithologists' 
  Club, 
  and 
  distributed 
  gratis 
  to 
  every 
  

   Member. 
  Copies 
  of 
  tliis 
  monthly 
  ' 
  Bulletin 
  ' 
  will 
  be 
  published 
  

   by 
  Mr. 
  R. 
  H. 
  Porter, 
  18 
  Princes 
  Street, 
  Cavendish 
  Square, 
  W. 
  

  

  Dr. 
  II. 
  BowDLER 
  Sharpe 
  was 
  appointed 
  Editor 
  of 
  the 
  

   ' 
  Bulletin.' 
  

  

  Mr. 
  Ed'ward 
  Degen 
  read 
  a 
  ])aper 
  " 
  On 
  some 
  o£ 
  the 
  main 
  

   Features 
  in 
  the 
  Evolution 
  of 
  the 
  Bird's 
  Wing/' 
  which 
  was 
  

   illustrated 
  by 
  diagrams 
  and 
  specimens. 
  After 
  having 
  briefly 
  

   summarized 
  the 
  pterylography 
  of 
  the 
  wing, 
  Mr. 
  Degen 
  in- 
  

   vited 
  attention 
  to 
  two 
  small 
  feathers 
  in 
  the 
  carpal 
  region, 
  

   lying 
  between 
  the 
  cubital 
  and 
  metacarpal 
  remiges. 
  These 
  

   had 
  been 
  considered 
  by 
  Wray 
  to 
  belong, 
  the 
  upper 
  to 
  

   the 
  median, 
  and 
  the 
  under 
  to 
  the 
  major 
  row 
  of 
  coverts. 
  

   But 
  Mr. 
  Degen 
  had 
  come 
  to 
  the 
  conclusion 
  that 
  the 
  so-called 
  

   major 
  covert 
  Avas 
  really 
  a 
  degenerated 
  remex, 
  whilst 
  the 
  

   ''median" 
  tectrix 
  was 
  neither 
  more 
  nor 
  less 
  than 
  its 
  major 
  

   covert. 
  In 
  short, 
  Wray's 
  '' 
  rudimentary 
  " 
  major 
  covert 
  

   belonged 
  to 
  the 
  remiges, 
  and 
  his 
  " 
  median 
  " 
  to 
  the 
  tectrices 
  

   majores. 
  Mr. 
  Degen 
  proposed 
  to 
  call 
  the 
  covert 
  the 
  "carpal 
  

   covert," 
  and 
  the 
  underlying 
  feather 
  the 
  '' 
  vestigial 
  remex." 
  

   He 
  further 
  pointed 
  out 
  that 
  hitherto 
  the 
  major 
  coverts 
  had 
  

   been 
  held 
  to 
  lie 
  proximally 
  to 
  their 
  respective 
  remiges, 
  whilst 
  

   in 
  reality 
  the 
  reverse 
  was 
  the 
  case. 
  

  

  Finally, 
  and 
  as 
  the 
  result 
  of 
  the 
  foregoing 
  deductions, 
  

   Mr. 
  Degen 
  advanced 
  a 
  theory 
  with 
  regard 
  to 
  aquincubitalisra 
  

   and 
  the 
  probable 
  derivation 
  of 
  the 
  cubital 
  remiges 
  from 
  the 
  

   3rd 
  and 
  ^th 
  metacarpo-digitals. 
  

  

  A 
  discussion 
  followed, 
  in 
  which 
  Messrs. 
  Sclater, 
  Seebohm, 
  

   and 
  Pycraft 
  took 
  part. 
  

  

  No. 
  II. 
  (Nov. 
  1st, 
  1892.) 
  

  

  The 
  first 
  regular 
  meeting 
  of 
  the 
  Club 
  was 
  held 
  at 
  the 
  Mona 
  

   Hotel, 
  Henrietta 
  Street, 
  Covent 
  Garden, 
  on 
  Wednesday, 
  

   October 
  19th, 
  1892. 
  

  

  i2 
  

  

  