94 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
in the legs than is seen in the 6000 specimens of true 
Passeres. 
Moreover, as Mr. Lucas in the paper above referred to 
has shown, the wing is extremely variable; in some it is as mar- 
vellously modified as in the Humming-bird, in others it comes 
much nearer to that of the true Swallows, Hirundinide. 
I had just noticed this in fact the day before I received 
Mr. Lucas’s welcome paper in the ‘ Auk.’ 
I will now give the measurements of the three main regions 
of the wing in two of the largest of the Cypselide :— 
Humerus. Ulna. Manus. 
Macropteryx mystacea . 24 mm. 29 mm. 47 mm. 
Chetura caudacuta : 17 mm. 24 mm. 57 mm. 
I leave these facts to tell their own tale, and proceed to one or 
two more statements. As in all the Passerines, the Swifts and 
Humming-birds have no second phalanx on the “ pollex,” nor a 
third on the “index ;” notwithstanding that these are present in 
the Goatsucker (Caprimulgus europeus), the type, certainly, which 
has the greatest right, next to the Swallow, to be accounted a 
relative of the Swift. 
I have noticed with interest a remark by Prof. Newton, in his 
valuable article “ Ornithology” in the ninth edition of the 
‘Encyclopedia Britannica.’ Speaking of the ‘‘ Oscines” (p. 47), 
he says, “ This last and highest group of birds is one which, as 
before hinted, it is very hard to sub-divide. Some two or three 
natural, because well-differentiated, families are to be found in 
it; such, for instance, as the Hirundinide, or Swallows, which 
have no near relations.” 
That passage pleases me so much, that for the sake of it 
I forgive my friend the author for his downright heresy, expressed 
in the same paper, as to the non-raptorial nature of the Owls. I 
hope as to this that he will be spared to recant. 
Bearing on the lonely position of the Swallows in their own 
proper Order, I have just discovered a most remarkable fact, 
albeit “‘an unconsidered trifle.’ Amongst all Passeres and related 
types, a Swallow is the only bird in which I have found a second 
or ungual phalanx to the pollex; and only one of the many of 
the Hirundinide examined by me, with reference to this point, 
shows it ; this isthe Sand Martin or Bank Swallow (Cotyle riparia) ; 
