348 MR. R. S. WRAY ON THE MORPHOLOGY [Api*- 5> 



Storks, where seven occur. The prerlic/itrils are the only other 

 reini<;es of the manns wliicli show modifications of any interest. In 

 tlic typical condition (cf. Plate XXXI. fia;. «) we have the lar;;e pre- 

 dijjital 2 (a) and the small remicle (/3), witli their dorsal and ventral 

 coverts all intimately attached to the phalanx. Tiiis arrangement is 

 probably generally present in the Pygojiodes, Gaviae, Tubinares, 

 man}' Limicolse, Flerocles, Odontoglossse, Herodiones, Anseres, 

 Pelicans, Siriges, and Accipitres. Among other birds it is probably 

 not genernllv present, but it may be found in many of tiie lower 

 forms of Passeres, and in some Picarise, prcibably never in Galiinae. 



The remicle disappears in these forms, but its dorsal covert 

 remains well develojied, especially well seen in the Galiinae, and its 

 ventral covert may also remain, but often disappears. All trace of 

 tiie •iroup may disappear, as in tlie nine-primaried Pas-erines, where 

 predigital 2 is reduced to a mere rudiment, but can generally be 

 detected ; its covert is always well marked. The so-called pencil- 

 feather of tlie Woodcock is the dorsal covert of the remicle group. 



Tb.e chief, most interesting, and most puzzling modification of the 

 cubital feathers is that in a great many birds the fifth remex is 

 always undeveloped, its coverts being normally developed and present. 

 This occurs probably in all birds except Phcenicopterus, Galiinae, 

 Passeres, and a few Picarise. Up to the present I have never met 

 with a trace of this feather in a vestigial condition. If the Hsures of 

 the preparation of the distal part of the cubitus of the Golden Eagle 

 be compared with those of the Pheasant (see p. 346), the exact nature 

 of this modification is at once apjiarent. In the Pheasant («, a') the 

 fifth remex is present with its coverts, showing all normal relations; 

 in the Golden Eagle {b, b') the coverts are present but no remex. 

 The former condition may be termed quincubital, the latter aquin- 

 cubital. Such is the constancy of one or tlie other condition in each 

 natural group, that I have as yet met with no exceptions anywhere, 

 except among the so-called Picarice, many of which are, and most 

 of which probably will (urn out to be, quincuhital. The Goatsuckers 

 are aquincubital, while the Swifts are quincubital. Pterocles is 

 aquincubital ; Goiira is aquincubital. Of course exceptions may turn 

 up, seeing that of the whole number of birds but a comparatively 

 few have as yet been tested for this point. 



In the Galiinae the first cubital feather is shortened ; this is 

 possibly due to mechanical requirements in the folding of the wing, 

 as the metacarpal remiges are inserted so near the actual joint as to 

 leave but little room. Nitzsch states that sometimes the last feather 

 on the mauus undergoes shortening. I have not met with this 

 condition. 



In the description of the Duck's wing it was pointed out that the 

 upper major covert to tlie first metacarpal remex is very small and 

 rudimentary. When the feathers are all plucked off except the 

 remiges, major and median coverts, the appearance at the wrist- 

 joint is that represented in the figs. 6-9 (Plate XXXII.), where the 

 remiges are red, the major coverts yellow, and the median blue. The 

 diagram above each of the figures shows the real homologies of these 



