1886. ] CUBITAL COVERTS OF BIRDS. 189 
above the greater coverts, and often more, show uniform and uninter- 
rupted proximal overlap. This arrangement can be very conveniently 
studied in the Toucans (fig. 64), which are nearly always well 
represented in the Parrot House in the Society’s Gardens. The 
Cuckoos are associated with the Picarian birds in the List; but as 
their wing-pattern differs in some essential respects from that of the 
typical forms, they will be referred to in connection with another 
series. 
The transition from the Picarian type to the Psittacine is gradual ; 
indeed some of the smaller Parrots, especially Melopsittacus, might, 
so far as the wing-pattern is concerned, well stand within the confines 
of the Picarian group. The chief difference in the case of Melo- 
psittacus lies in the further increase in the number of rows of back- 
ward-lapping feathers on the eubital area. Fig. 7 shows this form 
of wing, which can be easily compared with the living form in the 
case of so common a cage-bird. In the type of wing-pattern 
prevailing throughout all, or nearly all, the rest of the Psittacidz, an 
additional modification may be observed. The row of feathers 
coming on next above the Greater Coverts, indicated by the letter 
C in the following diagrams, is seen to consist of a series numbering 
generally five or six, which are confined tothe distal area of the 
cubital region, and form a distinct and separate series from the 
feathers that extend across the median area. They correspond in 
relative position to the Upper Wing-coverts (tectrices superiores) 
in the manual region of the wing; and it might be convenient for 
the present to refer to those extending over the distal area of the 
cubital region under the same term, as is done in the specimens 
Ulustrative of the structure of birds’ wings that Prof. Flower has 
arranged at the Natural-History Museum. The feathers referred 
Fig. 8a. Fig. 7. 
Psitiacus. Melopsittacus. Calopsitta. 
to often form a conspicuous feature on the wing of the living 
bird, as they are frequently arranged in such a manner that the 
shafts of three or more of the feathers are in a line. The proximal 
edges of these feathers are generally as firm as those on the opposite 
side, and, as a consequence, the whole series slides between the 
feathers next them on the proximal side in much the same way as the 
