1886. ] CUBITAL COVERTS OF BIRDS. 195 
the posterior, 2nd, and 3rd rows of median coverts in the distal 
area, which is nearly always seen in the Galline, the corresponding 
features of the Pigeon show a different and much more complex 
arrangement. In all the birds previously passed under notice 
(except the Birds of Paradise amongst the Passeres, and the Macro- 
chires) the feathers of both the middle and the distal area of the 
median coverts maintain a proximal imbrication from near the carpus 
backwards, various distances according to the zoological position of 
the bird under notice. In all the remaining birds, inclusive of the 
Columbe, the distal area of the median coverts is composed of 
feathers arranged in the opposite direction. It is somewhat difficult 
to reduce the facts to anything like an intelligible description ; but 
a study of the figures may help to make the mode of arrangement 
clear. It will be seen by this that several feathers on the distal 
area of each row overlap from behind forwards, or from the proximal 
towards the distal margin of the wing. The feature referred to can 
be easily studied in the case of Domestic Pigeons ; although the 
general Columbine pattern can, perhaps, best be studied in the case 
of such conspicuously-marked exotic Pigeons as Columba guinea, 
Peristera geoffroii, Leucosarcia picata, and others commonly living 
in the Western Aviary. : 
Pterocles arenarius, now (1885) living in the Western Aviary, 
shows an arrangement of the wing-feathers somewhat like that of the 
Pigeons, especially so far as the proximal and the distal areas of 
Péerocles. 
the cubital region are concerned. But the distal imbrication of all 
the feathers next the manual region is, in the Pterocletes, carried to 
excess. In this respect the Pterocletes stand as far removed from 
the Pigeons as these are from the Gallinee. Inthe stuffed specimens 
of Pterocles alchata in the National Collection this feature is 
remarkably well displayed (see fig. 18). Another point to be 
noticed in these birds is that the posterior row of median coverts show 
distal overlap throughout their entire length—an arrangement of 
