1886.J 



CUBITAL COVERTS OF BIRDS. 



191 



The remarks made in connectioa with the Pelicans apply also to 

 the Odontoglossae. 



Passing over the Palamedeae for the present, the last group whose 

 style of cubital coverts brings ihem under notice here is the Anseres. 

 Here, again, we have a group with nearly uniform pterographic 



Fig. 10. 



11. 



■uin^\ 



u 



Wyctieorax. 



Querguedida. 



characters; these, as will be seen by reference to figure 11, repre- 

 senting Querquedula crecea, so closely follow the style seen in the 

 Accipitres and the others mentioned as possessing the accessory row 

 of median coverts, or upper wing-coverts (C), that it is difficult to 

 point to any one character that would serve to distinguish them. 



It will be noticed that the birds characterized by possessing more 

 than two rows of median cubital coverts with proximal overlap, 

 together witli a single supplementary row of upper wing-coverts also 

 with proximal overlap, are further characterized by the Desmo- 

 gnathous palate, are Homalogonate, and possess in addition several 

 other deep-seated points of structure is common. 



Fig. 12. 





Near to the Accipitrine birds, and perhaps leading away from 

 them somewhere near the Polyborine birds, a kind of transition may 

 be traced in the direction of the Gallinse. In the case of Meleagris 

 (fig. 12) proximal overlap characterizes nearly all the median cubital 

 coverts, as in the Accipitrines, and in this respect these birds stand 



