" AQUmTOCITBITALISM " IK THE BIED's WING. 



239 



now becomes raore or less distinctly divided into two portions, 



thus : — • . . . ; at the same time, it is noticeable that 



this shifting of tbe outer remiges backwards n2ay also be 

 accompanied by an ontward movement towards the tip of the 

 wing. Sometimes all four remiges participate iu this outer 

 movement, sometimes only the 1st or 1st and 2nd become 

 notably disturbed. 



Tbe movement of the remiges is in all cases accompanied by a 

 corresponding movement on the part of the coverts associated 

 therewith, from the post- to the pre-axial border. The result, 

 when the wing is viewed as a whole, seems to show that a process 

 of " faulting " has taken place, the major, median, and one or 

 more rows of minor coverts from 1 to 5 in each row having 

 slipped backwards so as to break the connection with their 

 several rows prosimad of this point ; each row — or, more correctly, 

 the first 3 or 4 rows — now runs, not in a continuous line with 

 that of its series, but between this and that immediately behind 

 it (fig. 1,^). The disturbed rows, how^ever, seem to readjust 



Fig. 1. 



a 



l-C 



(med.cj 

 ma/.c 



^ ^' ••S' c.v 



mi. cfinc. rctifj 



S 6 7 6 '^"N fee^-^ •^-' ■^'' %#' remtqes 



4- S ^ 1 ■ 



Shifting of wing-covei'ts and remiges. a, before ; b, after. 



themselves very quickly so as once more to form continuous 

 lines with the more proximal feathers ; as, in the typical 

 diastataxic wing, it will be found that, not counting the 

 remiges, uniformity is regained at the 4th row, or rather a 

 semblance of uniformity, inasmuch as this row is really made up 

 of two rows. This is shown in the diagram (fig. 1, h). Here the 

 3rd row of these downwardly shifted coverts appears as an inter- 

 calary row, the 4th row becoming continuous with that of the 



