INTRODUCTION 



Having doav fulfilled a most agreeable task, I submit 

 Llr. Degen's paper to my brother ornithologists as a most 

 suggestive and helpful contribution to a by no means un- 

 important subject. That the two apparently insignificant ' 

 feathers stovred away in the carpal region of the bird^s wing 

 should really be missing links of no small value, is a fact which 

 I feel sure time will prove, and Mr. D.egen is to be congratu- ^ 

 lated on having been the first to chronicle their existence. 



Mingled with the unfeigned pleasure which the task of 

 editing has afforded me, there runs a strain of melancholy 

 in the reflection that, but for an over-anxious fear lest I 

 should be publishing a matter of trivial interest, I myself 

 should have mentioned the existence of these feathers some 

 months before ]\Ir. Degen's paper was read ; and the author 

 has kindly given me credit for this discovery (p. x^*iii). The 

 loss, however, is mine, and ornithological science is the 

 gainer, for Mr. Degen has not only graphically described 

 the topography of the carpal region in general, and these 

 feathers in particular,, but he has most skilfully marshalled 

 an array of useful facts, out of which he has contrived 

 to construct for us an ideal Archasornithic wing, which 

 cannot fail to command attention from all who are seriously 

 interested in this subject. I must beg to be allowed here, 

 however, to say that, for my own part, I do not altogether 



