1898.] F. ¥mu— The Feet of Birds in Flight 105 



studied, much remains to be done in the observation of living birds, 

 even wlien these belong to quite common and well-known species. 

 This consideration serves me for an excuse for introducing a few notes 

 which I have been led to make on certain points in the economy of 

 birds which appear to me to have been insufficiently studied, and to 

 have, possibly, some bearing on the difficult problem of avian classifica- 

 tion. Students of other groups of animals — I may instance Bats and 

 Butterflies — avail themselves of peculiarities of attitude, etc., in their 

 subjects for taxonomical purposes, and with regard to Birds I see no 

 reason why such peculiarities as those to which I draw attention below 

 should not be taken into consideration by systematic ornithologists 

 equally with nidificatory, distributional, and dietetic variations. 



On the position op the feet in flight among •' Picarian " Birds 



AND Parrots. 



I will first notice a point which has lately attracted considerable 

 attention among ornithologists — the position of the feet in certain groups 

 of birds when the members of these are on the wing. It may be taken, 

 I think, as fairly settled that Waders and Waterfowl, Game-birds, 

 Pigeons, and Birds-of-Prey, carry their feet behind when in full flight, 

 irrespective of the length of those members. But with regard to the mostly 

 short-legged Ficarise and the Parrots I am not aware that any observa- 

 tions have been made, and I have therefore taken particular notice of 

 these birds, with the following results : — 



To take the Parrots first. I long watched the common Indian 

 Parrakeets (chiefly Falaeornis torquatus) when at large, in order to 

 discover where their legs were placed when the birds were on the wing ; 

 but owing to the swiftness of their flight, and the fact that the feet are 

 ordinarily concealed beneath the feathers of a flying bird, I was un- 

 successful, till one day a Falaeornis torquatus got into the Bird Gallery 

 of the Museum, and flying to and fro overhead, gave me an excellent 

 opportunity of observing that its feet were carried behind. As the 

 gallery is a very large one, and the bird took long flights, I have no 

 doubt but that this is the normal position for the species, and very 

 probably for Parrots in general. 



Among the so-called *' Ficarise,^' using the term in its widest sense, 

 I have noted the carriage of the feet in flying Hoopoes, Kingfishers, 

 Rollers, Hornbills, Barbels, Woodpeckers, and Cuckoos, and will now 



castor (not distinguished from the present species by Hume, who calls both Mergus 

 merganser op. cit.), which I saw last year in the London Zoological Gardens con- 

 stantly walked about quite freely, as did some Stnews {Mergus alhellus) observed at 

 the same time and place. 



