Vol. x.] xlvi 



Mr. Wigles worth was experimenting with some other instru- 

 ments likely to be of use in measuring animals. 



Mr. Hartert also read some notes by Mr. L. Wiglesworth 

 (who was not able to be present) about the question " How 

 a Bird-skin should be measured ? '- Mr. Wiglesworth's 

 remarks were as follows : — 



" The identification or distinction of species and sub-species 

 of birds is often rendered a matter of doubt and uncertainty 

 owing to our ignorance of the manner in which our brother 

 ornithologists apply the tape and rule. I myself, when 

 actively engaged at Dresden, felt this want of knowledge 

 hundreds of times. I have measured many specimens, which 

 had previously been measured by careful ornithologists, 

 and obtained different results ; and I have been led into 

 error on some occasions and have observed that men very 

 prominent in our science have sometimes also made mistakes 

 for similar reasons. To give an instance : authors some- 

 times compare Schlegel's wing-measurements with their own. 

 It is not generally known that Schlegel employed the old 

 French inch (= about 1*18 English inch), and that he 

 measured (as Dr. Biittikofer once told me) across the arc of 

 the wing, with a pair of callipers or compasses, and not over 

 the wing, as some other ornithologists do. There are, of 

 course, many kinds of inches besides the English ; in 

 Whitaker's Almanack about twenty will be found, though, 

 for scientific purposes, they have now, I believe, all succumbed 

 to the insidious millimetre, except the hardy native of these 

 islands. But it matters not very much how the rule is 

 graduated, so long as we all apply it in a similar manner. 



" The principal parts measured are the wing, tail, bill, and 

 tarsus. 



" The text-books tell us that the wing is measured from 

 carpus to tip. It is sometimes measured over the convex 

 upperside with a tape or flexible band ; or, it is measured 

 with a stiff rule placed under the wing, the remiges being 

 straightened out ; or, thirdly, with a pair of compasses or 

 callipers, and the natural curve of the feathers not altered. 



