INAUGURAL ADDRESS on FLIGHTLESS BIRDS. 
By J. WIGLESWORTH, M.D., PResIDENT, 
[Read Oct. 13th, 1899.] 
Ir is my first duty, as it is my first pleasure, to thank you 
very cordially for the honour you lave done me in placing 
me in this chair, an honour which I fear I have done very 
little to deserve; but as you have put me here I will do 
my best to serve you during the coming session. 
The subject which I have chosen for my address this 
evening, that, namely of ‘‘ Flightless Birds,” opens up an 
attractive field in Biology, and one which I cannot hope 
to do justice to in the short time at my disposal; but I 
have thought that a review of some of the more striking 
examples of this singular group of birds would afford 
material for discussion, and could not fail to be of some 
interest. 
We are so accustomed to regard the power of flight as 
the most essential attribute of birds, that the term “ flight- 
less birds” sounds almost an anomaly, and it would indeed 
appear much more so than it does, had we not in the 
Ostrich and its congeners been familiarized from our 
youth with one class of birds that is quite incapable of 
flight. 
Now birds have lost their powers of flight, or have never 
acquired them, from very different causes, and they belong 
to widely separated families, and I purpose grouping these 
together, under different heads, and singling out one or 
two members of each group for more detailed considera- 
tion, by which means an opportunity will be afforded of 
touching upon some of the affinities of each class, 
