PLIGHTLESS BIRDS. 31 
its domestic congener, the actual measurements taken at 
intervals of one-fourth of the length of the sterna from 
before backwards, being for the wild bird 2°4, 2-1, and 14 
em., and for the domestic bird in the corresponding posi- 
tions, 2, 1°8, and 1°2 cm. 
This is an interesting comparison, for assuming the 
domestic Duck to be descended from Anas boschas, it 
shows clearly that the keel of the sternum is undergoing 
atrophy in association with the loss of the faculty of flight, 
and we thus have a comparison between a flying bird and 
the same bird in a flightless condition, and are able, as it 
were, to see the process actually at work. 
And now I must bring these somewhat fragmentary 
remarks to a close. 1 should have been glad to have 
dilated more fully upon certain questions, but the subject 
is a large one, and the time at my disposal has been short. 
Nor can some of the questions raised be considered finally 
set at rest. 
We want many more observations and many more 
workers in the field, particularly in new countries which, 
on being opened out and colonized, quickly lose their 
special faunal characteristics, and opportunities for obser- 
vation, unless promptly seized, are apt to disappear for 
ever. I have often thought how favourably placed many 
of the officers in our army and navy are, when located on 
foreign stations, for making observations on the fauna of 
their districts, and yet, with some notable exceptions, how 
comparatively seldom are these opportunities taken advan- 
tage of. Doubtless many men when thus circumstanced 
would be only too glad to occupy themselves in this way, 
and find therein a welcome relief from what must often be 
a monotonous existence; but not having had any biological 
training, they are ignorant of the very rudiments of the 
subject, and know not how to begin. 
