Shufeldt on the Os Prominens hi Hazvks. 197 
heralded, perhaps one or two, possibly six or eight days, pre- 
viously.* So that a gale would have precisely the effect noticed ; 
that is, it would strike the long migrating line at a certain point 
where the victims taken would consist largely of the individuals 
belonging to the same neighborhood, perhaps of but one species 
or of more, as the case might be. The earlier and later migrants 
of that neighborhood would alone escape, except the fortunate 
few that succeeded by favoring circumstances in releasing them- 
selves from the grasp of the storm. Thus it happens that a 
species usually abundant in a locality may suddenly become rare 
and yet the species hold its own over its general range. 
That the ocean is responsible for the lives of many birds has 
long been known, but the idea that its victims annually reach such 
figures as to affect the numerical relation of species over extensive 
areas has not, I think, been hitherto advanced. That such is 
the fact seems to me certain and it is with the idea of directing 
the attention of observers to this class of facts, as well as with 
the hope of eliciting information already gathered but not yet 
made known, that these pages have been written. 
ON THE OSSICLE OF THE ANTIBRACHIUM AS 
FOUND IN SOME OF THE NORTH AMERICAN 
FALCONIDFE. 
BY R. W. SHUFELDT, M.D., CAPT. MED. DEPT. U. S. ARMY. 
It does not seem possible that a bone the size of one which I 
am now about to describe could have been entirely overlooked by 
ornithologists, yet after a careful perusal of such parts of the 
works of the most prominent writers, as refer to the skeletology 
of the upper extremity I fail to discover the barest mention as to 
the existence of any such an one. 
* The departure of birds in the fall is less regular than their return in spring. At 
least this is true of many species, as for instance the whole Sparrow tribe and many 
of the Warblers that saunter along as fine weather and an abundant food supply may 
tempt. The Swallows are the best examples of the other class. Their deliberative 
gatherings in the fall and prompt departure as though at a preconcerted signal are 
familiar to all. 
