C. J. Sundevall on the Wings of Birds. 409 
The Waders are in general good fliers, and in most of them 
the carpus stands on a level with the shoulder; hut in 
Ardea, Ciconia, Grus } and many which have the longest 
wings, it stands further forward. In the Rallidse, on the 
contrary, the cubitus is shorter than the humerus. 
In the Gallinse the latter condition usually occurs. 
In all Raptorial birds the cubitus extends in front of the 
shoulder, in some nearly one fifth of its own length (e. g. 
Pandion ). 
The Coccyges vary in this as in many points; but most 
commonly the carpus projects a little before the shoulder 
( Columba , Psittacus, and many others; further forward in 
Coracias ; not forward in Pious ). 
In the Oscines this latter condition is by far the most 
general. I know only a single genus— Cinclus —which has so 
short a cubitus that the carpus does not project before the 
shoulder. This projection becomes somewhat more con¬ 
siderable in those which fly strongly. Hirundo, like Cypselus , 
seems to have received compensation in the cubitus for the 
shortness of the humerus; for the former is about twice as 
long as the latter, so that the carpus projects forward about 
one sixth of the whole length of the body in front of the 
shoulder. 
After this digression from the treatment of the arm- 
feathers of the wing, we must return to them in order to speak 
of their size, a point of much importance from a systematic 
point of view, but hitherto quite neglected. The length of 
these feathers, as in the case of the wing-bones, can only be 
measured by comparison with the body itself, namely, by 
their backward extension when the wing is closed. But as 
those which are seated upon the posterior part of the cubitus 
must necessarily project beyond the latter unless they are 
much shorter than those in front of them, they give no 
certain measurement, but this must always be taken only 
from the very foremost feathers, placed nearest to the hand. 
In most birds the quill-feathers diminish a little, more 
or less, posteriorly in absolute length, and it is a rare 
