OCR Text |
Show 1885.] MR F. E. BEDDARD ON THE CUCKOOS. 177 accompanying figure; further down it is continuous with the humeral tract; on the pectoral and abdominal regions the tract on either side is very narrow, only two or three feathers wide uoon the hinder portion of the sternum, and terminating just in front of the cloacal aperture ; the widest section of the pectoral portion of the tract is close to the origin of the humerus, where it gives off a short branch to the under surface of the wing; beyond this branch the tract s about three feathers wide and narrows gradually, as already stated, to its termination just in front of the cloaca. Fig. 5. Pterylosis of Piaya cayana. Just on a level with the posterior margin of the sternum (as near as I could judge from a specimen that has been considerably damaged) the breadth of the ventral tract decreases from three to two feathers, and at this point the outer row of feathers diverges somewhat from the inner tract and thus forms a small rudiment of P R O C . Z O O L . S o c - 1 8 8 5 , No. XII. 12 |