| OCR Text |
Show 202 ON THE CUBITAL COVERTS OF BIRDS. L^Pr- 6' Lastly, come two birds whose wings I cannot refer satisfactorily any one of the groups above described. One is the Osprey Fig. 35. Grus. (fig. 37), whose wing seems to occupy an outlying position somewhere between the style of the Pygopodes and that of the Accipitres. The other is represented by Pernis apivorus: several stuffed specimens of this bird showed tbe posterior row of cubital coverts lapping distally, somewhat as in the Ciconiine birds, and there were in addition some minor differences of less importance. Stuffed birds, at the best, afford data of a very untrustworthy character in this Fig. 37. particular ; but on laying my difficulty before Mr. Gurney, who had some Honey-Buzzards alive, he courteously replied by sending me from the Norwich collection a skin that showed the feathers disposed as they were in his own living birds. This agreed exactly with the style observable in the stuffed birds, and differed from all the other Accipitrine birds as herein limited. Perhaps the nearest representative style is that presented by some of the Peristeropods, as, for example, Crax. In regard to any conclusions connected with taxonomy that may be drawn from a study of the facts herein referred to there will probably be much difference of opinion. The facts themselves may be, in general, easily verified by a careful study of healthy living Fig. 36. Gypogeranus. |
