116 



GENERAL ORXITHOLOGY. 



they are so much reduced in modem birds as to be of little account in practical ornithology. 

 In fact, the unpractised student may fail to recognize them at first. They form a small packet 

 on the fore outer border of the pinion near the carpal angle, and lie smoothly upon the upper 

 surliice of the wing, strengthening and finishing off what would be otherwise a weak spot in 

 the contour of the wing-border. It is quite easy, on recognizing them, to lift them collectively 

 a little away from the other feathers, owing to the slight mobihty the thumb possesses. In fact, 

 they are sometimes quite obtrusive, when faulty taxidermy has discomposed them. They are 

 not often conspicuously modified either in size or color. In a few birds {e.g., Cathartes), a clato 

 will be found at the end of the joint which bears them. The student must be careful to dis- 

 criminate between the use of the word spurious in the present connection and its application 

 to a rudimentary condition of the first remex (sec p. Hi)). The 



Wing-Coverts overhe the bases of the large quills on both the upper and under surfaces 

 of the wing. They are therefore conveniently divided into an upper set (tectrices superiores) 

 and an under set {tect. inferiores). The former are so much more conspicuous than the latter 



that they are always under- 



stood when " upper" is not 

 specified. The latter are 

 sometimes collectively called 

 "the lining of the wings." 

 Coverts include all the small 

 feathers of the wings except- 

 ing the bastard quills ; they 

 extend a varying distance 

 along the bases of the flight- 

 feathers. The ordinary dis- 

 position and division of the 

 upper coverts is as follows : 

 One set, rather long and stif- 

 fisli, grow upon the i)inion, 

 and are close-pressed upon 

 the bases of the outer nine 



or ten remiges, covering 

 Fig. 30. — Feathers of a sparrow's wing; nat. size. (For explanatiou see text.) , , » f ■ tl • • 1 t -^ 



far as their structure is plumulaceous. Tliese are the upper primary coverts, or coverts of the 

 primaries (fig. 30, pc) ; they are ordinarily the least conspicuous of any. All the rest of tlio 

 upper coverts are secondary; they spring mostly from the forearm. These are considered in 

 three groups or rous. The greater upper secondary coverts, called simply the "greater coverts " 

 (tectrices majores, fig. 30, gsc,) are the first, outermost, longest row, reaching nearest the tips of 

 the flight-feathers ; they overlie the bases of nearly all the remiges, excepting the first nine or 

 ten. The median upper secondary coverts, shortly known as the "middle coverts" (tectrices 

 medice), are a next row, shorter and therefore less exposed, but still quite evidently forming a 

 special series (fig. 30, msc). It is a common feature of these median coverts that they shingle 

 over each other contrary-wise to the way the greater coverts are imbricated, the outer vane of 

 one being under the inner vane of the next outer one. All the rest of the upper secondary 

 coverts, forming several indistinguishable rows, pass under the general name of lesser coverts 

 (tectrices minores ; fig. 30, be). The greater coverts furnish an excellent zoological character ; 

 for in no Passeres are they more than half as long as the remiges they cover, while the reverse 

 is the case in most birds of lower orders. Woodpeckers, however, though non-passerine, have 

 quite short coverts. The under coverts have the same general arrangement as the ui)i)er ; but 



