FASCEDDAR— FEATHERS 239 



FASCEDDAR (Gaelic Fasgadair, a squeezer), the bird first 

 described in English as the Arctic Gull, for which the name of 

 Richardson's Skua has been commonly but wrongly appropriated. 



FAUVETTE, a French word especially applied by Bufitbn (Hist. 

 Nat. Ois. V. p. 117) to Avhat is now known to be the female of the 

 Orphean Warbler, Sylvia orpliea, and with some qualification to 

 several other allied species. In 1831 Rennie in his edition of 

 Montagu's Ornithological Dictionary (p. 176) tried to make it the 

 English name of what had hitherto and since been known as the 

 Garden-WARBLER, S. salicaria or hortensis. 



FEATHER-POKE (i.e. pocket or bag of feathers) a common 

 and not inappropriate name of the nest of the Long-tailed Tit- 

 mouse, whence it has been transferred to the builder. 



FEATHERS, like Claws, spurs, and hairs, are horny products 

 of the epidermal cells of the skin, and may consist of the following 

 parts: — (1) a Barrel or calamus; (2) a principal Shaft or ?7iac/w'5 ; 

 (3) an Aftershaft or hyporhachis ; (4) Barbs or rami ; (5) Barbules 

 or radii; and (6) Barbicels or cilia, some of which last may end in 

 Hooklets or hamuli. The calamus, together Avith the rhachis, is 

 often called the main stem, quill, or scapus, while the rami, radii, 

 and cilia compose the inner and outer web, vane, or vezilhmi of the 

 feather. 



(1) The calamus is hollow and transparent: its base is the 

 umbilicus inferior, whence a series of colourless horny "caps"^ 

 extends to the umbiliciform pit or umbilicus superior, which marks 

 the point of junction with the rhachis and hyporhachis. 



(2) The rhachis is opaque, filled Avith a pithy substance, and 

 roughly quadrangular in transverse section, with a longitudinal 

 furrow along its inner surface, or that which is toAvai'ds the body. 



(3) The hyporhachis is, according to its development and posi- 

 tion, the " ventral " counterpart of the rhachis, and may bear rami 

 and radii, though no cilia ; but it varies considerably in diflferent 

 birds. For ' reasons presently to be given, it is probably not a 

 primitive feature but one acquired secondarily ; Avhile its absence 

 in many forms is certainly due to reduction. 



(4) The rami or harhs consist each of a slender lamella, the thin 

 end of which is turned toward the body, while its upper margin is 

 thicker and rounded. The lamellae of the outer web though shorter 

 are higher and stronger than those of the inner Aveb. Their number 

 of course depends chiefly on the length of the whole feather : on 



of the Mediterranean basin, a little bird that builds one of the most remarkable 

 nests known. 



^ This series of " caps " has no name in English. In German it is known as 

 die Seele, that is, the "soul" of the feather. 



