248 FEDOA— FEMUR 



extends through the umbiliciform pit along the ventral side of the 

 rhachis to its tip, but the part within the calamus being expanded 

 shrivels in the way before described. When the apex of the 

 feather is finished, and its elements have become horny and firm, 

 the outer follicular sheath bursts from the tip backward, so as 

 to liberate the rami, but these continue to carry the Neossoptile 

 until after a longer or shorter time it is rubbed off". Part of the 

 withdrawn follicle, consisting of the pulp and the mantle of Mal- 

 pighian cells, remains in a dormant condition until the time of 

 Moult awakens it to renewed action, when the old feather is 

 pushed out and a new one produced in its place. These feathers 

 from the second generation onward are not in direct continuity 

 mth their successors, for the base of the calamus or umhilicus 

 inferio)- becomes more or less constricted and is closed by a plug 

 formed by the lowest caps of the now retired pulp ; though in 

 Dromxus and Casuarius the tip of each new feather extends into 

 the short calamus of its predecessor, which as it is being pushed 

 out still adheres to its successor, so that these birds for a long time 

 Avear their old coat over their new one. The reproductive power 

 of this follicle seems to be unlimited unless it be mechanically 

 injured. It is hardly diminished by age, but is affected at once by 

 want of food or wrong diet. It is well known that the action of 

 the follicle is generally revived by the accidental loss of a feather, 

 so that, regardless of its being in the season of Moult or not, the 

 missing feather is speedily replaced — a matter of great importance 

 to a bird Avhen its life may depend upon its undiminished power 

 of flight. On the other hand, it is not so generally known that 

 the enormously-developed rectrices of the Cocks of some Japanese 

 poultry are artificially produced by the Moult being checked, in 

 some way at present unknown to Europeans, so that the feathers 

 instead of being shed go on continuously growing and reach the 

 length of ten or twelve feet. 



FEDOA, the Latinized form of some English name of the 

 GODWIT, now lost apparently beyond recovery, but so written by 

 Turner in 1544. From him the word got into ornithology, where 

 it has been several times misapplied, and misunderstood. The 

 only suggestion as to its origin that presents itself is in connexion 

 with the fact that Godmts used to be caught alive and fed to 

 fatten them for the table. 



FEMUR, the thigh-bone made up of the globular Head articulat- 

 ing with the acetabulum of the pelvis, and connected by the Neck 

 with the Shaft, which terminates in an outer and inner Condyle for 

 articulation with the TiBiA. Between these condyles, on the anterior 

 side, and partly imbedded in the tendon of the great extensor 

 muscle lies the Patella. On the median side of the proximal end 



