INTROD UCTION. 



scarcely apologize for introducing our subject by a few prelim- 

 inary remarks relative to the nomenclature adopted in the follow- 

 ing pages. 



The Head of a bird consists of the shjiU, and the bill ox beak, 

 and is joined to the body by the neck. 



The Beak or Bill consists of an upper jaw, called in ornitho- 

 logical language the Upper Mandible (Fig. i, 12), and of the lower 

 jaw, or Loiver Mandible (13). 



The Upper Mandible contains the orifices of the nostrils (e), 

 the shape of which varies in different birds. Its highest part is 

 called the Cubnen {b), while the corresponding ridge of the lower 

 mandible is termed the Gonys {h). 



The Margins of the mandibles are their lateral edges, which 

 meet when the bill is closed. In some birds the margins of the 

 upper mandible overlap those of the lower, while in others the 

 two edges exactly meet ; the line thus formed by the meeting of 

 the mandibles is termed the Commissure. 



The commissure may be either straight, as in the Woodpecker ; 

 festooned, as in the Sparrow-Hawk ; tindulaied, as in the Tanager ; 

 arched, aa in the Hoopoe ; or angidated at its base, as in the 

 Starling. 



The Upper Mandible is sometimes continued over the fore- 

 head, so as to form a sort of helmet. In rapacious birds and 

 Parrots its base is covered with a soft skin called the Cere. 



The Wing of a bird is constructed upon the same general plan 

 as the human arm or the fore-leg of quadrupeds, and when de- 

 nuded of i'.s feathers, it is not difficult to perceive the relationship 

 between these apparently different organs. 



The Quill-Feathers of the wing are divided into three sets, 

 distinguishi-'d as the primaries, the secondaries, and the tertiaries. 



The Primaries are always the longest, and in swift-flying 

 birds, like the Swallows, are of double the length of any of the 

 other quill.i : they are usually nine or ten in number, sometimes 

 eleven, anc are attached to the metacarpus, or those bones which 

 represent the hand of the human skeleton (3). 



The Secondaries are implanted in the cubit or fore-arm, and 

 are visually only half the length of the primaries {3'). 



The Tertiaries are those attached to the upper arm, or 

 Jiiimerus. 



The origins of the quills are overlapped, and protected by 

 smaller feathers, arranged something like the tiles of a house, and 

 called the WiNG-CoVERTS (i r i"). 



