FEATHERS 241 
“contour feathers” (penne or plume), “downs” (plumule), “ half- 
downs ” (semiplumex) and “ hairlike feathers” (/iloplumx), but numer- 
ous intermediate stages connect these principal forms; and there 
must also be added as a special feature the nestling feathers. 
The ‘‘Contour-feathers,” as their name implies, are those which 
appear on the surface of the bird. As a rule they have a com- 
PERSPECTIVE VIEW OF A PORTION OF TWO ADJACENT Barss (B, B) LOOKING FROM THE SHAFT 
TOWARDS THE EDGE OF THE FEATHER. 
bd, distal barbules; bp, proximal barbules. 
OBLIQUE SECTION THROUGH THE PROXIMAL BARBULES IN A PLANE PARALLEL TO THE DISTAL 
BARBULES OF THE LAST FIGURE. 
Letters as before ; 1, 2,8, Barbicels and hamuli of the ventral side of the distal barbule ; 
4, Barbicels of the dorsal side of the sane, without hamuli. 
From The Ibis, 1887, plate xii. 
paratively strong shaft, with both inner and outer webs complete, 
and they attain their fullest development as rectrices and remiges. 
Many Contour-feathers, especially those which are ornamental, have 
no cilia, and therefore no hamuli, while occasionally the radii are 
rare, so that their webs are disconnected and have a more or less 
“fluffy” appearance, such as is shewn by the pectoral tufts of the 
Brrps-0F-PARADISE, the dorsal plumes of the EGrets, and the crest 
of the PEAcocKs and Crowned Cranes, The cilia of “metallic” 
16 
