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withdrawn follicle, consisting of the pulp and the mantle of Mal- 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 
Moutr 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 
with their successors, for the base of the calamus or wmbilicus 
inferior becomes more or less constricted and is closed by a plug 
formed by the lowest caps of the now retired pulp; though in 
Dromexus 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 
wear 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 when 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 Godwits 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 Trp1A. 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 
