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PRIMARIES. 35 
than the inner, and its barbs stand out less from the rhachis (§3, a). Rem- 
iges are divided into three classes, according to their seat; and in this is in- 
volved one of the most important considerations in practical ornithology, of 
which the student must make himself master. The three classes are 1, the 
primaries; 2, the secondaries; 3, the tertiaries. 
§ 61. Tue Primaries (PI. 1, fig. 1, 6) are those remiges which grow upon 
the pinion, or hand- and finger-bones (fig. 6, cp). Whatever the total num- 
ber of remiges may be, in all birds with remiges the primaries are either NINE 
or TEN in number, as far as is known. ‘The albatross and the humming-bird 
(§ 60, b) both have ten. All birds, probably, below the highest, the oscine 
Passeres, have ten. Among Oscines, there are nine or ten indifferently ; and 
just this difference of one primary more or less formas one of the most marked 
distinctions between some families of that suborder. So the tenth feather in 
a bird’s wing, counting from the outside, is a sort of crucial test in many 
cases ; if it be first secondary, the bird is one thing; if it be last primary, the 
bird is another; the necessity, therefore, of determining which it is, becomes 
evident. It is, of course, always possible to settle the question by striking 
at the roots of the remiges and seeing how many are seated on. the pinion ; 
but this generally involves some defacing of a specimen, and ordinarily there 
is an easier way of determining. Hold the wing half spread ; then, in nearly 
all Oscines, the primaries come sloping down on one side, and the secondaries 
similarly on the other, to form, where they meet, a reéntrant angle in the 
general contour of the posterior border of the wing ; the feather that occupies 
this notch is the one we are after, and unluckily is sometimes last primary, 
and sometimes first secondary. But primaries are, so to speak, emphatic, 
self-asserting, italicized remiges, stiff, strong, obstinate; while seconda- 
ries are whispering, retiring remiges in brevier, limber, weak, and yielding. 
This difference in character is almost always shown by something in their 
general shape, impossible to describe, but which the student will soon learn 
to detect. Let the reader examine plate 1, fig. 1, where 6 marks the 9 pri- 
maries of a sparrow’s wing, and s indicates the secondaries ; he will see a dif- 
ference at once. The primaries express themselves, though with constantly 
diminishing force, to the last; then the secondaries immediately begin to 
tell a different tale. Among North American birds, the only ones with 
NINE primaries are the families Motacillidew, Alaudide, Sylvicolide, Hirun- 
dinide, Fringillide, Icteride, part of the Vireonide, and the genus Am- 
pelis.* The condition of the first primary, whether 
§ 62. Spurious or not, is often of great help in this determination. The 
first primary is said to be spurious (compare § 58) when it is very short; 
saya third, or less than a third, of the length of the second primary. <A 
*This really has ten; but the first is so small and so out of position that it is only theoretically accounted 
as such, and would not be so considered by the student. I should add, that recent researches of Prof. Baird’s 
tend to show that al/ supposed nine-primaried birds have really ten; but only an expert ornithologist could 
find the additional one in question; and it need not be taken into account for present purposes. (See expla- 
nation of Pl.t. fig. 1, qu.) Nitzsch says the grebes have II primaries; this may be confirmed. 
