"vn 



GLOSSARY OF TERMS. 



Acuminate. — Tapering to a sharp point. 



Adult Bird. — Strictly one which has reached the period when the body 

 has acquired its fall development, but in this work has chief reference 

 to the plumage. 



^'Egithognathous. — Like the .-Egithognathge, the fourth suborder of Carinatae 

 (birds with a keeled sternum) in Huxley's Classification. These four 

 suborders are based on certain modifications in the bony palate, and 

 the distinguishing feature of the present one is that the vomer is 

 broad and truncated in front, lying between the separate maxillo- 

 palatines. 



Afters haft. — The small counterpart of a typical feather that springs from 

 the mner surface of the quill common to both ; often merely indicated 

 or vestigial. 



Alar bar. — A bar across the wing — often formed by the tips of the feathers 

 of one of the series of wing-coverts differing in colour from the rest 

 of the feathers. 



Albinism. — The abnormal absence of colour, partial or total. 



Ambiens muscle. — Arises from the pelvis and nins down the inner side of 

 the thigh, passes the knee as a narrow tendon and then forms one of 

 the heads of the deep flexor muscle of the 2nd and 3rd toes. Birds 

 were divided by Garrod into two great classes, those with and those 

 without the ambiens. The first includes the Game-birds, Gulls, Divers, 

 Cormorants, Geese and Ducks, Hawks and Cuckoos : the latter the 

 Owls, Swifts, Kingfishers, Hoopoes, Woodpeckers, Passeres, Herons, 

 Auks and Grebes. 



Antrorse. — Directed or bent forwards, used of nasal tufts and rictal bristles. 



Asymmetrical. — Composed of two dissimilar halves. 



Axillary. — Of or belonging to the axilla (armpit). (See fig., p. *xv.) 



Basi-pterygoid. — The name given to a bony projection from one of the 

 bones of the roof of mouth (Pteiygoid) connecting it with the base 

 of the skull. 



Booted. — Used of the Tarsus to denote that the usual scales are fused so 

 as to form a continuous Lamina. 



Brood-spot or Incubation-spot. — The patch of skin of varying extent 

 along the centre of the bird's abdomen and breast and between the 

 two halves of the ventral feather tract that shortly before incubation 

 begins becomes void of down and greatly thickened. 



Calamus. — The hollow, transparent base of a feather. 



Carinat^. — See Sternum. 



Carpus. — The wrist. The cai-pal joint of the wing is that one forming the 

 forward prominence when the wing is closed. 



