ifo.1106. FEATHER-TRACTS OF GROUSE AND QUAIL— CLARE. 643 



under coverts, which may be called the post-anal tract. In addition 

 to these major pteryhc tliere are often minor ones, sucli as those formed 

 by the crests on the head or the ruffs on the neck. Aftershafts are 

 always present, and are usually large and downy. True down feathers 

 occur sometimes on the neck and wings, while half down occurs every- 

 where bordering on the tracts, especially on the fore part of the breast 

 and on the back between the shoulders. Filoplumes are generally long 

 and numerous among the contour feathers. The oil gland is always 

 tufted. The rectrices, of which the middle pair are always longest, the 

 outer ones shortest, vary in number frojii 12 to I'l', 1)nt the latter num- 

 ber is very unusual. The wing, always quincubital, is very fully feath- 

 ered, especially on the ui)per surface, but there is a large apteriuni along 

 the humerus near its base, in front of the parapterum. There are usu- 

 ally three rows of major superior secondary coverts and two or three of 

 inferior, while the primary coverts are usually in two rows on T>oth sur- 

 faces. The primaries are always 10 in number, the secondaries vary 

 between 13 and 21, and the alula contains 4 or 5 feathers. 



One of the most remarkable things about the pterylography of the 

 groux> is the indifferent specialization of the remiges and, in some spe- 

 cies, of the rectrices also. In most birds it is as easy to determine pre- 

 cisely the number of secondaries as of primaries, or perhaps easier; but 

 in the Gallin.'e it is not a simple matter to decide where the secondaries 

 end and the coverts begin (on the elbow), so complete is the intergrada- 

 tion, in Laf/opus, moreover, the middle tail feathers are so strikingly 

 like coverts that one can hardly feel perfectly sure that they are rec- 

 trices. The reverse is true to a somewhat less extent in Ceiitrocercus, 

 where the middle pair of coverts are much like rectrices. Xitzsch 

 speaks of the eleventh reraex as always being very small, but I did not 

 find it notably so in most of our American species. 



The above observations will not apply, except in a few particulars, to 

 Ortalis, which, as has already been said, differs considerably from the 

 Gallinine type. Having considered the general characters of that type 

 of x)terylosis, we will now pass on to a survey of the genera in detail, 

 beginning with the quails. 



ODOXTOPHOEIX^. 



The quails form a very natural subdivision of the Gallinse, charac- 

 terized by several pterylographical features of more or less imjiortance. 

 The dorsal tract is apparently continuous with the ui>per cervical tiact, 

 and as the latter does not seem to be forked there is no dorsal apterium. 

 The lower cervical tract forks very far up on the throat, and on the side 

 there seems to be scarcely a trace of the hook connecting the sternal 

 tract with the hypopterum, which is so evident in some of the grouse. 

 The rectrices are remarkably constant in number, usually only 12 and 

 never more than 14, nor are there more than IG secondaries. In addi- 

 tion to the 4 feathers of the alula, there is usually jjresent on the thumb 



