BIRD. 



403 



have feathers standing up in this manner are ealled 

 " eared owls," or "horned owls ;" but the names are 

 not very accurately applied, or at least, they must be 

 understood with some limitations, because the ears or 

 horns are feathers merely, and have no projections 

 answering to them either of the bones or of the flesh 

 of the head. Feathers which form what are called 

 beards, or mustachoes, are dependent from the angles 

 of the gape, or the sides of the lower mandible, and 

 proceed, for a n'reater or less distance, down the 

 sides of the neck. They are generally of a different 

 colour from the neighbouring parts, and remarkably 

 soft ami silky in thoir texture. Some birds have 

 feathers similarly produced, and resembling- these in 

 their texture, upon the breast, the shoulders, or other 

 parts of the neck, or adjoining it. 



The only general groupes of separate feathers 

 on the heads of birds, which get a distinct name, are 

 those which are over the openings of the ears. They 

 are called the car-coverts, and the name " covert" is 

 in general given to all those feathers, upon whatever 

 part, of the bird they are situated, which are not 

 merely clothing feathers, and at the same time neither 

 feathers for flight, nor supplemental or ornamental 

 ones. Thus the word "covert" becomes a general 

 one in describing the plumage of birds, and coverts 

 are styled tipper or under, according as they are on 

 the upper or under sides of those members which 

 they cover. Those of the ears are peculiar as 

 covering, with more produced and downy plumage 

 than that on the surrounding parts, the openings of 

 these organs ; and though their use is not very well 

 know n, they probably answer the purpose of external 

 conchse to the ears, and at the same time protect 

 those delicate organs from the action of the air when 

 the birds are in rapid flight. 



The feathers on the neck and body of birds are 

 also named from the places upon which they are 

 situated. The neck is described as the throat, sides, 

 and back. The distinctive parts of the body are more 

 numerous ; and they are often spoken of, generally, 

 as the upper part and the under part. The entire 

 upper part of a bird includes all that part of its sur- 

 face \\ inch is seen when the head, the wings, and the 

 tail are stretched out, and the eye of the observer 

 placed opposite to the middle of the back. The 

 under part, in like manner, means all that which is 

 seen when the bird is stretched out in a similar 

 manner, and the eye of the observer against the 

 middle of the belly, or rather the posterior edge of 

 the breast bone. But as these general significations 

 of the terms include the wings and the tail, as well 

 as the body of the bird, and as those organs require 

 separate description, the upper and under parts are 

 generally understood in a more limited sense, as not 

 including these parts. Thus when it is said that the 

 upper part, or the under part of a bird is of any par- 

 ticular colour, it is not meant to be asserted that the 

 corresponding side, either of the wings or of the tail, 

 is of that colour. 



The upper parts to which names are given, are the 

 setting of the neck, which is often marked by differ- 

 ently coloured feathers, or produced ones which form 

 a mantle on the shoulders ; the scapulars, or feathered 

 parts over the blade bones, the middle of the back, 

 and the rump or part of the back next the tail, which 

 is often differently coloured from the rest. Upon all 

 these, the feathers, excepting those birds which have 

 supplemental ones, are smooth and close, and so beau- 



tifully imbricated, or placed over each otner like 

 tiles, that they form a very close and smooth surface, 

 which is perfectly water-proof in some birds, and 

 not very easily wetted in any. 



The manner in which these and all the other cloth- 

 ing feathers are applied to each other, and also 

 adapted to the shape of the bird, is well worthy of 

 study. Generally speaking, they are placed alter- 

 nately, or one over two, that is, with its shaft in the 

 opening between them ; but they cannot be said to 

 form regular rows taken in any direction, and they 

 vary considerably both in shape and in size. 



They are all however placed in such a manner as 

 that the action of the wind from before tends to 

 smooth them down, and from behind to raise their 

 points, though differently in different birds, and even 

 on different parts of the same bird. The shoulders, 

 and the turns or front edges of the wings, are the 

 places on which the beautiful application of the fea- 

 thers is most striking, as they are not only the most 

 difficult to fit from their greater curvature, but the 

 ones which are the most exposed during flight. The 

 feathers on these parts are so placed, that let the 

 wind take them as it may, it can hardly raise or 

 ruffle them ; and the strength and curvature of 'the 

 shafts, and the extent and texture of the webs, are all 

 equally worthy of observation. 



The general texture of the surface of the upper 

 feathers, is in most cases more glossy than that of 

 the under ones ; and in most birds it has .more or 

 less of metallic lustre, and generally, though not 

 always, its colours are deeper. 



The structure of the clothing feathers of birds 

 might be almost made a means of classification, as it 

 varies both with climate and with habit. These 

 feathers upon birds of prey are firm and decided, so 

 that each individual feather may be traced ; they are 

 less so in omnivorous birds, less so again in those which 

 feed chiefly upon insects or vegetable matter, and the 

 least so in birds which are the most exclusively 

 aquatic in their habits. Birds of hot climates have 

 also the feathers more decided in the upper part, 

 than those of nearly similar habits which reside in 

 cold countries : indeed the study of the structure, 

 texture, and gloss of the general plumage would, 

 though somewhat more circuitously, lead as certainly 

 to a knowledge of the characters of birds, as that of 

 the more active parts of their bodies. 



The leathers on the under parts are distinguished 

 as those on the breast, the flanks, the centre of the 

 belly, the thighs, and the vent. But some of these 

 names must be understood with limitations. Thus 

 what are usually called the thighs are in reality the 

 legs of the bird, the thigh bones being to a consider- 

 able extent imbedded in the muscles, and capable of 

 but little motion, except in those species which have 

 great action in their feet. That which is called the 

 belly of a bird also requires explanation ; for it does 

 not, even in any of the species, answer to the soft ab- 

 domen to which that name is given in the mammalia; 

 and in swimming birds the sternum and ribs extend 

 so far backward as that a portion at the vent only, of 

 a size sufficient to allow the expulsion of the eggs, is 

 unprotected by bones. 



The feathers of the under part are, generally speak- 

 ing, smaller in size, and softer and more downy in 

 their texture than those on the upper part. The 

 differences of character indicated by them are not so 

 great or at all events not so striking as those indicated 

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