XII 

 THE SKIN AND ITS APPENDAGES | 



The skin of birds is very thin and contains no 

 glands except the uropygial or oil gland which 

 lies over the last vertebra. This is two-lobed 

 and about the size of a pea in the fowl. The 

 oily secretion used by the bird to dress the 

 feathers is produced by numerous tubules 

 which pour their secretion into a common 

 cavity, from which it gains the surface by an 

 opening at the summit of a nipple-like pro- 

 jection of the skin. I 



A thin, dry, and scurfy epidermis covers I 

 those parts of the skin on which feathers grow, 

 while the naked part of the leg is clothed with 

 scales. The toes carry claws, and a horny 

 sheath covers the beak. 



The skin is very sensitive in virtue of j 

 the numerous nerve-endings associated with it 1 

 generally and more especially with the roots 



104 



