AVES. 555 



The skin becomes homy where it covers the rostrum or beak, and in some 

 t)irds at the base of the same, it forms scales round the nostril ; or this part 

 may have a naked or waxy appearance, which is known as the cere. Below the 

 tarsal joint the extremity is usually covered with homy scales or plates, but 

 some breeds of domesticated birds are " feathered to the ground." The pedal 

 digits of the natatores in each limb are joined by a membrane, which is 

 covered vnth. scaly skin, forming the wcb-foot. In the domestic fowl the claws 

 are blunt and very strong, that bird being a good example of the order 

 Easores, or scrafchers. The glands of the skin are few, but in many birds, and 

 notably in aquatic species, there is a large gland in the skin of the uropygium, 

 or basis of' the tail ; this gland seeretes an oily sebaceous fluid, which is 

 employed by the animal in drebsing or preening its feathers. The combs or 

 wattles^ which are the red or sometimes blue processes formed about the heads 

 of certain birds, are very vaacular antf «iften erectile structures, appendages of 

 the integument. 



