22 TERMINOLOGY CHAP. I 



Patella. The knee-cap. 



Pouches. See Air-sacs. 



Powder -down patches. Groups of powder-down feathers (p. 3). 



Praecoces or Nidifugae. Nestlings which are hatched in a condition that 



enables them almost immediately to leave the nest and feed themselves. 

 Primaries or Manuals. Those wing-quills (Remiges), varying from ten to 



twelve, borne by the manus or hand. They should properly be counted 



outwards from the carpus or wrist. 

 Procnemial. In front of the knee. 



Proximal. That end of any part or member which is nearest to the im- 

 aginary centre or axis of the body. 



Racquet-shaped. Used of feathers with bare shafts and roundish terminal vanes. 

 Rectrices and Remiges. See Coverts, Primaries and Secondaries. The Rectrices 



usually number twelve, but vary from four to twenty-eight. 

 Reticulated (p. 10). 

 Rictal. Belonging to the gape. 

 Roofed. See Vaulted. 



Sagittate. Used of the tongue, and meaning arrow-shaped. 

 Scapulars. The feathers lying along the scapulae or shoulder-blades. 

 Scutellated (p. 10). 

 Secondaries or Cubitals. Those wing-quills (Remiges} borne by the Ulna, 



which often exhibits roughnesses where they grow. They should properly 



be counted inwards from the wrist, and vary from six to thirty or more. 

 Spatulate. Spoon-shaped. Used of the bill or of racquet-shaped feathers. 

 Speculum. Strictly applied to a band across the wing, more or less metallic 



in colour, which occurs in the Duck-tribe. 

 Square. Used of the tail when level at the end. 

 Syrinx (p. 13). 

 Tectrices. See Coverts. 



Tertials. A mistaken word for the inner secondaries. 

 Thighs. Loosely used in describing plumage to indicate the feathers falling 



over the leg. 

 Trachea (p. 13). 

 Tracheal syrinx. One in which the lower portion of the trachea consists of 



thin membranaceous walls, about six of the rings being thin or deficient. 



Both inner and outer tympaniform membranes exist in the bronchi, as 



well as some vibratory tracheal membranes. The few muscles, generally 



but one pair, are wholly lateral. 

 Tracheo-bronchial syrinx (the normal form). One which has this essential 



feature, that the proximal end of the inner tympaniform membrane, 



forming the median wall of each bronchial tube, is attached to the last 



pair of tracheal rings. 



Vaulted or Roofed. Used of the tail when compressed like that of a Fowl. 

 Ventral. The lower side of the body, in which lie the heart, lungs and 



digestive organs ; and hence applied to the corresponding surface of any 



part or parts of the structure. 

 Zygodactylous (p. 10). 



