ORNITHOLOGY. 



555 



Structure the length, diversified form, and varied movements of that 

 x —— y— -^ organ, bestow upon it a great facility of modulation. 



The anterior limbs of birds, corresponding to the fore 

 legs of quadrupeds, have been converted into wings for the 

 purposes of that aerial locomotion commonly called flight. 

 It is true that some birds cannot fly, that is, leave not the 

 surface of the earth ; but these are exceptions to the ge- 

 neral rule, and even among such exceptions the great ma- 

 jority use their wings as a propelling power, whether cours- 

 ing amid dry and barren deserts, or submerged beneath 

 the waves. The bony portions of the wings consist of the 

 humerus, the cubitus, the carpal and metacarpal bones, 

 and fingers. We shall briefly describe these parts in so far 

 as they are connected with the imposition of the plumage, 

 and consequently with the external characters of the 

 feathered race. The reader, if he so inclines, may here 

 consult Plate CCCLXXXVII. figs. 3 and 4. The humerus^ 

 or armbone (c) is joined to the body by means of a part of 

 its own upper surface, which articulates with a correspond- 

 ing cavity between the coracoid bone (b) and the scapula 

 or shoulder-blade (a). It is directed backwards in repose, 

 and in a position more or less parallel with the spine. The 

 other extremity of the humerus articulates with the cubitus 

 or fore-arm, which is composed of the bones called the 

 ulna (d) and radius (e), and is so jointed as to fold when 

 at rest in a direction parallel to that of the arm. The car- 

 pus consists of two small bones (ff) placed between the 

 outer extremity of the cubitus and the metacarpus. The 

 latter (g) usually consists of two bones united at both ends. 

 From the anterior edge of the portion next the carpus, 

 there projects a small bone, considered as analogous to the 

 first digit or thumb, pollex (h) ; to the extremity of the 

 outer portion of the metacarpus are usually attached two 

 other digital bones (ij) ; and to the extremity of its inner 

 portion is frequently appended a smaller bone of corre- 

 sponding nature. These are the fingers of birds. 



Now, the connection of the plumage with the preceding 

 parts is as follows. Here consult Plate CCCLXXXVII. figs. 

 1, 2, 5. The small elongated tuft of stiffish feathers which 

 clothe the upper exterior margin of a bird's wing, in- 

 creasing in size downwards, pointing towards the base of 

 the outer primaries, and commonly called the alula, or spu- 

 rious wing (see S. W. in figs. 1, 2, and 5), springs from the 

 portion we have called the thumb. The primaries or 

 greater quill-feathers of the wings, that is, the ten outer- 

 most feathers, and which constitute the more or less pointed 

 terminal portion (see figs. 1, 1 to 10, and figs. 2 and 5, at P. 

 P.), spring from the digital and metacarpal bones. The 

 secondaries, or lesser quill-feathers (figs. 1, 1 to 6, and figs. 2 

 and 5, at S. S.), which, when the wing is closed, usually 

 cover a portion of the primaries, take their origin from the 

 cubitus or fore-arm ; while a third series, inconspicuous in 

 most birds, though very obvious in others, and named the 

 tertials or tertiary feathers (fig. 2, T. T.), are derived from 

 the humerus or arm bone. Above these, and lying over 

 that portion of the wing which joins the body (or, as it were, 

 between the wing and back), are the scapulars (fig. 2, Sc), 

 usually of an elongated form, and often distinguished from 

 the surrounding plumage by a difference of tint or mark- 

 ing. Lastly, various ranges of feathers which clothe the 

 upper portion of the wings from the carpal joint backwards, 

 covering the base of the primary and secondary quills, and 

 spreading across from the spurious wing to the scapulars, 

 are named the wing coverts, and are distinguished, accord- 

 ing to their position, as the smaller coverts (figs. 1 and 2, 

 at Sm. C), which clothe the upper portion of the wing; 

 the secondary coverts (figs 1 and 2, at S. C), which pro- 



tect the base of the secondaries ; and the primary coverts, Structure, 

 (figs. 1 and 2, at P. C), which perform that office to the "— -v—— ' 

 primaries. The feathers which clothe the under surface 

 of the wings are named the under coverts of those parts ; 

 and the terms upper and under tail-coverts signify the 

 feathers which cover the base of the tail, above or below. 

 But we need scarcely occupy our pages with the numerous 

 particulars which might be brought forward, and which 

 occupy so prominent a space in many ornithological vo- 

 lumes. The terms in most cases explain themselves. 

 When we speak of the crest of a bird, we of course mean 

 to indicate the feathers on its head ; and the upper, central, 

 or lower portions of the back, can be respectively nothing 

 more nor less than one or other of these portions. When 

 we mention the point of the bill, we literally mean the 

 point, and there is no word in the English nor in any other 

 language which can express it more clearly. Neither do we 

 think it necessary, in an English work, to give a corre- 

 sponding Latin phrase for every term we use, more espe- 

 cially as many of these terms cannot be correctly Latinized, 

 and in fact have never occurred at all in any books in that 

 language. Their confinement, therefore, in a circumflex- 

 ual prison, amid the unembarrassed freedom of the English 

 tongue, is a sad and cruel mockery " of things attempted 

 yet in prose or rhyme ;" and we believe is but seldom prac- 

 tised by those who got through Ruddiman respectably in 

 early life. We therefore deem it worse than useless to 

 present an endless catalogue of terms hi Ornithology, fol- 

 lowed by explanations more obscure and ambiguous than 

 the technicalities themselves ; but shall rather endeavour 

 either altogether to avoid unknown tongues, or, by the 

 context, to render our meaning obvious to each capacity.' 



Those minute discriminations, so often insisted on, are 

 in truth but seldom necessary in the description of a bird's 

 external aspect, especially of its feathered portions, be- 

 cause large spaces of the plumage have frequently an 

 identical character both in texture and colour. Thus, 

 if the entire head is either black, white, brown, or any 

 other single colour, it would be a waste of words to de- 

 scribe it in any other way than simply as being of that 

 colour ; that is, it would be unnecessary to say that the 

 frontal, vertical, occipital, auricular, and ocular feathers of 

 the head were coloured after such a fashion ; but if one 

 colour prevails over another, and yet is traversed, or in 

 any way varied by other colours, the precise region, 

 whether frontal or occipital, in which the variation hap- 

 pens should be stated. We would almost say, that our 

 nomenclature of the parts themselves depends to some ex- 

 tent on the distribution of the colours. Thus, of birds with 

 a black abdomen and a scarlet breast, we can easily con- 

 ceive, that even of the same species two individuals may 

 so considerably differ in the proportional extent of the 

 supposed colours, that the black in one instance shall en- 

 croach upon what corresponds to the scarlet of the other, 

 or vice versa ; but still the phrases " abdomen black, breast 

 scarlet," would suffice for both, though not proportionally 

 the same in each. The fact is, that many of the special 

 regions of a bird are by no means precisely marked, or at 

 least are seldom seen to be so, unless we strip it of its 

 plumage, — an untoward act, however, for one who desires 

 to stuff or otherwise preserve its skin ; and therefore some 

 latitude must be allowed in our expression of the external 

 parts. 



The next portion to be briefly described is the leg or hin- 

 der limb. This is divisible into the femur, tibia, tarsus, 

 and toes. See Plate CCCLXXXVII. fig. 3. 



The femur, or thigh-bone (k), is cylindrical, somewhat 



■ A very ample and interesting account of the diversified form of bills, feet, and feathers, will be found in Mr Swainson's Natural 

 History and Classification of Birds, vol. i , illustrated by numerous wood-cuts from the elegant pencil of the author. 



