vi INTRODUCTION. 



ten, are stiff, and they serve to strengthen the base of the 

 outer pnmaries. 



The tail-feathers (rectrices) are usually twelve in num- 

 ber, ten in severalfamilies, fourteen in some vultures, eighteen 

 in many Gallinace^, and in some few as many as twenty-two. 

 They are totally wanting in a very few; some have only 

 six, and one germs eight. Tlie two central tail feathers are 

 called the Uropygials, and they are inserted slightly above 

 the base of the others. They are occasionally moulted 

 twice, whilst the others are, in no instance, moulted 

 more than once a year. Above and below the rectrices, 

 are some feathers of rather a loose structure, called, respec- 

 tively, the upper and lower tail-coverts. The last are 

 very frequently peculiarly coloured, as is conspicuous in 

 Bulbuls and others. 



The various regions of the body of birds are named ; 

 those above, the forehead, crown, sinciput, occiput, nape, 

 neck ; back or interscapular region, the lower back and rump ; 

 and the under parts are the chin, throat, neck, breast, abdo- 

 men or belly, and the vent. The body feathers of birds are 

 named from their position, as frontal, coronal, occipital, 

 nuchal, dorsal, interscapulary, &c.. which together form a 

 continuous series. Those in front of the eye are termed 

 loreal, the lores being the space between the eye and the 

 bill. Those covering the ears are called the ear-coverts 

 or auriculars, and these are often distinct in appearance 

 and colour from the adjacent feathers, and are loose 

 and open in their structure. 



The feathers of the cheek are those which lie between the 

 gape and the ears. The sides of the neck and the middle 

 of the breast and abdominal region are either naked, or 

 •covered with down only; and this last disappears in 

 females at the season of incubation. There are also 



