INTRODUCTION. 



Old and barren hen-birds not unfrequently assume the 

 plumage of the cock-bird; and emasculated males, in a 

 few cases, have adopted the plumage of the heu-bird. 



The feathers of tiie wing are divided into coverts, quills, 

 and scapulars. The wing-coverts, ' tertrices,' are certain 

 ranges of small feathers covering the base of the quills, and 

 are divided into those that cover the shoulder, or the lesser 

 coverts, the ' least' of some ; the median or middle coverts 

 'lesser' of some ; and the greater coverts; these are some- 

 times of different colors, and are named according to the 

 quills which they impend, as primary coverts, secondary 

 coverts, &c. 



The quills (remiges) are divided into primaries, second- 

 aries, and tertiaries. The primary quills are the most ex- 

 ternal, and are attached to the carpus. They are usually 

 ten in number, but vary from nine to eleven, and are the 

 largest and most important in flight. 



The secondaries are inserted in the fore-arm, or ulna, 

 and are usually only half the length of the primaries ; and 

 the tertiaries or tertials take their origin in the humerus, 

 and are generally weaker than the secondaries. Cuvier 

 erroneously calls them scapularies, but these last grow from 

 the scapula; and though in some cases they are exceedingly 

 similar, and appear to pass insensibly into the tertiaries 

 which they overlie, in others they differ in form and color, 

 and are occasionally much longer than the others. 



Adjoining the greater coverts and protecting the base of 

 the outermost quills, are certain small feathers placed in a 

 series, of which the largest are the outermost. They are 

 attached to the bone representing the index finger of 

 the hand, and are called the winglet, or spurious, or bastard 

 wing (alula). The feathers, of which there are usually 



