PUIMAUIES. 35 



than the inner, and its biivhs stand out less from the rhachis (§3, a). Rem- 

 iges are divided into three classes, according to their seat; and in this is in- 

 volved one of the most important considerations in practical ornithology, of 

 which the student must make himself master. The three classes are 1, the 

 primaries; 2, the secomlaries: 3, the (ertiaries. 



§ 61. The Primauies (PI. i, fig. 1, h) are those rcmiges which grow upon 

 the pinion, or hand- and tino:er-bones (Hl;-. 6, cd). Whatever the total num- 

 ber ot remiges may he, in all bir(U loilli remiyes the primaries are either ^\y,Y, 

 or TEN in nnmher, as far as is known. The albatross and the hummino--bird 

 (§ 60, b) both have ten. All birds, probably, below the highest, the oscine 

 Passeres, have ten. Among Oscines, there are nine or ten indilferently ; and 

 just this diflerence of one primary more or less forms one of the most marked 

 distinctions between some f imilies of that suborder. So the tenth feather in 

 a bird's wing, counting from the outside, is a sort of crucial test in many 

 cases ; if it be first secondary, the bird is one thing ; if it be last primary, the 

 bird is another; the necessity, therefore, of determining which it is, becomes 

 evident. It is, of course, always possible to settle the question l)y striking 

 at the roots of the remiges and seeing how mimy are seated on the pinion ; 

 but this generally involves some defacing of a specimen, and ordinarily there 

 is an easier way of determining. Hold the wing half spread ; then, in nearly 

 all Oscines, the primaries come sloping down on one side, and the secondaries 

 similarly on the other, to form, where they meet, a reentrant angle in the 

 general contour of the posterior liordtn- of the wing ; the feather that occupies 

 this notch is the one we are after, and unluckily is sometimes last primar3% 

 and sometimes first secondary. P)ut primaries are, so to speak, emphatic, 

 self-asserting, italicized remiges, still',, strong, obstinate; while seconda- 

 ries are loliisjoering , retiring remiges in brevier, limber, weak, and yielding. 

 This diflferenco iu character is almost always shown by something in their 

 general shape, impossible to describe, but which the student will soon learn 

 to detect. Let the reader examine plate i, fig. 1, where h marks the 9 pri- 

 maries of a sparrow's wing, and s indicates the second;iries ; he will see a dif- 

 ference at once. The primaries express themselves, though with constantly 

 diminishing force, to the last; then the secondaries immediately begin to 

 tell a diftereut tale. Among North American birds, the only ones with 

 NINE primaries are the families Motacillidce , Alaiididce, Si/lvicoUda:, Ilirun- 

 dinidce, FringilUdce, Icteridce, part of the Vireonidce, and the genus Am- 

 pelis,- The condition of the Ji.rsl primary, whether 



§ 62. Spurious or not, is often of great help in this determination. The 

 first primary is said to bo spurious (compare § 58) when it is very short ; 

 say a third, or less than a third, of the length of the second primary. A 



*This really ha.s ten; but the first Is so small anrl so out of position that it is only theoretically accoiiuted 

 as such, and \vould not be so considered by the student. I should add, that recent researches of Prof. Baird's 

 tend to show that a/^ supposed uiue-primaried birds have really ten; but only an expert oi-nithfdogist could 

 fiufl the additional one in question ; and it need not be taken into account for present pur[)Oses. (See expla- 

 nation of PI. I. fig. 1, qii:) Nitzsch says the greljes have 11 primaries; this may be coufijined. 



