156 ELEMENTS OE OKSTITHOLO&T. 



Primaries. — This term is applied to denote those remiges 

 which are inserted into the pinion (not, of course, into the 

 poilex), and the length of the wing is often defined by the 

 length from the base (or proocimal end) of the pinion to the 

 apex (or distal. enA) of the longest feather it bears. These 

 feathers are the stiffest and strongest of all, and there are 

 almost always nine or ten of them. If the first, or outermost, 

 is very short, it is often called a bastard or spurious primary, 

 as, e. g., in the Thrush. The tip of the longest primary 

 constitutes the point of the wing. 



Secondaries. — The feathers thus named are those which 

 spring from the arm. They vary greatly in number and in size. 

 They may be extremely short, as in the Swift, or extremely 

 long, as in the Argus Pheasant. There may be only six of 

 them, or their number may exceed forty. It is very often easy 

 to distinguish the secondaries from the primaries by their being 

 less stiif and by a slight difierence in their inclination. 



Such feathers as may arise from the upper-arm bone used 

 to be called Tertiaries or Tertials. But now all the remiges 

 which are not primaries are termed " secondaries," the inner 

 ones being distinguished as innermost secondaries. These latter 

 are generally few in number and inconspicuous, but may be elon- 

 gated and conspicuous, as in the Lark or the Woodcock. They 

 are often useful in defining some genera of birds, as they 

 frequently differ in colour from the other secondaries, and 

 sometimes partake of the tints of the greater coverts. 



Scapulars (fig. 144, 19) are sometimes confounded with 

 innermost secondaries, but the latter belong to the series of 

 " remiges," while the former pertain to the series of feathers 

 implanted in what is called the humeral pteryla *. 



Wing-coverts. — The coverts — tectrices — or covering feathers of 

 the wing, difier from " tail-coverts " in that they strengthen 

 the quills. They are, however, like tail-coverts in that they 

 are divided into an upper series (superiores) and an under one 

 (inferiores), and, as has been said, they covet over and protect 

 and strengthen the quills and base of the " remiges." 



Tectrices svperiores. — ^These are the more important, and they 

 are much more complex than those of the tail, as might be 

 expected from the greater complexity of the parts they cover. 



' See below, p. 166, fig. 147, 2. 



