EXTERNAL PARTS OF BIRDS. — THE WINGS. 113 



meet a reentrant angle in the general contour of the posterior border of the wing ; the feather 

 that occupies this notch is the one we are after, and unluckily it is sometimes last primary, 

 sometimes first secondary. But observe that primaries are so to speak, self-asserting, emphatic, 

 italicized, remiges, stifi^, strong, and obstinate ; while secondaries are retiring, whispering, in 

 brevier, limber, weak, and yielding. Their different character is almost always shown by 

 something in their shape or texture which the student will soon learn to recognize, though it 

 cannot well be described. Let him examine fig. 30, where 6 marks the nine primaries of a 

 sparrow's wing, and s indicates the secondaries; he will see a difference at once. The 

 primaries express themselves, though with diminishing emphasis, to the last one ; then the 

 secondaries begin to tell a different tale. Among North American birds the only ones with 

 NINE primaries are the families MotaeillidcB, Vireonidce, CoereWdcB, Sylvicolidce, Ki/rundAnidce, 

 Tanagridm, Frvngillidm, Icterida, part of Vireonidia, and the genus Ampelis. The condition 

 of the first primary, whether spiM'ious or not, is often of great help in this determination. 

 The first primary is called "spurious" when it is very short — say one third, or less, as long 

 as the second, or longest, primary. Among Passeres, a spurious first primary only occurs in 

 certain ten-primaried Oseines : whence it is evident, that to find such short first primary is 

 equivalent to determining the presence of ten primaries, though not to find it does not prove 

 there are only nine ; the count should be made iii all cases in which the outer primary is more 

 than one-third as long as the next. The diiferenoe between nine primaries, and ten with the 

 first spurious, is excellently illustrated among the species of Vireo. Any thrush, nuthatch, 

 titmouse, or creeper shows a spurious primary to advantage, — large enough not to be over- 

 looked, small enough not to be mistaken. 



The Secondaries (Fig. 30, s) are those remiges which are seated on the fore-arm (fig. 

 27, -B to C). They vary in number from six to forty or more. They have the peculiarity of 

 being attached to one of the bones of the fore-arm, the 

 ulna. If an ulna be examined closely, there will be 

 seen a row of little points showing the attachment ; 

 such are indicated in fig. 27, along ul, and in fig. 31. ^^^ 3,._uina of Colaptes metcicanus, 

 The secondaries present no points necessary to dwell showing points of attachment of the second- 

 upon here, after what has been said of the primaries, ^i^^. (D.. B. w. shufeldt, u. S. A.) 

 They are enormously developed in the Argus pheasant, and have curious shapes in some other 

 exotic birds. They are often long enough to cover the primaries completely when the wing is 

 closed, as in grebes ; on the other hand, they are extremely short in the swifts and humming- 

 birds. 



The Tertiaries (Fig. 30, t) are properly the remiges which grow upon the upper arm, 

 humerus. But such feathers are not very evident in most birds, and the two or three inner- 

 most secondaries, growing upon the very elbow, and commonly different from the rest in form 

 or color, pass under the name of "tertiaries."' Again, in some cases, scapular feathers 

 (fig. 30, scp,) are called tertiaries, especially when long or otherwise conspicuous. But 

 there is an evident and proper distinction. Scapulars belong to the pieryla humeralis (see 

 p. 87) ; while tertiaries, whether seated on the elbow or higher up the arm, are the innermost 

 remiges of the pteryla ala/ris. These inner remiges are often shortly called tertials ; though 

 the longer name is more correct, besides being conformable with the names of the other two 

 series of remiges. Tertiaries often afford good characters for description, in peculiarities of 

 their size, shape, or color. Thus it is very common among Fringillidis for these feathers to be 

 parti-colored differently from the other remiges. In many birds they are long and "flowing"; 

 as in the families Motadllidce and Alaudidce, where they reach about to the end of the 

 primaries when the wing is closed. Their development is similar in many ScolopacidcB. In 



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