110 GENERAL ORNITHOLOGY. 
they are so much reduced in modern birds as to be of little account in practical ornithology. 
Tn fact, the unpractised student may fail to recognize them at first. They form a small packet 
on the fore outer border of the pinion near the carpal angle, and lie smoothly upon the upper 
surface of the wing, strengthening and finishing off what would be otherwise a weak spot in 
the contour of the wing-border. It is quite easy, on recognizing them, to lift them collectively 
a little away from the other feathers, owing to the slight mobility the thumb possesses. In fact, 
they are sometimes quite obtrusive, when faulty taxidenny has discomposed them. They are 
not often conspicuously modified either in size or color. In a few birds (e.g., Cathartes), a claw 
will be found at the end of the joint which bears them. The student must be careful to dis- 
criminate between the use of the word spurious in the present connection and its application 
to a rudimentary condition of the first remex (see p. 113). The 
Wing-Coverts overlie the bases of the large quills on both the upper and under surfaces 
of the wing. They are therefore conveniently divided into an upper set (tectrices superiores) 
and an under set (tect. inferiores). The former are so much more conspicuous than the latter 
that they are always under- 
stood when ‘‘ upper” is not 
specified. The latter are 
sometimes collectively called 
‘‘the lining of the wings.” 
Coverts include all the small 
feathers of the wings except- 
ing the bastard quills; they 
extend a varying distance 
along the bases of the flight- 
feathers. The ordinary dis- 
position and division of the 
upper coverts is as follows : 
One set, rather long and stif- 
fish, grow upon the pinion, 
and are close-pressed upon 
the bases of the outer nine 
or ten remiges, covering 
these large feathers about as 
far as their structure is plumulaceous. These are the upper PRIMARY coverts, or coverts of the 
primaries (fig. 30, yc) ; they are ordinarily the least conspicuous of any. All the rest of the 
upper coverts are SECONDARY; they spring mostly from the forearm. These are considered in 
three groups or rows. The greater upper secondary coverts, called simply the ‘greater coverts” 
(tectrices majores, fig. 30, gsc,) are the first, outermost, longest row, reaching nearest the tips of 
the flight-feathers; they overlie the bases of nearly all the remiges, excepting the first nine or 
ten. The median upper secondary coverts, shortly known as the ‘‘ middle coverts ” (tectrices 
media), are a next row, shorter and therefore less exposed, but still quite evidently forming a 
special series (fig. 30, msc). It is a common feature of these median coverts that they shingle 
over each other contrary-wise to the way the greater coverts are imbricated, the outer vane of 
one being under the inner vane of the next outer one. All the rest of the upper secondary 
coverts, forming several indistinguishable rows, pass under the general name of lesser coverts 
(tecivices minores ; fig. 30, bc). The greater coverts furnish an excellent zodlogical character } 
for in no Passeres ure they more than half as long as the remiges they cover, while the reverse 
is the case in most birds of lower orders. "Woodpeckers, however, though non-passerine, have 
quite short coverts. The under coverts have the same general arrangement as the upper; but 
Fig. 30. — Feathers of a sparrow’s wing; nat. size. (For explanation see text.) 
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