FEATHERS ON THE HEAD. 87 



which the crest appears to answer nearly the same 

 purpose as the feathers on a dart or arrow. 



The conchas are formed either round the eyes or 

 the ears, but generally round the former. They are 

 most conspicuous in nocturnal birds, especially in the 

 owls ; and they seem to answer some purpose in 

 concentrating toward the eyes the faint light in which 

 those birds habitually seek their food. The tendency 

 to produce enlarged feathers on the sides of the head 

 in some birds of this tribe is so great, that they rise 

 on the sides of the head something in the same 

 manner as the ears of cats ; and the species which 

 have feathers standing up in this manner are called 

 " eared owls," or "horned owls ;" but the names are 

 not very accurately applied, or at least, they must be 

 understood with some limitations, because the ears or 

 horns are feathers merel}^ and have no projections 

 answering to them either of the bones or of the flesh 

 of the head. Feathers which form what are called 

 beards, or mustachoes, are dependent from the angles 

 of the gape, or the sides of the lower mandible, and 

 proceed, for a greater or less distance, down th« 

 sides of the neck. They are generally of a different 

 colour from the neighbouring parts, and remarkably 

 soft and silky in their texture. Some birds have 

 feathers similarly produced, and resembling these in 

 their texture, upon the breast, the shoulders, or other 

 parts of the neck, or adjoining it. 



The only general groups of separate feathers 

 on the heads of birds, which get a distinct name, are 

 those which are over the openings of the ears. They 

 are called the ear-coverts, and the name "covert" is 

 in general given to all those feathers, ujjon whatever 

 part of the bird they are situated, M'hich are not 

 merely clothing feathers, and at the same time neither 



