How Pennn 

 and Pluma 

 differ. 



* The skin 

 inverting the 

 bone. 



The Tail and 

 its ufes. 



f Douckers 

 or Loons. 



The Flag-fea- 

 thers of the 

 Wing^ 



Birds moult 

 their feathers 

 yearly. 



ThePeftoral 

 Mufcles. 



0%&ClTHOLOgr. Book I. 



though the legs and feet ( as I faid ) in moft Birds, and in fame alfo the heads are na- 

 ked, as for example in the Turkey, the Crane, the Emeu, 8cc. yet befides the Ofirkh 

 we know no Bird that hath any other part of its body bare of feathers. What is 

 reported of a kind of Hens, that bear wool inftead of feathers we take to be falfe 

 and fabulous. Now though the words Penna and Pluma, which we may Englifh gniB. 

 and Feather, or hard and foft feather,be fometimes promifcuoufly ufed,at leaft Penna. 

 in good Authors contains under it Pluma, yet we in this work for greater perfpicuity 

 diftinguifhthefe names, with our excellent Harvey, in this manner.- Penna? differ from 

 Pluma? in their Jhape, rife, place, and order of growth. Chickens are firft plumigerom before 

 pennigerous. {_ Herein I muft crave leave to diffent from him, unlefs he comprehends 

 the firft Lanugo or Down upon Chickens under the name of Pluma, for I think the 

 Quils begin to fpring as foon as the reft of the Feathers. ] For the Penna? or gtuils are 

 found only in the Wings and Rump, andjpring deeper from the lower part of the skin, or the 

 very * Periofteum, and ferve for motion and fight -, the Pluma? or feathers faring from the 

 upper part of the skjn, and are found every where in the body for defence and ornament. 

 The Down, wherewith Birds newly hatch'd are covered, flicks, for the moft part, to 

 the tips of the primigenial feathers. In very many Birds the middle parts of the feathers 

 are black. 



1 6. The Tails of Birds are made up of feathers. Moft Birds have this part, fome 

 few want it, as the Doucker or Loon, and a fort of Hen. The Tail ferves them for 

 fleering their courfe, and turning in the Air, as it were a Rudder. This is chiefly 

 feen in Kites, of which Pliny faith thus, This kind feems to have taught men the Art of 

 governing a Ship by the flexures of their Tails, Nature Ji jewing in the Air what was needful 

 to be done in the deep. Hence thofe Birds that have but a fhort Tail and long legs, ftretch 

 out their Legs backward in flying, to fupply the defect, of the Tail 5 whereas other 

 Birds, which have long or indifferent Tails fly moft with their Legs drawn up to their 

 body, fome few with them hanging down, as Water-Hens. Befides, the Tail doth not 

 only ferve for directing and governing the flight, but likewife for fupporting and 

 keeping even the body. Hence the f Colymbi, which have no Tails, fly very incon- 

 veniently, as it were erect in the Air, with their heads ftraight upward, and their Tail 

 almoft perpendicularly downward. In many Birds the outmoft feathers of the Tail 

 are whiter than the middle ones. The two middle feathers are not fituate in the fame 

 right lines with the reft on each fide, but a little higher or more forward. The 

 number of Tail-feathers in no fort of Bird is odd. We have not as yet obferved in the 

 Tail of any Bird fewer than ten feathers 5 though Marggravius mentions fome Bra- 

 (ilianBixds that have but eight feathers in their Tails : And it hath been told us, that 

 "the Tropic-bird hath only two, but thofe very long ones. 



1 7. The tips of the Flag-feathers of the Wings run out into a point on that fide the 

 (haft inflich as are gradually longer, which refpects the feathers that are longer, or 

 that run out further 5 fo in the ten outmoft feathers the exterior Vanes run out into 

 points, becaufe the exterior of thofe feathers are longer than the interior, or at leaft 

 by reafon of their fituation in the Wing complicated run out further. In the reft of 

 the Flags towards the body, the interior Vanes run out into points, becaufe from the 

 tenth inwards the interior feathers run out further than the exterior, by reafon like- 

 wife of their fite in the Wing clofed. In divers Birds the tips of the middle Flag- 

 feathers are as it were indented, the Vane on each fide the fhaft running out equally 

 beyond the (haft. This happens when the feathers are of equal length, the Antece- 

 dent being neither longer nor fhorter, nor any way more produced than the Con- 

 foquent. The inner Vanes of the Flag-feathers of the Wings are in moft Birds broader 

 than the outer. 



18. All Birds, as far as we yet know, moult all the quills and feathers of their 

 whole bodies yearly. The bottoms of all the feathers, ( that is, the lower parts that 

 appear not to fight) in Birds of all forts are of one and the fame colour, and for the 

 moft part different from what is expofed to view. 



19. The Pectoral Mufcles, andfuchas ferve to move the Wings, are of all others 

 the thickeft and moft flefhy. For fince the flight of Birds is not performed without a 

 ftrong motion, and vehement agitation of the Wings, to which force is required, it 

 was requifitethe Organs defigned for that exercife fhould be the ftrongeft and moft 

 able. On the contrary, in man the Mufcles which ferve to move the Legs are greater 

 and ftronger than thofe which belong to the Arm : Becaufe their action, being to hold 

 up the whole body, and transfer it from place to place, requireth great ability and 

 vigour. Whence, if it be poffible for Man to fly, it is thought by them who have 



curioufly 



