﻿EXTERNAL ANATOMY. PERFECT AND EVEN TAILS. 99 



moderate tail is about equal to the length of the body ; 

 and all above this are termed long tails. 



(89.) A perfect tail, in the great majority of birds, 

 consists of twelve feathers; but in the Rasorial order, and 

 even in some of its representatives, this number amounts 

 to eighteen, while in a very few birds, as in the Brazilian 

 anoo, there are only eight. The root or base of these 

 feathers are protected by others, generally shorter, both 

 above and below : these are termed the upper and the 

 under tail covers. Generally speaking, those birds 

 which have the broadest tails, have the longest tail 

 covers, as we see in the peacocks. Yet it is somewhat 

 singular, that in the typical Grallatorial birds, both 

 the upper and under covers are nearly, if not quite as 

 long as the tail itself, so that it is really often difficult 

 to separate and discriminate the two. Many of the 

 , cuckows (which represent the Grallatores in the tribe 

 of Scansores) exhibit the same prolongation, though 

 in a less degree, of the upper covers, while those of 

 the Ceblepyrince, or caterpillar catchers, are remarkably 

 stiff. We may now pass on to the different forms of 

 tails, which we shall term, — 1. even ; 2. rounded; 3. fan- 

 shaped ; 4. graduated ; 5. cuneated ; 6\ arcuated ; 

 7. spatulate ; 8. slender ; 9* forked ; 1 0. lyre-shaped ; 

 11. boat-shaped ; 12. compressed; 13. plumed; 14. 

 scansorial. 



(90.) 1. An even tail implies, that the feathers, when 

 not expanded, are all of the same length. This struc- 

 ture is not so common as might be at first supposed, 

 for there are comparatively very few birds in which the 

 exterior or outermost feather on each side of the tail 

 is not slightly shorter than those in the middle. It also 

 happens, that in specimens set up by unskilful bird- 

 stufFers, a tail, naturally even, is so much expanded that 

 its form appears to be rounded. The French seem to 

 have introduced the word " even tail," into their lan- 

 guage from ours, but have applied it, most erroneously, to 

 such tails only as are fan shaped. 2. Rounded tails are 

 the most prevalent ; the term being given to such as have 

 h 2 



