﻿102 



ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 



having the shafts, for a certain space towards their ends, 

 entirely destitute of webs on either side ; these webs or 

 radii, suddenly appearing again only at the tip, so as to 

 give to this part of the feather the shape of a spoon, or 

 of a battledore. This singular shaped tail is found in 

 every species of the genus Prionites* (fig. 50. «), but in 



exceeding long feather on each of the wings of the Sierra 

 Leone goat-sucker (Macrodipterus Africanus Sw.), and 

 we may even fancy some analogy between these latter, 

 and the processes observed in the angle fish (Lophius 



(95.) 8. Slender tails are generally of moderate length, 

 the feathers slender throughout, and sometimes so abrupt- 

 ly truncated that their extremities appear to be cut off. 

 Instances of this form occur in most of the species of 

 puff bird, Tamatia, — in several of the American Todies 

 ( Todus) — and in the African group of Platystera : in 

 the latter, however, the feathers are broader than usual ; 

 tails having this peculiarity are generally very convex 

 above, as we see in the common wren, and in several 

 other birds not familiar to the general reader. 



will H 



other groups it is more partial. 

 Two species of humming birds 

 possess it (c), and one of the 

 subordinate types of Platy- 

 circus. It is highly developed 

 in Edolius remifer (ft), and 

 another species, but with some 

 modification ; for in these 

 latter birds (whose generic 

 character is to have the tail 

 forked,) these naked shafted 

 feathers are not the middle, 

 but the outermost. It is 

 impossible to conjecture the 

 use they are applied to, but 

 those of the Edolius remifer 

 are no doubt analogous to the 



piscatorius). 



* See Zool. Illus. ii. pi. 81. 



