OR, PLAIN 



Birds are the most lovely and 

 interesting creatures which man 

 can contemplate. Their plumage 

 is always beautiful ; frequently 

 gorgeous. Their forms, in no 

 instance disagreeable, are some- 

 times graceful in the highest de- 

 gree ; their music, from the crow- 

 ing of the cock to the warble of 

 the sky-lark and the trill of the 

 nightingale, is associated with the 

 most interesting scenes of our 

 existence, and the happiest days 

 of our lives. 



If we notice |he body of a bird 

 when flying, 1, we observe that 

 the neck is outstretched, which 

 elongates the body, and facilitates 

 its passage through the air. The 

 feet, 2, when the legs are short, 



382. 



are drawn up, and almost em- 

 bedded in the plumage. The 

 wings, 3, are formed of layers of 

 feathers so placed that they mu- 

 tually support each other, the 

 smaller feathers serving not only 

 to give strength, and to perfect 

 the resisting surface of the wing, 

 but to cover the quills of the 

 larger ones. These small fea- 

 thers occur, not only upon the 

 under, 3, but upon the upper 

 surfaces, 5, and are called upper 

 coverts and under coverts. Simi- 

 lar feathers attached to the tails 

 of birds are called tail coverts. 

 The large feathers of the wings 



teaching. 105 



are named respectively the pri- 

 maries, 6, the secondaries, 7, and 

 the tertials, 8 ; next to the ter- 

 tials come the greater coverts, 9, 

 and the lesser coverts, 5 ; a group 

 of small feathers on the middle 

 apex of the wing are called wing- 

 lets, 10 ; the feathers springing 



383. 



from the shoulders, and lying 

 along the sides of the back, the 

 scapularies, 11 ; the upper and 

 under tail coverts, 12, 13, and 

 the rectrices, or tail feathers, 14. 

 A perfect feather, 15, consists of 

 a tube, or central stem, 16, and a 

 shaft, 17, and long and short 

 barbs, 18, 19. Within the tube, 

 16, is found a kind of pith; this 



15 



19 



384. 



is the membrane which, during 

 the growth of the feather, nou- 

 rishes it by numerous fine blood- 

 vessels ; but when the feather is 

 perfected, the supply of blood 

 ceases, and the' membrane dries up. 

 Some feathers, 15, are provided 

 with tubes, shafts, and barbs; 

 those of a softer nature, from 

 which these distinctive parts are 



