114 
GENEBAL OBNITHOLOGY. 
such cases, tlie feather-border of the wing pronounces the letter W quite strongly, — outer 
lower angle at point of primaries ; middle upper angle at reentrance between primaries and 
secondaries ; inner lower angle at point of tertiaries. 
The point of the wing" is at the tip of the longest primary. It is best expressed when 
the first primary is longest. Sometimes the end is so much rounded off, that the midmost 
primary may be the longest one, the others being graduated on both sides of this projecting 
point. In speaking of the relative lengths of remiges, we always mean the way in which their 
tips fall together, not the actual total lengths of the feathers. Thus a second primary, whose 
tip falls opposite the tip of the first one, is said to be of equal length, though it may actually 
be longer, being seated higher up on the pinion. The development of the primaries also 
furnishes one of the most important measurements of birds: for the expression ''length of 
wing," or simply 'Hhe wing," means the distance from the "bend of the wing," or carpal 
angle, to the end of the longest primary. The integument of the wing does not very often 
develop anything but feathers. Occasionally 
Claws and Spurs are found upon the pinion. Claws have been already noticed (p. 108). 
They are properly so called, being horny growths comparable in every way to those upon the 
ends of the toes, like the claws of beasts, or human nails. A spur (Lat. calcar), however, is 
something different, though of the same horny texture, since it does not terminate a digital 
phalanx, but is off- set fi'om the side of the hand. It is exactly like the spur on the leg of a 
fowl; which obviously is not a claw. The spur- winged goose (Plectropterus) , pigeon {Didun- 
culus), plovers {Chettusia, etc.), and the doubly-spurred screamer {Palamedea), afford exam- 
ples of such outgrowths, of which the Ja9anas (Parra) furnish the only, though a very 
well-marked, illustration among North American birds. (See fig. 53 ter.) 
III. THE TAIL. 
Its Bony Basis. — Time was when birds flew about with long, lizard-like, bony and 
fleshy tails, having the feathers inserted in a row on either side like the hairs of a squirrel's. 
But we have changed all that distichous arrangement since when the Archceopteryx was^ 
steered with such a rudder through the scenes of its Jurassic life. Now the true separate 
coccygeal bones are few, generally about nine in number, and so short and stunted that they do 
not project beyond the general plumage, — in fact scarcely beyond the border of the pelvis. 
Anteriorly, within the bony basin of the pelvis, there are several vertebrae, which, fusing 
together and with the true sacrum, are termed urosacral or false tail-bones. To these- 
succeed the true caudal vertebrae, movable upon each other and upon the urosacrum. The 
last one of these, abruptly larger than the rest, and of peculiar shape, bears all the large 
tail-feathers, which radiate from it like the blades of a fan. The true caudal vertebrae col- 
lectively form the coccyx (Gr. k6kkv$, kokkux, a cuckoo; from foncied resemblance of the 
human tail-bones to a cuckoo's bill) ; the enlarged terminal one is the vomer (Lat. vomer, a 
plough- share, from its shape ; not to be confused with a bone of the skull of same name) or 
pygostyle (Gr. irvyr], puge, rump, and orCXos, stulos, a stake, pale). The pygostyle, however, 
is a compound bone, consisting of several stunted coccygeal vertebrae fused in one. The bone& 
are moved by appropriate muscles, and upon the surface is seated the elaeodochon (p. 86). The 
whole bony and muscular affair is familiar to every one as the pope's nose " of the Christmas, 
turkey; it is a bird's real tail, of which the feathers are merely appendages. In descriptive 
ornithology, however, the anatomical parts are ignored, the word ''tail" having reference solely 
to the feathers. These, like those of the wings, are of two sorts : the coverts or tectrices, and 
the rudders or rectrices (Lat. rectrix, pi. rectrices, a ruler, guider; because they seem to 
steer the bird's flight) ; corresponding exactly to the coverts and remiges of the wings. The 
