420 
BIRDS OF PENNSYLVANIA. 
p. 
Web-footed; having the anterior toes full-webbed. 
palmate and Totipalmate. 
Pertaining to a marsh or swamp. 
Compare Semi- 
Pal'inate. 
Pal 'mated. 
Pal'miped. 
Palu'dicole. — Marsh-inhabitating. 
Pal'udine. 
Palus'trine. 
Pap ilia. — Small fleshy nipple-like prominence. 
Par'asite. — In Oology, a species which constructs no nest and performs none of the 
duties of incubation or rearing of the young, but imposes on other birds for 
this purpose. A parasitic bird is also a species which obtains its food by syste- 
matically robbing other species; as the Parasitic (^^ter cor arius para- 
siticus). Bald Eagle (^Haliceetus leucocephalus). 
Parasi'tic. — Habitually making use of other birds’ nests. 
Pas seres. — A group of birds including the sparrows and all the higher birds. 
Pas'serine. — Sparrow-like. Belonging to the group of Fasseres. 
Pearl Blue. — A very pale purplish blue color. 
Pearl Gray. — A very pale delicate blue-gray color, like the mantle of certain gulls. 
Pec'tinate. ? Having tooth-like projections, like those of a comb, as in the toes of 
Pec'tinated. ) a heron or grouse. 
Pec'toral. — Pertaining to the breast 
Pec'tus. — The breast. 
Pelag'ic. — Frequenting the high seas. 
Phase. — Used more especially in the case of dichromatic species, as the melan- 
istic phase, ih^ruf esc ent phase, etc. 
Pi' ci. — The name of a natural group, or order, of zygodactyle birds, comprising the 
woodpeckers and wrynecks. 
Pig'meiit. — Coloring-matter. 
Pil'eus. 
Pil'eum. 
Pink. — A dilute rose-red color. 
Pin'nate. ) Having little wing-like tutts of elongated feathers on the side of the 
Pin'nated. $ neck. 
Pin'tailed. — Having the central tail-feathers elongated and narrowly acuminate, as 
in the male Pintail Duck {Dafila acuta). 
Pisciv'orous- — Fish-eating. 
Plu'mage. — The leathers, collectively. 
Plum'beous. — A deep bluish-gray color, like tarnished lead ; lead-color. 
Polyg'amous- — Mating with many females, as the domestic cock. 
Poste'rior. — (Uj>per or Lower) Parts. — The hinder half of a bird, above or below. 
Postoc'ular. i 
Postor'hital. ) posterior to, the eye. 
Pow'der-down Feath'ers. — Peculiar imperfect feathers, in a matted patch, which 
grow continually, and as constantly break down, with a scrufy exfoliation, 
and pervaded with a greasy substance ; they are especially conspicuous in 
the heron tribe, but are also found elsewhere. 
Pri'mary. — Any one of the quill-feathers of the “hand-wing,” usually nine to eleven 
in number. Used chiefly in the plural, as distinguished from the secondaries^ 
or those remiges which grow upon the forearm. 
Pri'mary Cov'erts. — The series of stiff feathers, usually corresponding with the 
primaries in their graduation, which overlie the basal portion of the latter, 
Pune tate. — Dotted. 
Pu'pil. — Central black disc circumscribed by the iris ; a hole, not a substance. 
Pur'ifle. — A color intermediate between red and blue. ^ 
Pygoj)o'des. — A group of swimming birds, containing the families Podieipididoe, 
Colymbidoe and Alcidoe, distinguished by the extreme posterior position of 
the legs. 
Pyr'iform. — Pear-shaped. 
> The cap ; top of head from base of bill to nape. 
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