EXTERNAL ANATOMY. WING FEATHERS. 89 
to be less powerful than that of the typical falcons ; for 
their three first quills are gradually shortened^ whereas 
the “ noble ” race has the first quUl feather nearly as 
long as any of the others. In the owls, the situation 
of the notch varies ; for in some it is near the end, in 
others, towards the middle of the quills. This struc- 
ture, the precise use of which it is difficult to explain, 
although universal among the rapacious birds, is only 
extended, out of their circle, to the typical tyrant 
shrikes ; and wdiich represent the Raptores in their 
own particular family group. A modification of this 
sinuous margin of the inner, is frequently found on 
that of the outer, web, not only in the rapacious birds, 
but in many others. It is particularly strong in the 
genus Aster; for the sparrow-hawk has the terminal 
half of the outer web of the primaries only half as broad 
as the remaining portion ; but in Fako Sparmrius*, 
and the genuine falcons, the second quill only has a 
slight external emargination towards the midillc. Many 
of the parrots, crows, and other birds have the exterior 
much broader at the base than it is towards the tip, 
but then the change in the breadth is gradual, and in 
no instance that we are acquainted with, is it suffi- 
ciently sudden to be termed emarginate. 
(82.) Rounded wings are always short; and there 
is so little difference, either in point of length or shape, 
between the last six or seven primaries and the second- 
aries, that the difference of the tw’o series can hardly be 
distinguished. The tertials, also, are nearly of the same 
dimensions ; so that when the wing is fully expanded, 
* North. Zool, voJ. ii. pL 24. 
