102 
ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIROS. 
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 Prionilex* {fiij.BO. a), but in 
other groups it is more partial. 
Two species of humming birds 
possess it (c), and one of the 
subordinate types of PMy. 
eircux. It is highly developed 
in EdoliuK remifer (6), 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 Edorntu remifry 
are no doubt analogous to the 
exceeding long feather on each of the wings of the Sierra 
Leone goat-sucker (Macrodipteriis AfrimmisSv,.), and 
we may even fancy some analogy between these latter 
and the processes observed in the angle fish ( Lophim 
piscaforius). ' 
(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 of}’ 
Instance^ of this form occur in most of the species of 
puff bird, Tanmha,--m several of the American Todies 
{Toda^) and in the African group of PlattMera-. 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. 
* See Zool. Ulus. ii. pi, gi. 
