INTRODUCTION. 
XXIX 
The wing of most birds is iisuallj so placed, as to keep in equili- 
brium the whole of the body, and to balance the bird steadily in its 
flight. But all do not possess wings in exact equilibrium ; the Grebes 
and the Divers have theirs placed before the centre, and when they fly, 
their flight is not directed in a horizontal line, but in an angle upwards 
of fifteen degrees. On the other hand, the wings of the Heron, the 
Moorhen, and the Water-rail, are behind the point of equilibrium, 
and to counteract the effects of this position of their pinions, they 
fly with their legs hanging down. On the upper extremity is a little 
appendage, called the bastard wing, it consists in general of but three 
feathers ; in the Water-rail, the Heron, the Sparrowhawk, the Henharrier, 
and the Cuckoo, of four, and in some birds of five. It is a miniature of 
the first joint of the real wing, but the use of it is unknown. The bas- 
tard wing of the sluggish Water-rail is exceedingly large, the longest 
feather being nearly two inches in length. It does not certainly tend 
much to increase the speed of the animal, as those birds, which are endowed 
with the largest bastard wings, are not the swiftest in flight. Numerous 
species have the first quill in each wing extremely short, particularly the 
Titmice, the Golden-crested Wren, Willow Wren, Nuthatch, Waterouzel, 
Creeper, Woodpecker, Red-backed Butcherbird, Goatsucker, Blackbird, 
Fieldfare, Misselthrush, Starling, Jacksnipe, Whitethroat, Whinchat, Stone- 
chat, Flycatcher, Pettychaps, Woodlark, Sedgebird, and Redwing. In 
others, as the Cuckoo, the Henharrier, and the Jay, the first quill is nearly 
two inches shorter than the next in the wing, and the Little Wren exhibits 
a similar proportion. Of the wing of the Sparrowhawk the first quill is 
very short, and the fifth longest. Buffon was certainly mistaken, when. 
The first quill is certainly a characteristic, and as such ought to have been noticed by 
authors on ornithology. It is not a little remarkable, that most of the migratory land birds have 
the first quill of the wing very short. The Cuckoo, the Jay, the Sparrowhawk, the Henharrier, 
the Wren, and the Rook, form an intermediate class between birds with very short quills, 
and those that have them the longest, such as the Sandpiper, Golden Plover, and Brambling. 
