ORNITHOLOGY. 767 
OF THE PARTS OF BIRDS. 
THE HEAD. 
1. Bill (rojlrum), is a hard horny fubftance, confining 
of an upper and under mandible. ' Its edges generally 
plain and fliarp, like the edge of a knife ; cultrated, as are 
the bills of crows; but fometimes ferrated, as in the tou¬ 
can ; or jagged, as in the gannet and fome herons; or pec¬ 
tinated, as in the duck; or denticulated, as in the mer- 
ganfers; but always deftitute of real teeth immerfed in 
lockets. The bafe in vultures and falcons is covered 
with a naked Ikin or cere (cera); in fome birds with a 
carneous appendage, as the turkey; or a callus, as the 
curaffow. In birds of prey, the bill is hooked at the end, 
and fit for tearing; in crows, ftraight and ftrong, for 
picking; in water-fowl, either long and pointed, for 
ftriking ; or flender and blunt, for fearching in the mire ; 
or flat and broad, for gobbling. Its other ufes are for 
building nefts, feeding the young, climbing, as in par¬ 
rots; or, laftly, as an inftrument of defence or offence. 
2. Nostrils (naves), the nice inftruments of difcern- 
ing their food, are placed either in the middle of the 
upper mandible, or near the bafe; or at the bafe, as in 
parrots; or behind the bafe, as in toucans and hornbills; 
but fome birds, as the gannet, are deftitute of noftrils. 
The noftrils are generally naked ; but fometimes covered 
with briftles reflected over them, as in crows, or hid in the 
feathers, as in parrots, &c. The fore part of the head is 
called the front (capijirum), the fummit (vertex), or the 
crown; the hind part, with the next joint of the neck, 
(nuclia,) the nape ; the fpace between the bill and the 
eyes, which in herons, grebes, &c. is naked, is called the 
lores, or ftraps, (loro); the fpace beneath the eyes the 
cheeks (geua). 
3. Orbits (orbitce), the eyelids; in fome birds naked, 
in others covered with fhort foft feathers. Birds have no 
eyebrows: but the groufe kind have injieua fcarlet naked 
fkin above, which are called fupercilia; the fame word is 
alfo applied to any line of a different colour that paffes 
from the bill over the eyes. 
4. Ears. Birds are deftitute of auricles or external 
ears, having an orifice for admiffion of found : open in all 
but owls, whofe ears are furnifhed with valves. 
5. The Chin, the fpace between the parts of the lower 
mandible and the neck, is generally covered with fea¬ 
thers ; but, in the cock and fome others, has carneous 
appendages called wattles (paleria); in others naked, and 
furnifhed with a pouch capable of great dilatation, (J'ac - 
cuius,) as in the pelican and corvorants. 
6. Neck (collum), the part that connefts the head to 
the body, is longer in birds than in any other animals ; 
and longer in fuch as have long legs than in thofe that 
have fhort, either for gathering up their meat from the 
ground, or ftriking their prey in the water; except in 
web-footed fowl, which are, by reverfing their bodies, 
deftined to fearch for food at the bottom of waters, as 
fwans, &c. Birds, efpecially thofe that have a long neck, 
have the power of retracting, bending, or ftretching it 
out, in order to transfer their centre of gravity from their 
legs to their wings. 
the body 
Confifts of, 1. the Back ( dorfutn ), which is flat, ftraight, 
and inclines ; terminated by, 
2. The Rump {uropygium), furnifhed with two glands, 
fecreting a fattifh liquor from an orifice in each, which 
the birds exprefs with their bills, to oil or anoint the dif- 
compofed parts of their feathers. Thefe glands are par¬ 
ticularly large in moft web-footed water-fowl; but, in the 
grebes, which want tails, they arefmaller. 
3. Breast ( pe£tus ), is ridged and very mufcular, de¬ 
fended by a forked bone {clavicula), vulgarly called the 
merry-thought. The fhort-winged birds, fuch as groufe, 
&c. have their breafts moft flefhy or mufcular ; as they 
require greater powers in flying than the long-winged 
birds, fuch as gulls and herons, which are fpecifically 
lighter and have greater extent of fail. 
4. Belly {abdomen), is covered with a ftrong fkin, and 
contains the entrails. 
5. The Vent, or vent-feathers, {criffum,) is between 
the thighs and the tail. The anus lies'hid in thofe fea¬ 
thers. 
THE LIMBS. 
1. Wings { alec ), adapted for flight in all birds, except 
the dodo, oftriches, caffowary, great auk, and the pen¬ 
guins, whofe wings are too fhort for the ufe of flying ; 
but in the dodo and oftrich, when extended, ferve to ac¬ 
celerate their motion in running ; and, in the penguins, 
perform the office of fins, in fwimming or diving. The 
wings have near their end an appendage covered with 
four or five feathers, calledjhe baftard or fpurious wing 
{ala notha and alula fpuria). The fmaller coverts {tec- 
trices), are the feathers which lie on the bones of the 
wings; the greater coverts are thofe which lie beneath the 
former, and cover the quill-feathers and the fecondaries. 
The quill-feathers {primores), fpring from the firft bones 
(digiti and metacarpi) of the wings, and are ten in number: 
thefe are broader on their inner than exterior fides. The 
fecondaries (fecondance), are thofe that rife from the fe- 
cond part {cubitus), are about eighteen in number, 
and equally broad on both fides. The primary and fe- 
condary wing-feathers are called remiges. A tuft of fea¬ 
thers placed beyond the fecondaries near the junftion of 
the wings with the body, common in water-fowl, is ge¬ 
nerally longer than the fecondaries, cuneiform, and may 
not unaptly be called the tertials. The fcapulars are a 
tuft of long feathers arifing nearthe jun&ion of the wings 
(brachia), with the body, and lie along the fides of the 
back, but may be eafily diftinguifhed, and raifed with 
one’s finger. The inner coverts are thofe that clothe the 
under fide of the wing. The fubaxillary are peculiar to 
the greater paradife-birds. The wings of fome birds are 
inftruments of offence. The anhima of Marcgrave has 
two ftrong fpines or fpurs in the front of each wing; a 
fpecies of plover has a Angle one in each wing ; the whole 
tribe of jacana, and the gambo, or fpur-winged goofe, have 
the fame. 
2. The Tail is the director or rudder of birds in 
their flight; it confifts of ftrong feathers {rettrices), ten 
in number, as in the woodpeckers, &c. twelve in the 
hawk tribe, and many others ; in the gallinaceous, the 
merganfers, and the duck kind, of more. It is either 
even at the end, as in moft birds; or forked, as in fwal- 
lows ; or cuneated, as in magpies. See. or rounded, as i» 
many birds. The grebe is deftitute of a tail, the rump 
being covered with down ; and that of the caffowary with 
the feathers of the back. Immediately over the tail are 
certain feathers that fpring from the lower part of the 
back, and are called the coverts of the tail {uropygium). 
3. Thighs (femora), are covered entirely with feathers 
in all lapd-birds, except the buftards and the oftriches; 
the lower part of thofe of all waders, or cloven-footed 
water-fowl, are naked ; thofe of all web-footed fowl 
the fame, but in a lefs degree; in rapacious birds, they 
are very mufcular. 
4..Legs {crura) ; thofe of rapacious fowls very ftrong, 
furniflied with large tendons, and fitted for tearing and a 
firm gripe. The legs of fome of this order are covered 
with feathers down to the toes, fuch as the golden eagle; 
others to the very nails ; but thofe of moft other birds 
are covered with feales, or with a fkin divided into feg- 
ments, or continuous. In fome of the pies, and in all 
the pafferine tribe, the fkin is thin and membranous ; in 
thofe of web-footed water-fowl, ftrong. The legs of 
moft birds are placed near the centre of gravity: in land- 
birds, or in waders that want the back toe, exactly fo ; 
for they want that help to keep them ere£t. Auks, 
grebes, divers, and penguins, have their legs placed quite 
behind, fo are neceflitated to fit ereft; their pace is awk¬ 
ward 
