413 
C. J. S unde vail on the Wings of Birds. 
large enough nearly to displace the largest covert-feathers, 
which lie as if firmly grown to the tubes of the quill-feathers. 
The same thing is met with, more or less, in all birds which 
have broad wings, and consequently large arm-feathers; but 
if we compare the Song-birds with other birds which have 
these feathers equally large *, we shall always find that 
the former have the feathers resting with a larger part, in 
proportion to their size, upon the ulna, and consequently 
also more firmly attached to it, and the covert-feathers 
more strongly attached to the quills. In the Water-birds, 
and in general in those which have short quill-feathers, the 
latter are placed almost behind the wing-bone, and so loosely 
attached as to possess considerable mobility, and the covert- 
feathers are inserted separately from the quill-feathers as a 
distinct series, because the quills are thin and leave consider¬ 
able interspaces. In this, as in so many other points, Ficus 
approaches the Song-birds. 
B. The smaller Feathers of the Upper Surface of the Wing. 
These feathers are always most developed on the cubitus, 
where they are also most easily seen and examined; there¬ 
fore we will start from that part. They have usually all been 
designated by the common name of coverts. They are of 
the following kinds :— 
1. Tectrices majores (great wing-coverts, Pteromata , Ill.f, 
figs. 3, 7, k, T) form a single series which is always situated 
immediately within upon the roots of the quill-feathers. 
They always retain much resemblance in form, texture, and 
colour to their corresponding quill-feathers, and are always, 
like the latter, destitute of accessory plumules. They 
* E. g. Corvus, Turdus, Hirundo, and Cinclus , compared with Stria: or 
Aquila, Lams, Falco, and Anas. 
t The cause of my not setting this name in the first place is that it has 
never been generally accepted, and that we must not increase the number 
of terms except when it is clearly unavoidable or decidedly advantageous. 
The Swedish name “ flygpenntacken,” adopted by Marklin in the trans¬ 
lation of Illiger’s i Terminologie/ may be admissible as containing its own 
explanation. 
