. Reptiles and birds. A popular account of the various orders; with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting. . f one barb interlocking with those of another in themanner of dove-tailing, but by the anterior series of one barb over-lapping and hooking into the re-curvate formation of the barb nextto it (Figs. 48, 49). The barbules themselves frequently throw outfilaments in the same manner, which are called barbicels, the objectof which is apparently the same—namely, that of connecting andretaining the barbules in position. These barbules may be observed, FEATHERS. 171 b
. Reptiles and birds. A popular account of the various orders; with a description of the habits and economy of the most interesting. . f one barb interlocking with those of another in themanner of dove-tailing, but by the anterior series of one barb over-lapping and hooking into the re-curvate formation of the barb nextto it (Figs. 48, 49). The barbules themselves frequently throw outfilaments in the same manner, which are called barbicels, the objectof which is apparently the same—namely, that of connecting andretaining the barbules in position. These barbules may be observed, FEATHERS. 171 by the aid of a small magnifying glass, in the quills of a GoldenEagle. Feathers, then, consist of three parts—the tube, the shaft, andthe webs (Figs. 48, 49, 50); the webs being the barbs furnished withbarbules, sometimes barbicels. They are convex above, and are thusenabled to resist flexion or fracture from beneath better than fromany other direction. They are also elastic; and this property, com-bined with their curvature, tends to keep them closer together. In the feathers of a large portion of birds there is a plumiform.
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, booksubjectbirds, booksubjectrep
