. The class Aves. Birds. 104 CLASS AVES. we go through life, and hourly pass by many of the productions of nature, but highly deserving our attention, and alike calcu- lated to produce admiration and astonishment. A common feather may be instanced as one of the unheeded, but curious, productions of creation. The feathers of birds are of three kinds : First, the plume, or down ; secondly, the coverts, or tectrices, and the scapulars ; and thirdly, the remiges, or flag-feathers, including the primary, secondary, and tertial of the wings, and the rectrices, or those of the tail. The wing and tail
. The class Aves. Birds. 104 CLASS AVES. we go through life, and hourly pass by many of the productions of nature, but highly deserving our attention, and alike calcu- lated to produce admiration and astonishment. A common feather may be instanced as one of the unheeded, but curious, productions of creation. The feathers of birds are of three kinds : First, the plume, or down ; secondly, the coverts, or tectrices, and the scapulars ; and thirdly, the remiges, or flag-feathers, including the primary, secondary, and tertial of the wings, and the rectrices, or those of the tail. The wing and tail feathers are much used in dividing the class, and as they are frequently mentioned in all writers on ornithology, it may be useful to premise shortly, that the wing consists of seven bones : one in the brachium, two in the cubi- tus, two in the carpus, and two in the metacarpus, or spurious wing. The ten larger quill-feathers, called primores, spring from the carpus; from the cubitus, an indefinite number, called secondary, and from the brachium small feathers only. In the metacarpus are implanted three small stiff feathers, called the spurious wing, ala spuria, whose use is not apparent. The accompanying wood-cut may serve to illustrate this explanation. SiMi'ious Willi/ " Seconclaiy The feathers, which are instruments not merely of clothing, but of motion, are called remiges, flags, or quills. These, as every one knows, are composed of a shaft, hollow, cylindrical, and horny toward the bottom, which goes off into a subqua- drangular, solid, but porous and hght, substance, protected by. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Cuvier, Georges, baron, 1769-1832. London : Whittaker, Treacher
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