The Fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma/Birds/Volume 1/Terminology

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Diagram of a Bird, to illustrate the terminology of the plumage and limbs.

⁠1. Forehead.
⁠2. Crown.
⁠3. Nape or occiput.
⁠4. Lores (space in front of eye).
⁠5. Supercilinm.
⁠6. Cheeks.
⁠7. Ear-coverts.
⁠8. Upper mandible or maxilla.
⁠9. Lower mandible.
10. Culmen or upper profile of maxilla.

11. Commissure or line of junction of the two mandibles.

12. Rictal bristles or vibrissæ.
13. Chin.
14. Throat.
15. Breast.
16. Abdomen.
17. Back.
18. Rump.
19. Scapulars.

20. Primaries (the earlier or outermost 9 or 10 quills of the wing).
21. Outer secondaries (wing-quills springing from the radius and ulna).

22. Inner secondaries.
23. Lesser wing-coverts.
24. Median wing-coverts.
25. Greater wing-coverts.
26. Primary wing-coverts.
27. Winglet or bastard-wing.
28. Upper tail-coverts.
29. Tail-feathers or rectrices.
30. Under tail-coverts.
31. Tarsus.
32. Hind toe or first toe or hallux.
33. Inner or second toe.
34. Middle or third toe.
35. Outer or fourth toe.

​Flanks or sides of body are the parts approximately covered by the closed wing.

Axillaries are the lengthened feathers springing from the axilla or region beneath the base of the wing.

Supplementary bristles or hairs are those springing from the side of the forehead in front of the rictal bristles.

Nasal bristles or hairs are those springing from the front of the forehead and covering the nostrils.



The measurements in this work are invariably in millimetres, and are taken thus:—

Length.— The distance from the tip of the bill to the tip of the longest tail-feather, unless otherwise stated.

Tail.— The distance from the root of the tail, generally indicated both in the fresh and dried state by the presence of a piece of flesh on the underside, to the tip of the longest feather.

Wing.— The greatest distance from the bend of the wing to the tip of the longest primary, measured straight. When the wing is curved, it is flattened out for the purpose of measurement.

Tarsus.— The distance from the centre of articulation of the tarsus with the tibia to the base of the middle toe.

Culmen.— The distance in a straight line from the feathering of the forehead to the extreme tip of the beak.

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