oil-gland

• “They are not only light and strong, but warm, and by their means, as a bird soars into colder regions of air, it is protected from the cold: while for aquatic birds there is a special provision -- by pressing with their beaks an oil-gland near the tail they can waterproof their feathers!”

  Twilight and Dawn Simple Talks on the Six Days of Creation

• “After this touch the bill, orbits, feet, and former oil-gland at the root of the tail with the solution, and then you have given to the hawk everything necessary, except attitude and a proper degree of elasticity -- two qualities very essential.”

  Practical Taxidermy A manual of instruction to the amateur in collecting, preserving, and setting up natural history specimens of all kinds. To which is added a chapter upon the pictorial arrangement of museums. With additional instructions in modelling and artistic taxidermy.

• “The fantail has thirty or even forty tail-feathers, instead of twelve or fourteen—the normal number in all the members of the great pigeon family: these feathers are kept expanded, and are carried so erect, that in good birds the head and tail touch: the oil-gland is quite aborted.”

  I. Variation under Domestication. Breeds of the Domestic Pigeon, Their Differences and Origin

• “And I seemed to see them all again playing about, and passing their heads over their backs, and rubbing the points of their beaks in the oil-gland to make their plumage keep off the water.”

  Mass' George A Boy's Adventures in the Old Savannah

• “The fantail has thirty or even forty tail-feathers, instead of twelve or fourteen, the normal number in all members of the great pigeon family; and these feathers are kept expanded, and are carried so erect that in good birds the head and tail touch; the oil-gland is quite aborted.”

  On the Origin of Species~ Chapter 01 (historical)

• “The fantail has thirty or even forty tail feathers, instead of twelve or fourteen, the normal number in all members of the great pigeon family; and these feathers are kept expanded, and are {22} carried so erect that in good birds the head and tail touch; the oil-gland is quite aborted.”

  On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life. (2nd edition)

• “I have tried with all twelve birds three standards of measurement, namely, the length from the base of the beak to the oil-gland, to the end of the tail, and from the extreme tip to tip of wings.”

  The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Vol. I.

• “The oil-gland varies in development, and is sometimes quite aborted.”

  The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Vol. I.

• “It can hardly be an accidental coincidence that the two species of Columba, which are destitute of an oil-gland, have an unusual number of tail-feathers, namely 16, and in this respect resemble Fantails.”

  The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Vol. I.

• “_Tail expanded, directed upwards, formed of many feathers; oil-gland aborted; body and beak rather short_.”

  The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Vol. I.

Show 10 more examples...