wing covert

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. In ornithology, any one of the small feathers which overlie or underlie the flight-feathers of the wing; a covert of the wing. See covert, n., 6 (with cut), tectrices, and first cut under wing

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Zoöl.) one of the small feathers covering the bases of the wing quills. See Covert, n., 2.