TAC´TILE, _a._ Pertaining to the sense of touch.
TAIL, _n._ (69.) See CAUDA.
TAIL-COV´ERTS, _n. pl._ (71.) See CALYPTERIA.
TAIL-FEATHERS, _n. pl._ (70.) See RECTRICES.
TA´LUS, _n._ Same as CALCANEUS (which see).
TAR´SAL, _a._ Relating to the tarsus, or tarso-metatarsus.
TAR´SO-METATAR´SUS, _n._ The morphologically correct term for the
segment, commonly called the _tarsus_ in descriptive ornithology,—that
bone reaching from the tibia to the toes, and which is really nearly all
metatarsus, but has at its top one of the small tarsal bones confluent
with it, so that in itself it comprehends part of tarsus as well as all
of metatarsus.
TAR´SUS, _n._ The ankle-bones, collectively. In birds, there are no
persistently separate tarsal bones, since the two proximal ones are
confluent with the extremity of the tibia, forming its so-called
malleoli, and the distal one anchyloses with the metatarsus, leaving the
tarsal joint between them, as in reptiles, not between the tarsal bones
and the tibia, as in mammalia. But, in descriptive ornithology, the
whole segment between the tibia and the toes, commonly called the shank,
is usually called _tarsus_. See, also, TARSO-METATARSUS and METATARSUS.
(103½.) (N. B. In the foregoing “Explanation,” etc., the word _tarsus_
is defined as used in descriptions, not in its morphologically correct
sense.)
TAR´SUS, BACK OF. (106.) See PLANTA TARSI.
TAR´SUS, BOOTED. (111.) See BOOT.
TAXIDER´MY, _a._ Art of preparing and preserving skins so as to
represent the appearance of the living animal.
TAXONOM´IC, _a._ Classificatory.
TAXON´OMY, _n._ Classification; rational arrangement according to some
scientific principle. Biotaxy.
TEC´TRICES, _n. pl._ Coverts; the smaller feathers, either of wing or
tail, but especially of the former; tail-coverts being calypteria. (72,
73, 83.)
TEC´TRICES ALÆ, _n. pl._ Wing-coverts.
TEC´TRICES CAUDÆ, _n. pl._ Tail-coverts.