tail coverts (talkuverts)

pl. The feathers overlying or underlying the rectrices of a bird's tail; the tectrices of the tail; the calypter i a. These coverts are divided into superior and inferior, or upper and under coverts. They are commonly short, covering only the bases of the rectrices, but sometimes extend far beyond them; the gorgeous train of the peacock, for example, consists of tectrices, not rectrices, as is also the case with the beautiful train of the paradise trogon. The ornamental feathers called marabou - feathers are the under tail-coverts of a species of stork, and in certain other storks these coverts simulate rectrices. diagram under bird1, and cuts under peafowl, Pelargomor phæ, Tæniopygia, and trogon. See