rudder-feathers

Updated: May 29, 2025

Are they rowers and coverts too?" "A bird does not row with his tail he steers with it, as if it were a rudder; and the long feathers are therefore called rudder-feathers or rectrices, which is Latin for rudders. But the short ones are called coverts, like those of the wings upper tail-coverts, and under tail-coverts."

Elliott Coues - Citizen Bird : Scenes from Bird-Life in Plain English for Beginners