This section is from the book "The Home Cyclopedia Of General Information", by Charles Morris. Also available from Amazon: Home Cyclopedia of Necessary Knowledge.
[AS] The long flexible part of an animal that terminates its body behind. It contains a series of movable vertebrae, and is covered with flesh and hairs or scales. The tail of birds consists of fused vertebrae ; the tail of fishes ends in a caudal fin. Woodpeckers climb and rest on the stems of trees with their tail feathers.
 
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