162 Question of Birds' oiling their Plumage, 



hard bill to the soft gland would be very painful to the bird." 

 If so, then thrice unfortunate are ye of the feline race : if this 

 be so, how must your faces suffer, it is equally rational to con- 

 clude, when you wash them with your paws : 't is marvellous 

 that your talons allow any part to remain unscratched of the 

 contracting pupils of your eyes : dreadful must your sufferings 

 be. Mr. Martin should introduce an especial clause in his 

 hill to prevent the consequences of this wilful blindness of 

 your natures. 



Oh, but Mr. Waterton is willing to "suppose that the bird 

 has succeeded in getting some of the liquor into its bill; " but 

 asks, " how is the liquor to be applied to its feathers ? It 

 cannot be rubbed upon them, because it is within the bill " 

 (certainly it must be received into the bill before it can be 

 applied by the bill to the feathers) ; " and, if the bird should 

 apply its bill to the feathers, they would merely come in con- 

 tact with the edges of the bill, while the liquor would have 

 sunk into the cavity of the lower mandible." As well may 

 we fear, unlucky aldermen ! that never again will ye be able 

 to pour any more turtle soup into your mouths when once 

 the liquid shall have passed into the cavity of your table- 

 spoons, at the Lord Mayor's feast. It is quite as impossible 

 for you to stoop your spoons as it is for a bird to stoop his 

 bill; and, perhaps, the new corporation bill will save you the 

 trouble of trying the experiment. 



An argument follows the above which is really not deserv- 

 ing of notice. M I will now," says Mr. Waterton, " show 

 that this oily liquor would injure the feathers. The feathers 

 of birds, when in a perfectly dry state, have a beautiful and 

 downy appearance, which is lost when wetted, but returns 

 again when all the moisture is gone : if, however, any greasy 

 substance or oily liquor has come in contact with them, I do 

 not know what could be employed to restore the downy ap- 

 pearance to its pristine beauty. Let any body apply the oil 

 from the gland in question to a feather, and he will produce 

 a fixed stain." This all sounds very well ; but I am sorry 

 again to have to convict Mr. Waterton of assuming his pre- 

 mises, instead of proving them. 'T is likely, indeed, that 

 what he says is the case, as regards the oil obtained from a 

 dead bird, and applied to a feather of a dead bird ; but that it 

 is impossible for the oil to have the use generally assigned to 

 it in a living bird, is just as absurd as to argue that the gastric 

 juice cannot possibly exist in the stomach of a living animal, 

 for the purpose of digesting its food, because, forsooth, when 

 the animal is dead, it will often eat a hole out through the 

 very stomach that before contained it so well. So, again, the 



