4>i4f Birds oilmg their Plumage, 



bt)Suppose, for sake of argument, that the bird does actually 

 toploy oil from the gland to lubricate the plumage (which, 

 by the by, I flatly deny), how is the head and part of the neck 

 to be supplied with oil ? Why, the truth is, they never can 

 be supplied ; and if you examine, with the nicest scrutiny, 

 the feathers of the body which come "withifi the range of the 

 bill, and the feathers of the head, which are out of the range 

 of the bill, and then compare them, you will not observe the 

 smallest difference in their downy appearance : proof positive 

 that the plumage of the body has not been lubricated with oil 

 from the gland. jz/tc 



In this Magazine (Vol. I. p. 119.) there is the following 

 account of the lubricating of feathers : — 



" The glands containing the oil used for the purpose of lubricating the 

 surface of the plumage were, in the specimen here represented (speaking of 

 the eagle) [" sea-eagle of America, or Bird of Washington "], extremely 

 large. The contents had the appearance of hog's fat which had been 

 melted and become rancid. This bird makes more copious use of that 

 substance than the white-headed eagle, or any of the Falco genus, except 

 the fish-hawk : the whole plumage looking, upon close examination, as if 

 it had received a general coating of a thin clear solution of gum arable, and 

 presenting less of the downy gloss exhibited on the upper part of the bald- 

 headed eagle's plumage." 



Here we have had an abundant flow of oil. If the surface 

 got so much, the under parts of the plumage must have got 

 still more ; notwithstanding which, we are told that the glands 

 were extremely large : they ought to have been empty after 

 such a discharge. Again, if the ijchole plumage looked " as if 

 it had received a general coating of a thin clear solution of gum 

 arable," by what process was that general coating applied to 

 the head of the eagle, and to part of the neck, which, we 

 know, cannot possibly be touched by the bill ? If it had not 

 been applied to the head and part of the neck, then the bird 

 would have afforded a singular appearance : just as far as the 

 beak could reach, there would have been a distinct coat of 

 what the writer of the article took for oil from the gland; 

 beyond the reach of the beak (that is, on the head, and down 

 part of the neck) there would have been no coating at all. 



If that which appeared like a general coating of a thin so- 

 lution of gum arable had really been oil from the gland, the 

 feathers would have appeared as if they were in a sweat, the 

 oil would have penetrated down their shafts, the fingers of the 

 dissector would have come in contact with grease or oil at 

 every touch, and the whole plumage would have been com- 

 pletely spoiled. 



Much safer would it have been for the writer to have had 

 recourse to conjecture, in this affair of a general coating on the 



