WHEN A BIRD CHANGES HIS CLOTHES. 



DO you know how important the masts of a sailing 

 ship are ? If they are broken, the ship is help- 

 lesSc It drifts about wherever the wind blows it. 



A bird's wing and tail feathers are as important for 

 its safety as the mast and sails of a ship. The strong, 

 powerful quill feathers enable it to fly rapidly through 

 the air to get its food and to avoid its enemies. It 

 is important that the feathers of both wings should 

 be uninjured, for the bird would be unable to guide 

 its flight if one wing were much less strong than the 

 other. 



Feathers get worn by use, some even get broken, 

 and if the bird could not replace them it would have 

 hard work, after a year or two, to make the old 

 weatherworn ones do their work. 



Nature, however, provides the birds with a new 

 suit of clothes every year. After the young are 

 hatched, when the old birds no longer need their 

 swiftness and strength to get the daily food for their 

 children, the feathers of almost all birds begin to 

 drop out ; not at once, for that would leave the 

 bird naked and helpless, but gradually and, in the 

 case of the wing feathers, fairly evenly. As fast as 



