3^ 



The Bird 



finer hooklets, and then the number of feathers on the 

 pigeon's body, we can echo the exclamation of Solomon: 

 ''The wa}" of an eagle in the air" is ''too wonderful for 

 me!" 



Another beautiful adaptation to flight is seen in our 



Fig. 23. — Feathers of Condor and Emeu. The aftershaft in the former is reduced 

 to a downy filament at the base of the vane; in the latter it equals the feather 

 itself in size. 



feather. The upper part of the wing must of course be 

 perfecth" level, with no projections to catch the air and 

 retard motion. So, on the upper side of the feather, we 

 notice that the lines of barbs spring out flush with the 

 flattened quill-top, while below, the shaft projects promi- 

 nently from the vane. The obliquel}^ forward direction 

 in which the barbs grow, the change in shape of the 



