Heads and Necks 



271 



the whole beak, in fact every part of the head except the 

 eyes, is buried in a maze of soft, orange plumes. 



As the antithesis to this condition, we find many 

 birds which have the head partly or entirely bare of 

 feathers, such as the vultures and some of the waders. 



In the former group this lack of feathers is doubtless 



Fig. 21.3. — Head of male Condor 



of value in enabling the birds to avoid soiling their plu- 

 mage, when engaged in their scavenger work. The great 

 Condor of South America has, just below this naked area, 

 a necklace of the whitest of fluffy down, and in addition 

 the male has a large wattle of skin upon the front of the 

 head. The Caracara of Mexico is partly vulturine in its 

 habits, and the feathers have disappeared from part of 

 its face. Wherever the skin of the head and neck is even 



