Wings 



349 



or the bizarre decoration of the Twelve-wired Bird of 

 Paradise. 



A strange appendage is found in the wing of the West 

 African Goatsucker. Conspicuous enough when the bird 

 is flying, it is wonderfully protected when the bird rests, 



Fig. 280. — Wing of Woodcock. 



as is its wont, upon the ground among tall, feathery- 

 topped grasses. From each wing a single long feather 

 extends in an upward direction, almost bare of barbs 

 for most of its length, but tipped with a mottled, loose- 

 vaned tuft which corresponds very perfectly with the 

 flower-heads of the grasses among which it lives. As 



