Ornithological and Other Oddities 



it will be noted that among the above birds 

 are several in which the oil-gland is absent or 

 inefficient, and none of the water-fowl have 

 powdery plumage, so that the function of this 

 mealy covering may be to throw off wet. It 

 is certainly obvious that pigeons do not get 

 wet so easily as most land birds, and in the 

 pretty little cockatiel, a member of the cockatoo 

 group, I have noticed that the plumage throws 

 off water quite as well as a duck's, although 

 this bird does not enter that element even to 

 bathe, much preferring a shower-bath in the 

 rain. Indeed, most of the parrot tribe seem to 

 enjoy a shower, as also do pigeons. 



But the greatest luxury of all would appear 

 to be the comb, which is given here and there 

 to the most incongruous birds in a way there 

 is no accounting for. It is situated on the inner 

 edge of the claw of the third toe — the first 

 being, I should remark, the hind toe — and it 

 is with this third toe that birds always scratch 

 themselves, for some occult reason. For the 

 third toe is not the nearest to the bird's head, 

 nor is it the longest in every case, although 

 usually so ; while in birds like parrots, which 

 have only two toes in front, it cannot be the 

 middle one, as it is in most cases. This ser- 

 rated claw is found in herons and cormorants, 

 in nightjars and grebes, and in a few more 



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