SIDE LIGHTS ON BIRDS 



tection as a strong shadow will sometimes give a 

 creature away completely, as in the case of 

 minnows, which will themselves be almost in- 

 visible, while their shadow is reflected in the sandy 

 river bottom with startling distinctness. Dragon- 

 flies rest with wings out-spread, but they are so 

 transparent that the grass shows through them 

 undimmed. The lady-bird skims past on wide- 

 spread pinions with wing-cases motionless and a 

 little raised to give play to the true wings. 



Then it comes to rest on a grass blade and 

 proceeds to furl its sails and it takes an appre- 

 ciable time before the long gauzy wings are safely 

 bestowed within the seemingly inadequate cover 

 provided by the black-spotted tightly fitting 

 elytra. Finally, however, the last projecting 

 little brown corner of wing, which has been left 

 hanging loosely out like a little tail, is drawn in 

 and packed up. The wing-cases shut down like 

 a tiny lid, and the lady-bird runs down the grass- 

 stem, as if it had never known the exhilaration 

 of a dash through space, and no one would ever 

 guess the precious possessions it carries folded 

 so neatly on its back. The beautiful wings of 

 the earwig, when not in use, fall into a multitude 

 of complicated folds, so that they no longer inter- 

 fere with the little creature's movements amid the 

 petals of the dahlia and between the cracks of 

 boards. 



The jointed structure of the bird's and the bat's 

 wings enables them to be folded close to the sides 

 like a foot-rule when not in use, though here again 

 the bird has the advantage, for its wings fit 

 closer to the figure than do the more cumbersome 

 appendages of the bat. The form of the wing 

 determines the nature of the bird's flight. In 

 the best fliers — the swifts and falcons, for ex- 

 ample — the wing is sharply pointed and the 



20 



