The Audubon Societies 299 



trained bird-student is the one who is readiest to acknowledge ignorance, and to keep 

 steadily widening his grasp of both outdoor and indoor work. 



No time could be better, and no opportunity more ready at hand than the present 

 one, for helping teachers or students who are fitting themselves to teach to get a well- 

 balanced, sane, scientific start in bird-study. With a dozen, twenty, fifty, or one hundred 

 trained workers in each state, the Audubon Society would be immeasurably strengthened 

 and nature-study placed on a secure foundation, as it ought and must eventually be. 



Once again, the School Department appeals to each State Society to make a prac- 

 tical investment of fifty dollars or more annually, either in establishing one or more 

 scholarships or in assuming expenses for the benefit of a student or teacher, selected 

 preferably by its members. The investment is bound to pay richly in the end. The 

 eft'ort involved is slight as compared with many other undertakings commonly carried 

 out bv Audubon Societies. The net result cannot fail to be successful. — A. H. W. 



JUNIOR AUDUBON WORK 



For Teachers and Pupils 

 Exercise XXII. Correlated Studies: Drawing and Spelling. 



A BIRD'S TAIL 



Perhaps no external part of a bird is more conspicuous or less generally studied than 

 the tail. No doubt the reason for this is that the wings and hind limbs seem far more 

 important. In nature, however, one usually finds that every part of a mechanism has 

 some reason, else it is discarded in due course of time. 



The tail of a bird has a curious and rather surprising history. It was the discovery 

 of a fossil tail feather in the lithographic-stone quarries of Solenhofen in Bavaria, that 

 led scientists to trace the history of birds back to the Jurassic period, that is, to a geological 

 period thousands of years ago, when it had not been hitherto known that any birds 

 existed. This fossil tail feather was the clue to a strange bird-like form afterward found 

 and named Archaopteryx, the story of which we shall take up soon. It is enough to say 

 here that since the time of Archaopteryx there have been some notable changes in birds' 

 tails. 



Perhaps the easiest way to study a bird's tail is to make a simple table something as 

 follows, which shall contain the more important things one would like to remember: 



1. Parts a. bony structure {coccyx) short, more or less fused together, bearing 

 oil-gland. 



b. feathers of two kinds, namely, long, more or less stiffened 

 feathers (rectrices), and short, soft feathers (coverts). 



2. Shape a. in general like a fan. 



{square, 

 rounded, 

 forked. 



(flat, 

 keeled, 

 folded. 



3. Uses a. as a rudder for steering and balancing in flight. 



b. as a brace or prop while feeding or at rest, 



c. as an ornament, notably of male birds. 



Tail . 



