THE 



STRUCTURE AND LIFE OF BIRDS 



CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTORY 



A BIRD seems to have more life in him than any 

 other living creature. A Swift will outpace the 

 fastest racehorse. Migratory birds arrive unexhausted 

 after a flight of hundreds of miles. An Ostrich will 

 leave behind the horseman who pursues him. The 

 Penguin swims as if water were the native element of 

 birds. And this vitality shows itself in many other 

 ways, notably in the brilliant colours of the plumage, 

 as in the Bird of Paradise or the Peacock. Sometimes, 

 as in the Argus Pheasant, there is great richness of 

 colouring without any gaudiness. Even when there 

 is neither brilliancy nor richness of hue, but the 

 plumage is of the very soberest, there is often such a 

 brightness about the eye and the general air of our 

 birds that their plainness passes unnoticed. Their 

 leading characteristic is not their dull colouring but 



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