MOULTING ON COLOUR-FOOD 



169 



those parts of the animal whicli are regarded 

 as being more immediately the organs of 

 sensation ; but they very speedily transmit 

 impressions to the parts that do feel." 



A good deal seems to dei^end, then, on 

 the feathers being " perfeet and firm in 



their ecjnnection," and the 

 i, , experience of every breeder 



will point to the fact that 

 very frequently they are not so. The 

 entire nest-tail, for instance, is no sooner 

 fully matured in some birds than it requires 

 some care to prevent its being knocked 



We quite recognise the wisdom which, 

 by momentary or, at the most, short- 

 lived pain, can secvu-e permanent im- 

 munity from trouble ; but we nuist have 

 an end worthy of the means — not a mere 

 whim or fancy, or subservience to a pre- 

 vailing fashion, but an imperative neces- 

 sity. We must therefore frankly admit 

 that, although keen fanciers, rigid and 

 exacting in our demands, we cannot con- 

 scientiously say we see any necessity to 

 disarrange the provisions of Natiu'c to such 

 an extent as to pull out these thirty-six 

 feathers in a bird's wing 

 to satisfy our eye in 

 the matter of imiformity 

 of colour, or, as in the 

 case of a Yorkshire, to 

 gain a little length. 



We candidly admit that 

 in days gone by we have 

 " tailed and flighted " 

 many birds without a 

 thought ; but sitting down 

 qiuetly, as we do now, 

 to look at every feature 

 of our subject from as 

 intelligent and philosophi- 

 cal a point as we can, we 

 feel that we should not 

 be true to ourselves if 



we placed it on record that tailing and out by the bird fluttering about m its 

 flighting, as understood by the Fancy, cage, and the occurrence of the tail coming 



WING OF A BIRD PARTIALLY STRIPPED OF FEATHERS TO SHOW 

 THE INSERTION OF THE QUILLS. 



is a means justified by the end sought. 

 It is with a settled conviction that we pen 

 this, so much so that we scarcely like to 

 advance anj'thing in palliation of the prac- 

 tice lest we should find ourselves fencing 



out in the hand when a bird is caught is 

 so frequent as to cause no surprise. This 

 seems to suggest anything but the idea 

 of " firm connection " ; and whether it 

 be that from confinement and non-exposure 



with a subject on which our mind is fully to the effects of a free atmosphere the 



made up. But there is just one feature in tail-feathers become jirematiu'cly matured, 



the case to which we feel bound to refer, or that the ground in which they are 



The same authority we quoted in giving planted is less tenacious than the more 



the definitions of the various feathers says : muscular covering of the framework of the 



" The feathers of birds, while they remain wing in which the flights are placed, there 



perfect and firm in their connection, are is no getting away from the fact that the 



really parts of a living animal, and as such tail is so easily dislodged that, in the case of 



they must be regarded as organs of feeling, the London Fancy and Lizard varieties— in 



They do not, probably, in themselves feel which the presence of the nest-tail is an in- 



pain, but they are in intimate connection dispensable show condition — prudence sug- 



with parts which do. The epidermis in gests not only that they should not be 



no animal appears to feel pain, even in handled, but that, if possible, si:)ecially 

 22 



