38 The Bird 



as long and as perfect as the main feather. The origin 

 and use of this feather-double is not known. 



Parrots, herons, and some other birds have a most 

 convenient arrangement — a kind of automatic clothes- 

 cleaner and valet combined. Concealed b}^ the long body- 

 plumage are several dense patches of down-feathers which 

 grow quite rapildy, but instead of constantly increasing 

 in length, the tips break up into a fine, w^hite, greasy 

 powder. This works its w^ay through the entire plumage, 

 and is doubtless of use in keeping the feathers in good 

 condition and the bod}' dry. Most of the birds possess- 

 ing this convenience are comparatively free from lice, so 

 this natural dressing may be as luipleasant to these ver- 

 min as camphor-balls are to clothes-moths. 



The forms and textures of feathers are innumerable, 

 and the uses to which the}^ are put, more than we would 

 ever imagine, but these will be spoken of under the chap- 

 ters treating of the different parts of the body where they 

 are found. 



Arrangement 



In examining a nestling we will notice that the feather- 

 dots are not scattered at random over the surface of the 

 skin, but grow in lines and tracts, whose limits are very 

 sharply defined. In an adult bird, say an English Spar- 

 row^, this is even more noticeable. If we part the feathers 

 on the centre of the breast, a broad, bare area is seen, 

 with only a thin scattering of soft downy feathers. Under 

 the wings are other naked spaces, and several more are 

 on other parts of the body. The most ancient birds were 



