Feathers 43 



over hundreds of miles of land and water must have 

 perfect wings and rudders to carry them safely, against 

 contrary winds and sudden accidents. Others which are 

 contented with the food found near their homes, and 

 elect (by the laws of their kind) to remain, must be pre- 

 pared to withstand the blasts of winter. Their plumage 

 must be abundant and thick to keep out the cold and 

 snow, and to enable them to bury their tender eyes and 

 feet in its warm mass. Otherwise the tiny round fluffs 

 huddled close to the trunks in the evergreens would drop 

 stiffened to the ground during some long winter night. 

 So a renewal of plumage in the fall is most necessary to 

 the life of birds. 



A baby robin, secure from most enemies in his nest, 

 with parents to supply his every want, acquires his wing- 

 quills only when his nestling down is shed. He is care- 

 fully watched and tended during his first flights, and 

 takes such good care of these flight-feathers that they 

 serve to carry him to his winter home far to the south- 

 ward. But a brood of a dozen or more little Bob-whites 

 whose wing-feathers sprout with the most marvellous 

 rapidity, from the moment the birds tumble out of their 

 white shells, would fare ill indeed if they had to trust to 

 these nurserv^ quills all the first winter, with hungry 

 foxes sniffing for their scent, and more-to-be-dreaded owls 

 shadowing their trembling covey. Nature has come to 

 their aid, and when they have fairly worn out their wings 

 in the first awkward attempts at flight, new feathers 

 come in, and this succession of quills keeps them in fine 

 fljdng condition until full grown. Indeed so solicitous is 



