Wings 349 



or the bizarre decoration of the Twelve-wired Bird of 

 Paradise. 



A strange appendage is found in the wing of the West 

 African Goatsucker. Conspicuous enough when the bird 

 is flying, it is wonderfully protected when the bird rests, 



Fig. 280.— wing of Woodcock. 



as is its wont, upon the ground among tall, feathery- 

 topped grasses. From each wing a single long feather 

 extends in an upward direction, almost bare of barbs 

 for most of its length, but tipped with a mottled, loose- 

 vaned tuft which corresponds very perfectly with the 

 flower-heads of the grasses among which it lives. As 



