14 OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS. 
them, while many birds in the cold north are white 
like the snow. By this we see that in all nature, and 
especially among the bird people, dress is of great 
importance. | 
Some of the larger and coarser birds have been ac- 
cused of being very untidy about their dress. They do 
not seem to care how they look, and do not show their 
clothes off proudly as others do. But people who think 
this have not observed them very closely. Birds like 
the hawks and vultures are really very neat and tidy. 
Turkey buzzards! look very ugly and rough at first 
glance, but their plumage is suited to their needs, 
and they take great pains to be clean. 
You will notice that the buzzard has no feathers on 
his head and neck, and it is this lack of hat or bonnet 
that makes this bird look so odd and unlovely. But 
we must not be in a hurry to blame him for this, nor 
call him hard names because he does not happen to 
wear a collar or head-dress. There are some things 
which we do not understand unless we first ask ques- 
tions or get better acquainted with people. 
You see the buzzard, like the scavengers who clean 
up our dirty streets, is always at work on dead things 
and scraps of garbage which we do not want. We 
respect him for doing a very necessary sort of work. 
He must dress to suit his occupation, like other sen- 
sible people, though we cannot help wishing the buz- 
zard had a suit of Sunday clothes. 
1 Turkey vulture, Cathartes aura, 
