26 OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS. 
tail. Birds would not be quite dressed without their 
pockets, and they know where to find them without 
any trouble. We suppose this is because birds’ pockets 
have always been in the same place. 
If it looks like rain, the “hair oil,” as we call it, is 
used more freely. Suppose the lady bird wishes to oil 
the back of her head and around her face. Of course 
she is not able to take up the bottle and pour the oil into 
her hand; but she squeezes a little out with her beak, 
as you would press a rubber bulb. Then she lays the 
oil on her back just above her wings. 
To get the oil all about where she wishes to put it, 
she rubs her head against it, twisting and turning her 
neck, until all the feathers of her head are straight and 
shining. 
When a shower comes, the water falls or slides down 
the bird’s back and shoulders on the oil, never finding 
its wet way beneath to the underclothing. Birds are 
like those people who live in the cold and wet north. 
The Eskimo are said to rub their whole bodies with 
seal or fish oil to keep themselves from being wet. 
Bird babies seldom have any clothing to begin life 
with. A few, such as the walkers and waders and 
most of the swimmers, like quail and sandpipers and 
ducks, are covered with thick down when they come 
out of their shell. 
Many of the bird babies in our yard have hardly a 
trace of the finest down, while others have a little of it 
in patches, like tiny shirts or bibs. Birds which have 
