A “BIRD’S NEW SUIT. 43 
pendent not upon the falling of the old feather, but 
upon vigor of growth infused into the new. 
The still more. ancient and reptilian method of 
shedding the skin and feathers in flakes, as is said to 
be the case with some penguins, has been referred to, 
and doubtless indicates a still more remote manner 
that the birds had of changing costumes. 
If we knew why they have been so freakish in 
their fashions we should know more of their history. 
Over it all there now seems to run a law of pattern 
affecting the nutrition and structure of the follicle, 
the falling of the feather, the fraying of the tip, the 
pigmentation of the vane, the microscopic grating and 
filmy glossing of the very barbules, to aid the bird in 
putting on a new suit that shall become the occasion. 
