22 THE FIRST BOOK OF BIRDS 
look like little white pins sticking out all over. 
Each bit of down grows out of a little raised 
place on the skin that looks like a pimple, and 
the feather comes out of the same. 
As the feather grows, the bit of down clings 
to it till it is broken off. Sometimes it holds 
on till the feather 1s well out. We can often 
see down sticking to a young bird’s feathers. 
The little feathers grow very fast, and before 
he is ready to fly a young bird is well covered. 
Birds hatched with their eyes open, and already 
dressed, who have to run and fly very soon, get 
their wing feathers early; but birds who live 
many days in the nest, like robins and bluebirds, 
do not get theirs till they are nearly grown. 
The tail feathers are the last to come to full 
length, and you will notice that most birds just 
out of the nest have very dumpy tails. 
A bird’s first suit of feathers is called his nest- 
ling plumage. In some families it is just like 
the dress of the grown-up birds, but in others it 
is not at all like that. It is usually worn only 
a few weeks, for the young one outgrows it, 
and needs a new and bigger one before winter. 
When a bird is fully dressed, his body 1s en- 
tirely covered, and it looks as if the feathers 
grew close to each other all over him. But it is 
not so. The feathers grow in patterns, called 
