DOMESTIC HABITS OF BIRDS. 

CHAPTER IX. 
HABITS OF CLEANLINESS IN BIRDS. 
ANIMALS appear to be cleanly in proportion to 
their sprightliness and activity ; and small animals, 
with few exceptions, are also more active and more 
cleanly than these of a larger size. ‘The domestic 
habits of birds, as well as what may be called their 
personal habits, furnish us with many illustrations 
of their peculiar attention to cleanliness, some of 
_ which it may prove interesting to detail. The in- 
_ stant any of their feathers are soiled they set about 
trimming them, and they are no less attentive to 
their nests. 
It is, no doubt, the same uncomfortable feeling 
which we experience when our hair becomes dis- 
arranged or tangled that induces birds to smooth 
their feathers; the matting together, for example, 
of two contiguous feathers at the points, causing 
them upon every motion of the muscles of the skin 
to twitch away the parts from which they spring. 
The irritation thus produced incites the bird to ex- 
amine the feathers contiguous to the part; and by 
nibbling. every plumelet with its beak, it soen suc- 
ceeds in bringing them into their proper position, 
_ while it frees them, at the same time, from any ex- 
traneous matter that may adhere to them. 
It is surprising how soon nestling birds may be 
seen thus trimming themselves. A short time after 
they are able to open their eyes, while the down 
which covers them when hatched has not begun to 
