•■>8 LEWIS S AMERICAN SPORTSMAN. 



essential for those birds which fly only in the broad daylight as it 

 is to the numerous variety of owls, bats, &c. that seek their 

 prey solely during the lonely hours of darkness. 



Nevertheless, a certain degree of this delicacy of perception is 

 absolutely requisite even for them, to secure their safety while per- 

 forming rapid flights through the thickets and forests which they 

 most generally inhabit or take shelter in. This, then, being the 

 case, is it not reasonable to infer that the feathers should at all 

 times be in the highest state of perfection? This physical con- 

 dition, however, could not be preserved if they were not shed or 

 renewed from time to time, as they necessarily Avould become soiled, 

 dried, broken, and ultimately totally unfit for this nice service by 

 the constant exposure they are subjected to, as well as the many 

 accidents they must, from their mode of life, encounter. 



To remedy these evils, or rather to make provision for such 

 casualties. Nature, ever provident in all her works, very wisely 

 ordains that the feathered race shall moult, or, in other words, 

 doff their plumage entire, once or twice a year. The simple 

 shedding of the feathers is not the only precaution which a bene- 

 ficent Providence has established for the preservation of these, 

 the most extensive and beautiful portion of his creations. For 

 we may here also notice the remarkable changes that take place 

 in the tints of the plumage, more especially in those birds which 

 remain in the northern latitudes during the long and bleak 

 winters. Many of them, from the most sombre hues of spring 

 and summer, become pied, or even pure white: thus cunningly 

 adapting themselves to the pervading color of the objects by 

 which they are surrounded, they are the better able to conceal 

 themselves from the attacks of their many prowling enemies 

 that are now driven to great extremes for food. The protec- 

 tion afforded birds, as well as many of the smaller quadrupeds, 

 in this alteration of the color of their plumage and pelage, from 

 the aggressions of their more powerful foes, is not the only 

 benefit -which results from this wise providence; as the chilling 

 effects of constant exposure to the excessive cold of those hibernal 



