42 A bout the Feathered Folk. 



It is this arrangement that makes 

 Jenny's " gown " so smooth. Under 

 the feathers there are minute tufts 

 of down, filling up every crevice. 

 It is this that makes Jenny's " gown " 

 so warm. And the whole covering 

 is adapted to every movement of 

 the quick little body it clothes. 



Long feathers grow where the 

 limbs are prominent, short ones 

 where it is only needful to clothe 

 and protect. And each and all 

 grow in curiously separated planta- 

 tions, as it were ordered exactly so 

 as to interfere in the least possible 

 degree with the bird's freedom of 

 motion. That Brown Gown is as 

 convenient as it is beautiful, and 

 in it Jenny flits from bush to bush 

 about her own business which, 

 during the spring and summer, is a 

 very important business indeed. 



She rears two broods a year, and 

 her children generally number ten 

 or twelve. Ten or twelve little 



