40 THE SPRING OF THE YEAR 



through accident, it is made good, no matter when. 

 How do you explain that? Do you think I believe 

 that old story of the birds roosting with their tails 

 out, so that, because of generations of lost tails, 

 those feathers now grow expecting to be plucked 

 by some enemy, and therefore have only a temporary 

 hold? 



The normal, natural way, of course, is to replace 

 a lost feather with a new one as soon as possible. 

 But, in order to give extra strength to the wing 

 feathers, Nature has found it necessary to check 

 their frequent change ; and so complete is the check 

 that the annual moult is required to replace a single 

 one. The Japanese have discovered the secret of this 

 check, and are able by it to keep certain feathers 

 in the tails of their cocks growing until they reach 

 the enormous length of ten to twelve feet. 



My crow, it seems, lost his three feathers last sum- 

 mer just after his annual moult ; the three broken 

 shafts he carries still in his wing, and must continue 

 to carry, as the stars must continue their courses, 

 until those three feathers have rounded out their 

 cycle to the annual moult. The universe of stars and 

 feathers is a universe of law, of order, and of reason. 



