ADAPTED PLUMAGE. 



*T*HE cold hand of Winter not only cuts down the 

 late lingering flowers, and scatters the few last 

 leaves upon the woodland path, but leaves the white 

 print of icy fingers on the very plumage of the birds. 



The feathers of some, such as the snow-bunting, he 

 touches lightly here and there as with a few flakes of 

 early snow. Others, like the ptarmigan, whose sober 

 colouring has all through the summer matched so well 

 the browns and greys of the heather, and the lichen 

 of her home among the mountains, he clothes with a 

 dress as white as the very snowdrift which enwraps her 

 winter home. 



