CHAPTER III. 



CHARACTERS AND EXTERNAL STRUCTURE OF A BIRD. 



IN drawing our account of the progress of the 

 bird, from the nest up to the fully developed 

 young one, to a close, we are now arrived at a 

 period in the history of these beautiful creatures, 

 when it becomes expedient for us to offer a brief 

 outline of the general characters and structure 

 of a bird, previous to our relinquishing their his- 

 tory altogether. It might appear that this were 

 an almost unnecessary task, as all are familiar 

 with the general points of structure, &c. which 

 characterise a bird. But, although such may be 

 the case, it will be found that there is a vast 

 fund of information beyond the knowledge which, 

 lying on the surface, is seized by every one. Per- 

 haps in our own day few persons are to be found 

 so ignorant as to confound birds with any other 

 natural class in the whole animal world. And in 

 fact the distinctive characters of a bird are so 

 strongly marked, that even the ignorant in other 



