How to Understand the Birds [ 25 



By strongly emphasizing feathers I finally persuaded her that 

 even the stalwart barnyard fowl deserves to be ranked with the 

 birds. Feathers are about the only feature which birds do not 

 share with any other kind of animal. 



Feathers for Clothes 



Bird plumage is often so beautiful that we are likely to over- 

 look its practical value. What clothes are to people, feathers are 

 to birds: undergarments, overcoat and raincoat all in one. 



Watch a chicken caught in a rainstorm and you will have a 

 perfect illustration of the "raincoat." The chicken droops its wings 

 and tail, making the best possible use of the feathers for rain 

 flows off them as it does from your slicker. Examine one of the 

 feathers and you will find it has three distinctive parts: the quill 

 (or central stem) ; the barbs attached to the major part of the 

 quill; and a soft fluff. This fluff, snuggling against the body at 

 the base of the quill, plays the part of warm underclothing. 



Why Protective Coloring Is Important 



Feathers often serve birds as camouflage. We quickly recognize 

 this in many wild birds. The value of protective coloring in 

 chickens is less obvious to us because we usually see them in a 

 barnyard. Were a hen living in a state of nature, wandering in 

 grassy fields with her chicks, her neutral color would blend with 

 her surroundings. It is the rooster who is decorative, having lovely 

 iridescent tail feathers and, sometimes, colorful neck plumage. 



Wild birds offer many convincing examples of the safety value 

 of camouflage. The female Baltimore oriole, for example, is a 

 dull orange-yellow while her mate is a brilliant combination of 

 vivid orange, black, and white. Among the cardinals, the male 

 is a rich red; the female's plumage is light brown with only the 

 faintest tinge of red. The name "rose-breasted grosbeak" is appro- 

 priate for the male of this species, as he displays a deep rose patch 

 on his white breast; but his mottled yellow-brown and white mate 

 looks rather like an overgrown sparrow. 



