104 TALKS ABOUT BIRDS 



bodies go on growing, and getting bigger and 

 bigger, while their little featherless wings 

 look as if they were never going to make 

 a start, and they do not begin to grow large 

 and have quills until the rest of the duck's 

 body is fledged. Then, young sea-gulls grow 

 their feathers all gradually together, like 

 young pigeons, so birds which are hatched 

 downy and active may fledge in three different 

 ways, according to the family they belong to. 



There are some birds which are helpless 

 nestlings and born naked, which get beautiful 

 coats of down later on ; this is so with young 

 owls, for instance, which have such thick coats 

 of down that they look like powder-puffs. 

 Unlike most peculiarities in young birds, 

 there are differences in this point in the same 

 family ; for instance, all young parrots are 

 blind at first, and helpless, like young owls ; 

 but some kinds of them are always naked until 

 the feathers come, and some have plenty of 

 down. Many of you must have noticed, too, 

 that young sparrows are quite naked, al- 

 though young canaries, which, like sparrows, 

 are finches, have a certain amount of fluff. 

 So it seems that if a young bird passes its 



