64) OIL GLANDS OF BIRDS. 



thin solution of gum arabic had really been oil from 

 the gland, the feathers would have appeared as if 

 they were in a sweat, the oil would have penetrated 

 down their shafts, the fingers of the dissector would 

 have come in contact with grease or oil at every 

 touch, and the whole plumage would have been 

 completely spoiled. 



Much safer would it have been for the writer to 

 have had recourse to conjecture, in this affair of a 

 general coating on the whole plumage of the eagle. 

 The bird might have received on its plumage a coat 

 of slime from a fish, struggling and flouncing at its 

 capture, or in the pangs of death ; the eagle, after 

 bringing his prey ashore, might have rolled upon it, 

 ^s we know dogs do upon carrion. In either of these 

 cases there would have been a coating on the plum- 

 age, somewhat resembling a solution of gum arabic, 

 while wet ; and, when dry, it would have fallen into 

 dust at the touch of the hand ; and the feathers 

 would have recovered their downy appearance. In 

 fine, oil or grease on the plumage ought never to 

 have been mixed up in the strange account of the 

 eagle ; which would come but poorly off if handled 

 by a severe critic. 



