A STUDY IN BIRDS' TAILS. 



WHEN one looks carefully and minutely into the various branches 

 of Ornithology, the interesting and useful information that is im- 

 parted is indeed wonderful. 



Who, for instance, would imagine that there existed such 

 a vast difference in the structure of birds' tails? Yet, as will 

 be seen from this illustrated article, the diversity is truly 

 astonishing to the unobservant, and even to the cultivated eye 

 of the Naturalist. 



The tails of our British Birds do not vary nearly so much as 

 those of tropical and foreign climes, and therefore this sketch 

 will deal chiefly with those possessed by feathered wonders across 

 the seas. If our attention was not directed to these variances, 

 we should probably never, during our brief three score years 

 and ten, realise to the full in what a degree they exist. Even 

 bird-lovers who have lived in the country the whole of their 

 lives, and have had Swallows and Martins as companions for 

 years, do not know what an easy matter it is to distinguish 

 between the two birds if by no other characteristic by the 

 formation of their tail feathers. 



In the first two illustrations we have the tails of the Swallow 

 and the House Martin, and an examination will show the reader 

 how the two tails differ. That of the Swallow is conspicuously 

 forked, whilst the gentle little Martin is distinguished by the less 

 forked character of the tail. This difference is even more apparent 

 when the birds are seen flying, especially when directly overhead. 

 One hears the remark occasionally from a country wag that 

 "You never see a Martin without a swallow. 3 '' This is not to 

 be disputed, but at the same time it rray be equally true that 

 a person may think himself well-educated in bird-lore without 

 being able accurately to point out the differences which exist 

 in the two birds. Country people and town-folk, too, for that 

 matter still persist in calling the Swift, Swallow, Martin, and 



