I. THE ROBIN. 29 



the foot and ankle are protected. The use 

 of this lecture is not either to describe or to 

 exhibit these varieties to you, but so to 

 awaken your attention to the real points of 

 character, that, when you have a bird's foot 

 to draw, you may do so with intelligence and 

 pleasure, knowing whether you want to ex- 

 press force, grasp, or firm ground pressure, 

 or dexterity and tact in motion. And as the 

 actions of the foot and the hand in man are 

 made by every great painter perfectly expres- 

 sive of the character of mind, so the expres- 

 sions of rapacit}^, cruelty, or force of seizure, 

 in the harp}', the gryphon, and the hooked 

 and clawed evil spirits of early religious art, 

 can only be felt by extreme attention to the 

 original form. 



28. And now I return to our main question, 

 for the robin's breast to answer, " What is a 

 feather ? " You know something about it al- 

 ready ; that it is composed of a quill, with its 

 lateral filaments terminating generally, more 

 or less, in a point ; that these extremities of 

 the quills, lying over each other like the tiles 

 of a house, allow the wind and rain to pass 

 over them with the least possible resistance, 



