III. THE DABCHICKS. I4I 



to think of. And I find these questions will 

 naturally and easily fall into the following 

 twelve : 



1. Country, and scope of migration. 



2. 'Food. 



3. Form and flight. 



4. Foot. 



5. Beak and eye. 



6. Voice and ear. 



7. Temper. 



8. Nest. 



9. Eggs. 



10. Brood. 



11. Feathers. 



12. Uses in the world. 



It may be thought that I have forced — and 

 not fallen into — my number 12, by packing the 

 faculties of sight and hearing into bye corners. 

 But the expression of a bird's head depends 

 on the relation of eye to beak, as the getting of 

 its food depends on their practical alliance of 

 power; and the question, for instance, whether 

 peacocks and parrots have musical ears, seems 

 to me not properly debateable unless with due 

 respect to the quality of their voices. It is 

 curious, considering how much, one way or 



