APPENDIX. 2 I 5 



the corner of the beak, a httle below and 

 behind the eye, the parted feathers will show 

 the listening place ; a little hole with convolu- 

 tions- of delicate skin turning inwards, very 

 much like what your own ear would be if you 

 had none, — I mean, if all of it that lies above 

 the level of the head had been removed, leaving 

 no trace. No one who looks at the little hole 

 could fail to see that it is an ear, highly orga- 

 nized — an ear for music ; at least, I found it so 

 among the finches I have examined ; I know 

 not if a simpler structure is evident in the ear 

 of a rook or a peacock. 



" The feathers are so planted round a bird's 

 ears, that however ruffled or wet, they can't 

 get in — and possibly they conduct sound. 

 Birds have no need of ears with a moveable 

 cowl over them, to turn and twist for the 

 catching of stray sounds, as foxes have, and 

 hares, and other four-footed things ; for a bird 

 can turn his whole head so as to put his ear 

 wherever he pleases in the twinkling of an eye ; 

 and he has too many resources, whatever bird 

 he may be, of voice and gesture, to need any 

 power of ear-cocking to welcome his friends, 

 or ear-flattening to menace his foes. 



