Wild Wings 



[THIRD WEEK 



in producing the sounds, to which, let us suppose, his 

 prospective mate listens with ecstasy. It is a weird per- 

 formance, repeated again and again during the same 

 evening. 



So pronounced and loud is the whistling of the wings 

 that we wonder how it can be produced by ordinary feathers. 

 But examine the photograph and the whistling becomes 

 clear. The three outer primaries of the wing, which in 



most birds are usually like the 

 others, in the woodcock are 

 very stiff, and the vanes are so 

 narrow that when the wing is 

 spread there is a wide space 

 between each one. When the 

 wing beats the air rapidly, 

 the wind rushes through these 

 feather slits, and we have 

 the accompaniment of the 

 love-song explained. 

 The feather-covered arms and hands of birds are full 

 of interest ; and, after studying the wing of a chicken which 

 has been plucked for the table, we shall realise how won- 

 derful a transformation has taken place through the mil- 

 lions of years past. Only three stubby fingers are left and 

 these are stiff and almost immovable, but the rest of the 

 forearm is very like that of our own arm. 



See how many facts we can accumulate about wings, 

 by giving special attention to them, when watching birds 

 fly across the sky. How easy it is to identify the steady 

 beats of a crow, or the more rapid strokes of a duck; how 



WING OF WOODCOCK. 



