26 



The Bird 



or lengthened down, as gulls and ducks. A Red-winged 

 Blackbird, or for that matter almost any passerine nest- 

 ling, looks very odd when it rises up in the nest, gaping for 

 food; the long gray streamers of down waving like an 

 aureole around its head. In some water-birds this nest- 

 ling down retains its usefulness for nearlv two months. 



Fig. i;}. — Feather from the head of a yoiin<2; Hol)()liiik, with down still attached 



to its tip. Twice natural size. 



The feathers whicli re])lace the down are, when they 

 first appear above the skin, rolled tightly and bound up 

 in the thin tissue of the horny sheaths, so that they 

 resemble a bundle of withes wra])ped together in a cloth. 

 In many young birds the feathers remain in this condi- 

 tion until they are nearly full grown, and a young cuckoo 



