28 The Bird 



The appearance of a 3'ouiig kingfisher or heron may be 

 completely changed within a few hours time, so quickly 

 and simultaneously does the first suit of feathers unroll. 



The condition of young birds when hatched varies 

 greatly in l)irds of different groups. Nestlings are, in 

 many ways, like human babies, and there are as many 

 differences in the one class as there are in the other, 



Fig. 16.— Growth of an Ostrich feather from sheath to plume. 1/5 natural size. 



between those from different countries, only Nature does 

 for the little birds what parents do for the babies. 



We see American babies wrapped in furs and blankets, 

 wheeled in carriages, and rocked to sleep; while a tiny 

 savage is strapj^ed tightly to its mother's back, and as 

 soon as possible allowed to run where it pleases, find its 

 own toys and develop its little muscles, gaining a degree 

 of health and strength which many a civilized child would 

 envy. So with birds, the highest — such as crows and 

 thrushes — are hatched almost naked and must be warmed 



