Feathers 41 



same channel perforates both and the nutriment j)ith 

 which suppUes the down traverses the hollow (|iiill of 

 the succeeding feather. A bird's swaddling-clothes and 

 his first full dress are cut from the same piece. \U\\ when 

 these perfect feathers reach full size, tlie ai)erture at the 

 base closes, all blood-supply is cut off, and the feather at 

 the commencement of its usefulness becomes a dead 

 thing. There is no vital connection between the feathers 

 of all the following moults. Each is separate, the j)apilla 

 or feather-cells reawakening to new activity every time 

 the process occurs. 80 when a bii'd's wing is ('lipj)ed, no 

 pain is felt, any more than when a j^erson's haii- is cut. 

 Such feathers are of course not renewed until the succ(hv1- 

 ing moult. If a feather in a living bird ])e /ni/lcd ouf, 

 it will be replaced immediately by another, and this will 

 be repeated as often as the feather is removed. 



In cassowaries, each moult is advertised l)y dangling 

 streamers of the old plumage still attached to the ti])s 

 of the incoming feathers, but this connection is not a 

 living one, the adult feathers being as lifeless as those of 

 other birds. As j)owerful savages often exhil)it very 

 childlike traits, so these great birds are absurdly marked 

 with what, in other species, are sure signs of recent chick- 

 hood. 



The changing of plumage of the Brown Pelican is well 

 show^n by the illustrations. The naked young (l^g. 1<S) 

 become covered with papilla^ (Fig. 10) which soon l)urst 

 into a coating of the softest white down (Fig. '.M')): this 

 in turn gives place to the juvenile ])lumage of gray, the 

 features of the wings and shoulders a})}>earing first (I"ig. 



