Feathers 49 



over hundreds of miles of land and water must hiwa 

 I^erfect wings and rudders to carry them safely, against 

 contrary winds and sudden accidents. Others which are 

 contented with the food found near their homes, and 

 elect (by the laws of their kind) to remain, must he \)iv- 

 pared to withstand the blasts of winter. Their ])himage 

 must ])e abundant and thick to keep out the cold and 

 snow, and to enal^le them to bury their tender eyes and 

 feet in its warm mass. Otherwise the tiny round flulTs 

 huddled close to the trunks in the evergreens would droj) 

 stiffened to the ground during some long winter night. 

 So a renewal of plumage in the fall is most necessary- to 

 the life of birds. 



A baby robin, secure from most enemies in his nest, 

 with parents to supply his every want, acquires his wing- 

 quills only when his nestling down is shed. He is care- 

 fully watched and tended during his first flights, and 

 takes such good care of these flight-feathers that they 

 serve to carry him to his winter home far to the south- 

 ward. But a brood of a dozen or more little Bob-whites 

 whose wing-feathers s})rout with the most marvellous 

 rapidity, from the moment the birds tumble out of their 

 white shells, would fare ill indeed if they had to trust to 

 these nursery quills all the fii'st winter, with hungry 

 foxes sniffing for their scent, and more-to-be-dreaded owls 

 shadowing their trembling covey. Nature has come to 

 their aid, and w^hen they have fairly worn out their wings 

 in the first awkw^ard attempts at flight, new feathers 

 come in, and this succession of quills keeps them in fine 

 flying condition until full grown. Indeed so solicitous is 



