Feathers Oi 



For, higher up on the wings, and on the slioulders, we 

 find that the fine specks which were barel\' noticeable on 

 the tips of some of the wing-feathers, are in the ascend- 

 ant, and absorb or replace the white spots over the whole 

 feather. The faint trace of the third line near the shaft 

 of which I spoke, has suddenly assumed an unexpected 

 importance and has spread out into a broad central band. 

 The young or the female might give us a clew; for in 

 many birds the coloration of these shows a more ancient 

 arrangement of colour pattern than the feathers of the 

 male. 



The Indian Wood Ibis — what an imbecile it looks to 

 our e3'es when we observe it in a zoological garden; what 

 a fishy smell it generally diffuses, how unpleasant are its 

 feeding habits, and what a dull black and white colora- 

 tion it has! Surely here is a bird with nothing which 

 could possibly appeal to our aesthetic sense. But we are 

 mistaken. Some of the innermost feathers of its wings, 

 seldom visible, except when the bird parti}' spreads them, 

 are of the most beautiful rose hue, shading at the tip 

 into a deeper pink. Seldom, even in Nature, will we 

 find tints comparable to the delicacy and bloom of these 

 hidden feathers. 



We have gone into these details only to show the 

 possibilities of a little feather-study. Even our common 

 Plymouth Rock chickens and hundreds of other birds 

 will show us unthought-of beauties, and in the fields or 

 in a zoological park we have only to use our eyes more 

 carefully to realize how ^luch we usually pass by un- 

 noticed. 



