THE FORMATION AND FLIGHT OF BIRDS. 201 



A bird by puffing out its feathers can protect 

 itself against cold and wet. In wet weather you 

 have often seen a bird's real outline of figure 

 disappearing in a round ball of puffed out 

 feathers. 



Then just think how effective for a bird's 

 safety is its method of picking up and digesting 

 its food. Down it comes, picks up its worm or 

 bit of food, gulps it into its crop, flies quickly 

 away to a place of safety, and then digests it at 

 leisure. 



As the horse has been given speed, the cow 

 horns as a means of preserving their lives, so the 

 bird has been given wings, beak, and crop, as 

 the best method of preserving its life. 



Flight. How wonderful is the flight of birds ! 

 Pages alone could be written on this. 



Have you ever considered that there are no two 

 things quite alike, anywhere around you. No two 

 human faces are quite alike ; no two sheep in a fold 

 that a shepherd cannot tell apart ; no two hounds 

 in a pack that the huntsman ever mistakes one 

 for the other ; no two peas in a pod but some 

 slight difference can be found between them. 

 And so each separate species of bird possesses its 

 own peculiar flight, which differs from the flight 

 of another species. 



A careful observer can distinguish every 

 species of bird by its own particular flight. A 



