304 



INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



that of a bird. The poet, in his description of their plumage, 

 has in no way " o'erstepped the modesty of nature :"- 



" In plumage delicate and beautiful, 

 Thick without burthen, close as iishes' scales. 

 Or loose as full-blown poppies to the breeze ; 

 With wings that might have had a soul within them, 

 They bore their owners by such sweet enchantment." 



MONTGOMERY'S ' ; PELICAN ISLAND." 



p - 



Fig. 242. LUNGS OF A BIRD.* 



By man, in a rude state of society, feathers were used for 

 trimming his arrows, for decorating his person, and on all 

 occasions of unusual ceremony and state. At present they 

 are no less valued. Wanting them, the most splendid 

 pageants would lose much of their effect, and "the plumed 

 troop " be shorn of a grace which no other part of its panoply 

 could supply. 



We must at present consider feathers rather in relation to 

 the birds themselves, than to the purposes of use or ornament 

 to which they are applied by man. One obvious advantage 

 to the birds is that of maintaining the warmth of their bodies, 

 or that of their eggs at the time of incubation. All their 

 uses, however, we can but faintly imagine; we know not in 



of the bronchial tubes, 

 n its natural state ; that 

 to exhibit the bronchial 



