CHAPTEK II, 



SENSATION IN FEATHERS. 



The keenest sense of feeling through the medium of the 

 plumage is indispensably necessary to the well-being of all the 

 feathered race. 



The feathers, it is true, in themselves, like several other por- 

 tions of the body, such for example as the nails^ claws, beak, 

 and hoofs, have no real sensation or actual appreciation of the 

 sense of touch; still, they are enabled by the nicest possible 

 organization to convey the most delicate impressions to those 

 functions of the animal economy that do feel. 



If such a wise provision of Nature did not exist, what, we 

 might ask, would become of all the numerous Nocturnal Birds 

 that seek their food only during the dark hours of night? The 

 whole tribe most indubitably would soon be killed off by 

 striking themselves against the various obstacles that they 

 necessarily encounter in their midnight rambles. This acute 

 sensibility on the part of feathers to outward impressions, is 

 not, perhaps, as essential for those Birds that fly only in the 

 broad daylight, as it is to the numerous variety of Owls, Bats, 



