3o6 



Bird - Lore 



replaced by a larger one. The more food one of these cold-blooded animals 

 consumes, the more rapidly it grows and the more often it has to molt. It is 

 not seriously discommoded by the process, however, except for a short time 

 when the loosened cuticle over the eye becomes opaque and renders it nearly 

 bhnd. When this occurs the animal rubs its nose against a stone, splitting 

 the hard cuticle and then gradually wiggles itself free, leaving the skin entire, 

 a sort of a ghost of its former self. 



With birds the molting is a more serious matter. It requires far more 

 energy to grow a new set of feathers than merely to form a new cuticle, in 

 fact, so much so that most of the other activities must stop and the bird's 

 entire strength be given to molting. As a result, song ceases, fighting and dis- 

 play are never indulged in, and nesting responsibiHties are completed and out 



of the way. The birds retire to the 

 thickets and move about only in 

 search of food. It is a period of 

 sickness or indisposition and the 

 birds largely shun each other's 

 company. During the molting time 

 many birds practically disappear 

 and are nowhere to be seen for 

 several weeks. The Red-winged 

 Blackbirds, for example, are very 

 abundant in every little marsh 

 until the last of August. Each even- 

 ing they can be seen flying in large 

 flocks to roost in the marshes and 

 each morning leaving again to feed 

 on the upland fields. The sexes 

 separate in flocks by themselves 

 and show little interest in each 

 other. Suddenly the male birds 

 disappear, shortly the females and 

 immatures follow, and there ensues 

 a period of several weeks when no 

 Blackbirds are seen either morning 

 or evening, nor are they to be seen 

 during the day about the marshes. 

 In a few weeks they appear again and this time in even larger numbers than before 

 for they have been joined by migrating birds from the North. In former years 

 it was supposed that the early disappearance was caused by the resident birds 

 leaving for the South and that the reappearance of blackbirds announced the 

 arrival of birds from the North, but the unaccountable part of the story was 

 that although the August birds were supposed to be leaving for the South, 



A SPOTTED SALAMANDER AND ITS CAST 

 SKIN 



Showing how cold-blooded animals renew their outer 

 covering 



