G@ Groken Feather 
In the snow bunting all but two of the old primaries 
are gone before any new ones have grown as large as 
the secondaries, In the hawks, again, birds that must 
use their wings and must have them always at their 
best, the moulting of the wing feathers is very slow, 
lasting nearly the whole year. The homing pigeon, 
another great flier, but not of the same kind as the 
hawks, begins about May to moult his wing feathers, 
losing the tenth primary first, a month later the ninth, 
then the others at intervals of from eight to fifteen 
days. 
It is quite enough to make one pause, to make one 
even wonder, when he finds that this seemingly in- 
significant matter is taken so seriously by nature, 
and that even here there is that perfect adaptation 
of means to end. The gosling, to cite another in- 
stance, goes six weeks in down, then gets its first 
feathers, which it sheds in the fall. The young quail, 
on the other hand, is born with quills so far advanced 
that it is able to fly almost as soon as it is hatched. 
These are mature feathers; but the bird is still young 
and growing, and soon outgrows these first flight 
feathers, so that they are quickly lost and new ones 
come. This goes on till fall, several moults occurring 
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