CHAPTER VIII 
The Wings of Nestling Birds 
“The blue eggs in the Robin’s nest 
Will soon have wings, and beak, and breast, 
And flutter and fly away.” 
LONGFELLOw. 
The wing of the unhatched bird—Of the coots and water-hen—The hoatzin’s 
wings—The wing of Archeopteryx—Moulting—The nestling game-birds and 
ducks—Teaching the young to fly. 
T first sight it may seem a little strange to introduce 
nestlings into a book devoted to birds in flight. But 
there are aspects of the wing of nestling birds which must, 
indeed, be borne in mind when considering the wing of the 
adult. 
It was pointed out, in Chapter I., that the wing of the 
adult had but three fingers and two wrist-bones. This con- 
dition represents the last stage in the evolution of the Avian 
wing. The wing of the nestling gives a clue to an earlier 
stage in its history. But we can get even further back than 
this. For if we examine the wing of an unhatched bird, we 
shall be able to get still nearer to the birth, and growth of 
the wing out of a reptilian fore-limb. Here as many as six 
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