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 Archaopteryx — Moulting — ^The nestling game-birds and 

 ducks — ^Teaching the young to fly. 



AT 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 nestUng 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 reptihan fore-limb. Here as many as six 



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