Bird Study 27 



FEATHERS AS CLOTHING 



Teacher's Story 



HE bird's clothing affords a natural beginning for bird 

 study because the wearing of feathers is a most strik- 

 ing character distinguishing birds from other crea- 

 tures; also, feathers and flying are the first things 

 the young child notices about birds. 

 The purpose of all of these lessons on the hen are : (a) To induce the 

 child to make continued and sympathetic observations on the habits of 

 the domestic birds, (b) To cause him involuntarily to compare the 

 domestic with the wild birds, (c) To induce him to think for himself why 

 the shape of the body, wings, head, beak, feet, legs and feathers are 

 adapted in each species to protect the bird and assist it in getting its 

 living. 



The overlapping of the feathers on a hen's back and breast is a pretty 

 illustration of nature's method of shingling, so that the rain, finding no 

 place to enter, drips off, leaving the bird's underclothing quite dry. It 

 is interesting to note how a hen behaves in the rain ; she droops her tail 

 and holds herself so that the water finds upon her no resting place, but 

 simply a steep surface down which to flow to the ground. 



Each feather consists of 

 three parts, the shaft or quill, 



Hooks on linrbels 



which is the central stiff stem 

 of the feather, giving it 

 strength. From this quill 

 come off the barbs which, 

 toward the outer end, join to- 

 gether in a smooth web, mak- 

 ing the thin, fan-like portion 

 of the feather ; at the base is 

 the fluff, which is soft and 

 downy and near to the body 

 of the fowl. The teacher 

 should put on the blackboard 

 this figure so that incidentally 

 the pupils may learn the parts 

 of a feather and their struc- 

 ture. If a microscope is 

 available, show both the web ^ feather 



and the fluff of a feather under a three-fourths objective. 



The feathers on the back of a hen are longer and narrower in propor- 

 tion than those on the breast and are especially fitted to protect the back 

 from rain ; the breast feathers are shorter and have more of the fluff, thus 

 protecting the breast from the cold as well as the rain. It is plain to any 

 child that the soft fluff is comparable to our woolen underclothing while 

 the smooth, overlapping web forms a rain and wind-proof outer coat. 

 Down is a feather with no quill ; young chicks are covered with down. A 

 pin-feather is simply a young feather rolled up in a sheath, which bursts 

 later and is shed, leaving the feather free to assume its form. Take a 

 large pin-feather and cut the sheath open and show the pupils the young 

 feather lying within. 



