BIRDS' TAILS 35 



itself and is caught and driven by the blast ; but 

 as the bird turns round to face the gale, they all 

 close up and form a continuous mainsail, close- 

 hauled. And all the while the expanded tail is in 

 play, dipping first at one side and then at the other, 

 and turning the trim craft with easy grace " as the 

 governor listeth." 



Besides ground birds, like the quail, there are 



THERE ARE SOME ECCENTRICS, SUCH AS JENNY WREN, WHICH 

 HAVE DESPISED THEIR TAILS. 



some eccentrics, such as Jenny wren, which have 

 despised their tails, and there are specialists also 

 which require them for other purposes than flying. 

 The woodpecker's tail is quite useless as a rudder, 

 for he is a woodman and has altered and adapted 

 it for a portable stool to rest against as he plies his 

 axe. 



But that man must be very blind to the place 

 which birds have taken in the progress of civilisa- 



