THE 
STRUCTURE AND LIFE OF BIRDS 
CHAPTER I 
INTRODUCTORY 
A BIRD seems to have more life in him than any 
other living creature. A Swift will outpace the 
fastest racehorse. Migratory birds arrive unexhausted 
after a flight of hundreds of miles. An Ostrich will 
leave behind the horseman who pursues him. The 
Penguin swims as if water were the native element of 
birds. And this vitality shows itself in many other 
ways, notably in the brilliant colours of the plumage, 
as in the Bird of Paradise or the Peacock. Sometimes, 
as in the Argus Pheasant, there is great richness of 
colouring without any gaudiness. Even when there 
is neither brilliancy nor richness of hue, but the 
plumage is of the very soberest, there is often such a 
brightness about the eye and the general air of our 
birds that their plainness passes unnoticed. Their 
leading characteristic is not their dull colouring but 
g % B 
