Feathers 43 
over hundreds of miles of land and water must have 
perfect wings and rudders to carry them safely, against 
contrary winds and sudden accidents. Others which are 
contented with the food found near their homes, and 
elect (by the laws of their kind) to remain, must be pre- 
pared to withstand the blasts of winter. Their plumage 
must be abundant and thick to keep out the cold and 
snow, and to enable them to bury their tender eyes and 
feet in its warm mass. Otherwise the tiny round fluffs 
huddled close to the trunks in the evergreens would drop 
stiffened to the ground during some long winter night. 
So a renewal of plumage in the fall is most necessary to 
the life of birds. 
A baby robin, secure from most enemies in his nest, 
with parents to supply his every want, acquires his wing- 
quills only when his nestling down is shed. He is care- 
fully watched and tended during his first flights, and 
takes such good care of these flight-feathers that they 
serve to carry him to his winter home far to the south- 
ward. But a brood of a dozen or more little Bob-whites 
whose wing-feathers sprout with the most marvellous 
rapidity, from the moment the birds tumble out of their 
white shells, would fare ill indeed if they had to trust to 
these nursery quills all the first winter, with hungry 
foxes sniffing for their scent, and more-to-be-dreaded owls 
shadowing their trembling covey. Nature has come to 
their aid, and when they have fairly worn out their wings 
in the first awkward attempts at flight, new feathers 
come in, and this succession of quills keeps them in fine 
flying condition until full grown. Indeed so solicitous is 
