96 BLOOMING o:e feathers. 



it is as obscure as it is curious. In all the living and 

 growing races, there is a bloom or evolution of 

 richer and more intense colour than that which 

 accompanies ordinary growth, attendant upon the 

 process of production. This is less conspicuous in 

 the animal kingdom than in the vegetable ; and in 

 both, those species in which the process is otherwise 

 secret or obscure, partake little or nothing in this 

 rich display ; but it is to the nuptial dresses of 

 plants and of birds that the g-a.y season of the year 

 owes the most of its beauty ; and nature, true to her 

 general law, lavishes the richest of her ornaments 

 upon the most essential of her operations — upon that 

 operation by which alone she maintains all the races 

 of her children, and triumphs over time itself. 



As the uses of those supplemental feathers, whether 

 seasonal or permanent, are not kno^vn, they cannot 

 be used for any purpose more general than that of 

 being specific or trivial characters of the races in 

 which they appear. The following figure of the swift 

 affords an instance of a bird which feeds exclusively 

 on the wing, and is consequently more dependent on 

 its feathers than on any other part of its organisation. 



