AND THE OIL-GLAND. 



133 



from the gland through the medium of the bill. 

 In fine, there are some birds without any gland 

 at all, as I have remarked elsewhere. Provi- 

 dence never does any thing by halves. If the 

 matter from the oil-gland were for the purpose 

 of lubricating the feathers, it would not have 

 been granted by the Creator to one bird, and 

 denied to another. Had such an act of par- 

 tiality taken place, " it would have been putting 

 one sadly over the head of another." 



Some years ago, when I was in hot dispute 

 on this subject with writers in Mr. Loudon's 

 Magazine of Natural History, a thunderstorm 

 provided me with the means of having a very 

 satisfactory view of the oil-gland on the rump 

 of a kestril, or windhover. The poor hawk was 

 sitting upon the branch of a sycamore tree, 

 when the lightning struck it dead to the 

 ground. It was a fine old male bird, and had 

 no outward marks of damage on it. I care- 

 fully dissected the oil-gland. Around the base 

 of it there was a circle of down. The shaft of 

 the nipple was quite bare of down or feathers ; 

 but the orifice of the nipple was totally con- 

 cealed by a very dense tuft of down, which had 

 the exact appearance of a camel-hair brush. 



