266 



THE RUMPLESS FOWL. 



But though its vital spark has fled for ever, still its 

 outer form will remain here^ probably for ages yet 

 to come. I dissected it ; and then I restored its 

 form and features in a manner that may cause it to 

 be taken for a living bird. This fowl now stands 

 along-side of a common barn-door hen, which had 

 assumed the plumage of a male, and whose fate 

 has already been recounted in Mr. Loudon's Maga- 

 zine of Natural History, She has been furnished 

 by nature with an oil-gland, and a handsome tail ; 

 he has been deprived by nature of both these ap- 

 pendages. Still, his feathers are as glossy, and in as 

 high condition^ as those of his companion. I con- 

 sider this fact as conclusive evidence against the 

 received opinion, that birds make use of the contents 

 of the oil-gland, in order to lubricate their feathers. 

 If they really did make use of it, the state of the 

 plumage on one of these birds ought to bear marks 

 of its application. 



Before I can be convinced that birds lubricate 

 their feathers, I must require him, who inspects 

 these two fowls (with a magnifying glass^ if he 

 chooses), to point out to me a difference in the 

 plumage of the bird with an oil-gland from that of 

 the bird without one. When he shall have done 

 this, I will yield, and willingly confess^ that a close 

 attention to this subject, for a very long time, has 

 availed me nothing, and has only been the means 

 of leading me into an evident error. 



