Our  Canaries 
CHAPTER  XI. 
MOULTING. 
WHAT    IT  IS. 
THE  wonderful  phenomenon  of  a  bird  casting  off  its  covering  of  feathers 
and  growing  a  new  supply  in  the  space  of  a  few  short  weeks  each 
year  would  appear  to  us  as  one  of  the  great  wonders  of  creation,  were  it 
not  so  familiarised  by  constant  occurrence  before  our  eyes  as  to  deprive 
it  of  any  sense  of  novelty.  Yet  by  many  it  is  even  now  so  little  under- 
stood as  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  disease.  Such  is  by  no  means  the  case. 
On  the  contrary  it  is  rather  a  wise  provision  of  Nature  which  tends  wholly 
to  the  preservation  of  the  health  and  general  condition  of  the  subject. 
We  have  only 
to  reflect  for  a  very 
short  time  upon  the 
probable  condition 
and  appearance  of 
birds  after  a  few  brief 
years  of  existence 
w^ere  no  such  pro-  • 
vision  made  for  the 
periodical  renewal  of 
their  outer  covering 
when    it  became 
frayed  and  torn,  and  A  type  o!  the  ordinary  box-pattern  moulting  cage. 
often  partly  plucked 
out,  in  the  wear  and  tear  of  their  daily  lives  and  the  quarrels  and  bickerings 
of  rivalry  and  courtship.  Even  in  the  case  of  our  domestic  Canaries,  protected 
as  they  are  continually  from  the  storms  and  stress  of  existence  experienced  by 
birds  in  a  state  of  Nature,  a  bird  becomes  a  rather  sorry  sight  when  the  moult 
is  deferred  for  a  few  months  beyond  the  time  when,  in  the  natural  order  of 
things,  it  should  take  place.  What,  then,  would  be  the  condition  of  feathered 
creatures  generally  were  they  limited  to  a  single  coat  of  feathers  throughout 
life?  Simply  deplorable.  But  Nature  wisely  steps  in  and  decrees  that  when 
the  toils  and  cares  of  nesting  and  rearing  of  young  have  been  duly  performed, 
so  far  as  the  outer  covering  of  feathers  is  concerned,  birds  shall  cast  oft  the  old 
and  put  on  new  for  more  efficient  protection  against  the  rigours  of  the  inclement 
season  which  immediately  follows,  and  to  start  the  next  season  of  courtship  with 
a  full  and  perfect  plumage.  The  young  birds  also  undergo  a  partial  change, 
and  put  on  the  adult  plumage  of  a  rather  denser  character  than  the 
nestling  feathers  which  are  discarded. 
