20 
OUR HOME BIRDS. 
must be quite drowned. But the bird persisted in 
keeping alive; and not being a fish, it was very- 
puzzling how it could manage to breathe under 
water. But when the gentleman finally saw that the 
end of the wing-bone, which had been broken by his 
shot, did not get under the water, he understood in 
a moment that air was drawn to the bird’s lungs 
through this wing, and that by this means it was 
kept from drowning. 
“ The skeleton of a bird’s wing is like a human arm, 
if the arm is stretched out as I am stretching mine, 
with the fingers all close together in this way, and 
the thumb a little apart. The quill-feathers at the 
end of the wing are called ‘ primary ’ feathers, and 
ten of these continue on to the hand and fingers. 
Upon their arrangement depends the bird’s style of 
flight. 
“ If these feathers are long, stiff, and pointed, we 
know at once that the flight of the bird is swift and 
active. Such feathers are to be found in the swal- 
lows and humming-birds, whose powers of flight are 
wonderful. But if they are short, and rounded at 
the end, the flight is slow, and the bird seems to find 
it hard to fly at all. 
“ The second part of the arm or wing is that from 
the wrist to the elbow. From this part come the 
next set of quill-feathers, which are called the 
