82 
THE FEATHERS. 
those new to the employment often tearing and 
lacerating the skin in such a manner as to occasion 
the bird's death. But even when performed with 
the utmost expertness, the poor birds pine for a 
considerable time afterwards, losing their flesh and 
appetite ; their eyes become dull, and they betray 
symptoms of weariness and weakness. In some 
birds this growth of feathers is always going on; 
and they may be said to be in a perpetual moult ; 
while in others again, and those chiefly water-birds, 
the process of moulting or changing plumage occurs 
only twice in the year, in autumn and in spring ; 
and here again we shall find that Creative Wisdom is 
at work in acting for the best. 
That there is a great difference in the summer 
and winter plumage of many birds, is known 
to almost every body; but it requires a closer 
examination, to see that much of this difference 
consists in a great increase of warmth, to meet the 
severity of the latter season, which is thus produced. 
In the autumnal moult, when the summer feathers 
fall off, the new feathers, which take their place, will 
be found to be fringed. This fringe is generally of 
the same texture, though almost always of a warmer 
and more downy character, and often of a different 
colour, which will account for the variety of tints 
often observed in birds at these different seasons of 
the year. As the spring advances these little fringes 
break off, and leave the edge of the feather sharp 
and defined, but of course shorter ; in this very 
simple manner is the bird divested of a quantity of 
winter clothing, when the weather is warmer, and 
a superfluity of apparel no longer required. In 
