240 
THE BEAUTIFUL LADDER. 
pocket-lens will help to make these facts more 
apparent and interesting. It is exceedingly 
attractive also to study the variations of the 
feathers of birds as differences of condition 
demand. Every part of the body presents 
some striking modification, head, neck, back, 
breast, wings, and tail—some to shield, some to 
warm, some to fly with, and some to direct the 
flight; soft and downy in the North to shut out 
the cold, and thin and fibrous to let in the cool 
breezes in the South ; held together and made 
impervious to water by electrical attraction in 
the water-fowls, and open and waving in the 
ostrich of the desert. How omniscient must 
chance, necessity, or natural selection be, in 
order to anticipate and provide for all these 
wonderful contingencies! and how persistent 
and systematic to check all further variations 
when the happy condition of perfection has 
been reached! 
“ The ‘ gray goosequill ’ or the modest garb 
of the little brown sparrow is a theme for ad¬ 
miration and study; but how the field amplifies 
and excites astonishment as the eyes begin to 
take in the strange variations and embellish¬ 
ments of bird-plumage! How easy to group 
