Citizen Bird: Scenes from Bird-Life in Plain English for Beginners. Elliott Coues
things about this change of plumage is, that the new feathers often come out quite unlike those that were cast off. So a bird may differ much in appearance at different seasons and ages—in fact, most birds do. The male also differs in many cases from the female, being more handsomely dressed than his mate."
"I don't think that's fair," said Dodo. "I shouldn't like Nat to have nicer clothes than I wear."
"But it is best for Bird People," replied the Doctor, "that the mother bird, who has to keep house and tend to the little ones, should not be too conspicuous. She is best protected from enemies when her colors are plain, and especially when they match the foliage in which she sits on her nest. If her mate has only himself to look out for, it does not so much matter how bright his plumage may be. The colors of some birds are so exactly like their surroundings, that you might look long before you could find the sober, quiet female, whose mate is flashing his gay plumage and singing his finest song, perhaps for the very purpose of attracting your attention away from his home. 'Protective coloration,' is what the Wise Men call it."
"What makes all the different colors of birds, Doctor?" asked Rap.
"That is a hard question to answer. It is natural for birds to have particular colors, just as some people have black eyes and hair, while others have blue eyes and yellow hair. But I can tell you one thing about that. Look at this Sparrow. All the colors it shows are in the feathers, whose various markings are due to certain substances called 'pigments,' which filter into the feathers, and there set in various patterns. The feathers are painted inside by Nature, and the colors show through. You see none of these colors are shiny like polished metal. But I could show you some birds whose plumage glitters with all the hues of the rainbow. That glittering is called 'iridescence.' It does not depend upon any pigment in the substance of the feathers, but upon the way the light strikes them. It is the same with the beautiful tints we see on a soap-bubble. The film of water itself is colorless, but it becomes iridescent. You might divide all the colors of birds into two classes—those that depend upon pigments in the feathers, and those that depend upon the play of light on the feathers."
"That's pretty hard to remember," said Nat; "but I know how a soap-bubble looks, though I never saw any birds look that way. Please show us one."
"I will show you two," answered the Doctor, who then went to his glass case, and took out a Wild Pigeon and a Hummingbird. "Look at the shining tints on the neck of this Pigeon, and see how the throat of this Hummingbird glitters when I turn it to the light."
"That's the prettiest color I ever saw," said Nat, "and I can remember about it now. But," he added, thinking of the way he had seen hens mope when they were moulting, "does it hurt birds to lose their feathers, uncle?"
"It is probably not as comfortable as being nicely dressed, and sometimes they seem quite miserable, especially if they shed old feathers faster than new ones can grow to replace the lost ones. Some birds, like Ducks, lose their wing-feathers all at once, and cannot fly for quite a while. But Heart of Nature is kind to his children, as a rule. Most birds shed their rowing feathers one at a time in each wing, so that they never lose their power of flight. Now this will do for wings, tails, and feathers. Come! what is the next thing you notice about this Sparrow? Is it entirely covered with feathers?"
"Of course it isn't," said Dodo; "it hasn't any feathers on its beak or on its feet, else how could it eat and hop about?"
"That is right. These parts of a Sparrow are bare; they never have any feathers; and the skin on them is hard and horny, as different from soft thin skin as finger-nails. Now look at the beak, and think how many things a Sparrow has to do with it. He has no hands or paws, and so he must pick up everything he eats with his beak. He has no teeth, and so he must bite his food with his beak. He feeds on seeds like a Canary bird; so his beak comes to a sharp point, because seeds are small things to pick up; and it is very strong and horny, because seeds are hard to crack, to get at the kernel. Notice, too, children, that his beak is in two halves, an upper half and a lower half; when these halves are held apart his mouth is open, so that you can see the tongue inside; and when the two halves are closed together the mouth is shut. These halves are called the upper mandible and the lower mandible."
"Why, it's just like people's mouths," said Nat, "only people have lips and teeth."
"Certainly it is like our mouths. Birds are built like ourselves in a great many things, and live as we do in a great many ways. Bird People and House People are animals, and all animals must eat to live. A bird's beak is its mouth, and the under mandible moves up and down, like our chins when we eat or talk. Birds can talk as well as sing with their beaks. This Sparrow can say 'Peabody,' and some kinds of Parrots can repeat whole sentences so as to be understood. That is another thing in which birds' beaks are like our mouths. Now look again—can you see anything else about the Sparrow's beak?"
"I see a pair of little holes at the root of the upper mandible," said Rap.
"Well, those are the nostrils!" said the Doctor. "Birds must breathe, like ourselves, and when the beak is shut they breathe through the nostrils."
"So do I," said Dodo; and then she pursed up her pretty red lips tightly, breathing quite hard through her nose. "I do think," she said, when she had finished this performance, "birds have faces, with all the things in them that we have—there are the eyes, too, on each side, like people's eyes, only they look sideways and not in front. But I don't see their ears. Have birds any ears, Uncle Roy?"
"I can show you this Sparrow's ears. See here," said the Doctor, who had run the point of his penknife under a little package of feathers on one side of the back of the Sparrow's head, and lifted them up; "what does that look like?"
"It's a hole in the skin that runs into the head," said Nat. "Can birds hear through that?"
"Of course they can. Ears of all animals are made to hear with. This Sparrow can hear quite as well as you can, Nat. Now think, children, how many things we have found about this Sparrow's head that are quite like our own—ears, eyes, nose, mouth, and tongue—only there are no lips or teeth, because the horny beak, with its hard edges and sharp point, answers both for lips and teeth. I want you to learn from this how many things are really alike in Bird People and House People, though they look so different at first sight. When we come to the bird stories, you will find that birds differ very much among themselves in all these things. I will show you all sorts of beaks, of different sizes and shapes. Here are pictures of several kinds of beaks—see how much they differ in shape! But they are all beaks, and all beaks are mouths. They all answer the same purposes in birds' lives, and the purposes are the same as those of our mouths. But now, what do you notice about this Sparrow's feet?"
"They are not a bit like my feet," said Dodo; "they are so long and slim and hard, and the toes stick out so all around. I think mine are nicer."
"But they would not be so useful as this Sparrow's if you had to live in a bush and hop about on the twigs," said the Doctor. "The bird's feet are fixed as nicely for that, as yours are for walking on the ground. I can show you, too, little girl, that a Sparrow's feet are a great deal more like yours than you think. Come, Rap! Tell me what you see about this bird's feet."
"Why, they are the ends of its legs, and there is a long slim part beyond the feathers, hard and horny like the beak, and at the end of this are four toes, three in front and one behind, and they've all sharp claws on their ends."
"Very well said, my boy! Now I will show you that such feet as the Sparrow has are as much like Dodo's as a Sparrow's beak is like her mouth. Begin with the claws—"
FIG. 1. Insect-eating Bill of Robin; 2. Seed-crushing Bill of a Sparrow; 3. Snapping Bill Of Whip-poor-will; 4. Needle Bill Of Hummingbird; 5. Chiselling Bill of Woodpecker; 6. Climbing Bill Of Paroquet; 7. Tearing Bill of Falcon; 8. Grooved Drinking Bill Of Dove; 9. Gleaning Bill of Ruffed Grouse; 10. Wedge Bill Of Plover; 11. Straight Probing Bill of Snipe.