The Spring of the Year

thes, and you might be a crow! And then of course you would steal corn

h a big hole in his wing,-at least three of his large wing feathers gone, shot away probably last summer,-which c

emies, until he can get three new feathers to take the places of those that are missing. "Well, why doesn't he get them?"

w has nothing to do with it. His wing feathers are supplied by Nature once a year (after the nesting-time), and if a crow loses any of them, even if right after the new feathers had been

ure knows just how many there are altogether; how many there are of each sort-primaries, secondaries, tertials, greater coverts, middle coverts, lesser coverts, and scapulars-in the wing; just how each sort is arranged; just when

feathers fall according to a law of Nature. The moon is appointed for seasons; the sun knoweth his going down; and so light and insigni

ow, so nearly naked that she really is ashamed of herself, and so miserably helpless that she squats in a corner all night, unable to reach the low poles of the roost. It is a critical experience with the hen, this moulting of

nd order, every feather as important to Nature as a star, every quill as a planet, and

-season, it seems a physical necessity

ause for the new annual suit of the birds. Yet with them, as with some of us, the feather

o do and a multitude of little things to attend to, must not be severe and methodical?)-severe, I say, as Mothe

e feathers did make a fine bird! Or does she do all of this to meet the fancy of the bride, as the scientists tell us? Whether so or not, it is a fac

cream-buff lover, most strikingly adorned. His wife, down in the grass, looks as little like him as a sparrow looks like a blackbird. But after the breeding-season he will moult again

h, he is not black and white, but still colored like a sparrow, as he was in the fall. Apparently he is. Look at him more closely, however, and you will find that the brownish-yellow color is all caused by a veil of fine fringes hanging from the edges of the feathers. The bridegroom wearing the

The great feathers of the wings are, as you know, the most important feathers a bird has; and the shedding of them is so serious a matter that Nature has come to make the change according to the habits and n

nnot fly. On land you could catch the birds with your hands. But they keep near or on the water and thus escape, though times have been when it was

ey can swim, and so get away from most of their natural enemies. On the other hand, the hawks that hunt by wing, and must have wings always in good feather, or else perish, lose their feather

quills so far grown that it is able to fly almost as soon as it is hatched. These are real mature feathers; but the bird is young and soon outgrows these first flight feathers

wise mother, is severe only where she needs to be. A crow's wing feathers are vastly important to him. Let him then take care of them, for they are the best feathers made

o firmly set, nor are they of the same quality or kind; for, unlike the wing feathers, if a tail feather is lost through accident, it is made good, no matter when. How do you explain that? Do you think I believ

as found it necessary to check their frequent change; and so complete is the check that the annual moult is required to replace a single one. The Japanese have discover

ll in his wing, and must continue to carry, as the stars must continue their courses, until those three feathers have roun