means to an end (th a t o f continuing its existence unaided), the young Duck is as perfect as the old bird,
though destitute o f the power o f flight, to be accorded to it hereafter. What the webbed feet and
swimming-capabilities are to the immature birds above mentioned, the organs o f flight are to the chick of
the Gelinotte 01 Hazel-Hen, which, within a day of its exit from the shell, is endowed with such a development
of its primaries and secondaries that it can fly from branch to branch, o r dart after its parents through
the wood, with an ease and rapidity equal to that o f any other little bird. At this early stage the Gelinotte
appears all wings, and, from the down which alone covers its body, presents somewhat the appearance o f a
gigautic moth. The young o f the Heron exhibits a very low degree o f perfection ; but those o f the Crane,
the Bustard, and the Plover are agile on exclusion. The colouring of the downy stage o f young birds is, in
many instances, very beautiful, and fantastic indeed in form— exhibiting itself in stripings amongst the
Grebes, yellow moss-like marblings amongst the true Plovers, paintings on the face o f the Coot, and tortoiseshell
blotches on the Black-headed Gull. This peculiar phase in bird-life exists but for a short period, six
or eight d ay s; a change then takes place, in the course o f which the downy dress, with all its pretty
markings, is thrown or, rather, pushed off by a succession of real feathers. In the Starling, among the
Insessorial birds, it is exchanged for a uniform coat o f brown, which, before the summer is over, is again
transformed into a spangled dress o f great beauty. In the Golden Plover the moss-like marbling is
exchanged for a yellow speckled plumage; the Grebe loses its dorsal stripes, and assumes a silken white
b rea s t; the young Coot, deprived o f its painted face, soon presents an approach to the colouring o f its
p a re n t; the grey middle dress o f the young Heron gradually merges into th at o f the a d u lt; and the newly
hatched Falcons, which are blind, sprawling creatures covered with white down, pass through a variety of
changes between their birth and the commencement of the second year o f their existence, when they attain
their perfect adult plumage, never again to be altered. Changes o f a similar description also occur among
the Owls. Many, if not most, birds, in fact, undergo a succession of alterations in their costume between
birth and maturity; but as there is no rule without an exception, so there are some birds which are not
subject to any great change o f this k in d : for instance, the Kingfisher from the first is nearly as fine in
colour as when adult, as are also the Roller, the Waxen Chatterer, the Tree-creeper, and the Nuthatch.
In the foregoing passages I have described some o f the remarkable changes which birds undergo between
youth and maturity; but however interesting and curious may be the details o f their infantine states, their
progress through middle life is not less s o ; while the culminating point, so far as costume is concerned,
has not yet been rea ched; for, wonderful as a re the phases through which they have progressed, these are
as nothing compared with the assumption o f the richer dress and colouring th at obtains a t the pairing-
season. The transformations that take place in the Plovers and many other species a t this period are
indeed most remarkable, and, I believe, little known to any but ornithologists. The white breasts of the
Golden and Grey Plovers now become o f a jetty black, and the same p art o f the God wits o f a rusty red ;
the Lesser Gulls have hoods of brown, and the Terns caps of glossy black, presenting a striking contrast to
their coral-red f e e t; the Divers doff their brown dress for a chequered one o f black and wh ite; the
Sparrow acquires a black bill, the Chaffinch and the Hawfinch blue ones; and the whole are now decked for
their summer duties, after the performance of which they again resume the garb o f winter, and retain it
until the following spring.
Of the myriads o f created beings which adorn our globe, birds must necessarily rank highly in the
estimation of man, and be to him at all times objects of the greatest interest, inasmuch as they not only
contribute in a hundred ways to his delight, but many of them to his sustenance. The buoyant Eagle,
soaring in aerial evolutions towards the sun, elicits his admiration; and the rapid stoop of the Falcon
excites his wonder. The Owl, which with noiseless flight crosses his path during its nocturnal prowlings,
induces his surprise a t the readiness with which it discerns the agile mouse and other small quadrupeds
among the grass. I f the fields attract him to roam in the daytime, the Lark and the Corn-Bunting are his
companions ; and he hears the voice o f the Yaffle, proclaiming the approach of rain. If in the woods he is
induced to stroll, the coo of the Pigeon strikes his car, or the tapping o f the Woodpecker arrests his attention,
the songs of the Thrush, the Ouzel, the Blackcap, and other sylvan birds, with the Nightingale at their
head, afford food to his mind and sweet music to his ear ; the Crows, the Books, and the Daws attract his
notice; and he does not fail to observe the difference in their cries, actions, and economies. In the
neighbourhood o f streams the bright meteor-like flash o f the Kingfisher, the heavy flutter of the Moorhen,
and the skimming flight of the Summer Snipe induce him to note how differently birds pass through the air,
and to contrast the comparatively slow movements of the latter with the sweeping flight of the Swift, which
nearly outstrips the wind. On the shores of the ocean a flood of new objects meet his gaze—the fiury-hke
Tern, the more robust Gulls, with Cormorants and many other aquatic species. In the marsh he hears the
Snipe drum, the Bittern boom, and the plain-coloured Reed Warblers pour forth a succession of querulous
sounds when intruded upon. While enjoying the invigorating air o f the downs, though now deprived of the
pleasure of seeing the stately B ustard, perchance his attention is arrested by the trippings of the D o ttre l;
the Stone-Plover may rise a t his feet, and wing its way over the hill to a place of security; or the Wheatear
and the Fmze-Chat may attract his notice, the former by the whiteness of it* rump, and the latter by being
perched on the very top o f a furze bush ; and if it be autumn, the heavy, flapping flight o f the Pewit will
show him that its structure is not so well adapted for passing through the air as that of the sharp-winged
Golden Plover.
In studying the denizens of our inland waters other opportunities for drawing a comparison will present
themselves ; he will not fail to remark the wondrous principle of adaptation which enables the frightened
Grebe after its plunge to progress with the aid of its wings as rapidly beneath the surface as the Coot with