"Wait a minute while I go to the pigeon-house and get my little pouter. He is very tame, and will perch on my arm while we talk about his feathers."Fred was back again in no time with his pigeon, and then he began. "Suppose we look first at the wings and tail. Notice these long feathers, as I spread out the wing. They have a stem, which we call the quill. These are the quill feathers. They are fixed into the skin of the bird by a sort of root. The bird makes use of these long feathers in the wings and tail for flying.
"Now, if you run your finger over the birds body, you will find that the whole of the body is covered with smaller feathers, which form its real covering. These are the clothing feathers.
"Notice that when I run my fingers over them the wrong way, I ruffle them up; but they can be easily smoothed back again into their proper position, and then they are seen to be beautifullyarranged, one overlapping the other, so as to form a close-fitting coat.
