Excerpt from The Birds About UsT is not necessary in a book Of this character to enter into minute details as to the anatomy and physiology of birds, important as these are to a thorough comprehension of bird-life as a whole. We will pass over, too, the subject of the relationship borne by this class Of animals to the other great groups of the animate world.It is sufficient to say that birds are known instantly by their feathers, a covering not to be confounded with any other, and peculiar to them. Birds, as we know, are creatures of ¿ight, but SO are insects and some of our mammals, and indeed, in whatever way we propose to distinguish this group from the others, it will be found that there are some exceptions to be made, but not one in the matter Of the first distinctive feature that I have mentioned, that of feathers, which are beautiful in themselves because Of their delicate structure, and often so exquisitely colored that they rival the richest orchids of the tropical jungle.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.