. The bird, its form and function. Birds. 338 The Bird being of any use in supporting his great frame, they are so vestigial that they look exactly like black slate-pencils projecting in a row from the little fleshy flap which con- tains the evidence of his fuU-winged ancestors A full-grown ostrich was once imported to this country from Abyssinia. When the native keepers learned that the bird was to be sent away, they surreptitiously plucked the. Fig. 268.—Wing of Cassowary, showing degenerate flight-feathers. poor creature, until but few feathers were left on its body. The bird was tame, and,
. The bird, its form and function. Birds. 338 The Bird being of any use in supporting his great frame, they are so vestigial that they look exactly like black slate-pencils projecting in a row from the little fleshy flap which con- tains the evidence of his fuU-winged ancestors A full-grown ostrich was once imported to this country from Abyssinia. When the native keepers learned that the bird was to be sent away, they surreptitiously plucked the. Fig. 268.—Wing of Cassowary, showing degenerate flight-feathers. poor creature, until but few feathers were left on its body. The bird was tame, and, by keeping its attention busy with a basket of carrots, I inserted a piece of white card- board beneath one of its skinny, denuded wings and se- cured an excellent photograph (Fig. 269). This clearly shows the black, curved claws on the first two fingers. In this same bird I noticed that occasionally the crooked forearm would be raised, the claw at the end of the wing. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Beebe, William, 1877-1962. New York, Holt
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, booksubjectbirds, bookyear1906
