the ice. He is also in a position to light on all four legs instead of "lighting" on his little nose.
You will notice that a bird spreads his tail much wider when he comes to light than he does when he is flying. Also notice that he curves upward, much as the crawfish does when he swims backward. See how his tail used in this way checks his flight?
As we also saw, his quills, his beak and his "toe nails" are made of the same stuff as the shell of the lobster. His bones are made of the same stuff as the shell of the oyster, and these bones and quills are hollow—like the reeds that grow by the water's edge. Remember too, that the bird, as well as the fish, has scales; and these scales on his legs are of the same shape and made of the same kind of material as the fish's scales. Its feathers, too—as you can plainly see is true of the quills—are made of the same scale stuff. And, as if to remind us of the bird's relation to the fish, on the side of his scales—these scales, when the chicken or other little bird is young, look much like feathers.
While the bird, both in form and action, is related to the fish and the crawfish on one side by his scales, his wings—which are only flying fins—and his tail, we will find that in these and other ways he is related to all four-footed things—and to two-footed and two-armed creatures. Examine the leg of a chicken and you will find there a thigh, a shin, and, of course, feet. In the ankle you will find what is left of seven bones. There are seven bones in your ankle, too; but in the bird some of these bones have disappeared and some have grown together, because the bird doesn't use his feet enough to make so many bones necessary. If you had to keep your ankle still for a long time, say in a plaster cast, the bones would grow together, and doctors are very careful to see that joints are exercised just as soon as possible, in such cases.
So, as we say that certain kinds of birds are pigeons, although they differ so much from one another; that a hawk and a duck are both birds, although they differ so much more; and that the fish, the pigeon, and the horse and the man are all alike in having backbones, so we find, the more we study men and animals, that they are alike in more and more ways than we would ever imagine, just by looking at them.
Particularly if we are thinking how different they are, which is very easy. Try, instead, to see in what ways they are like each other. That is harder, but is ever so much more interesting.
