John H Robinson

Our Domestic Birds John H Robinson

Definition of a bird. A bird is a feathered animal. The covering of feathers is the only character common to all birds and not possessed by any other creature. The other characters-the bill, the wings, egg-laying, etc.-by which we usually distinguish birds from animals of other kinds are not exclusive bird characters. Turtles have beaks, and there is one species of mammal (the ornithorhynchus) which has a bill like that of a duck. Many insects and one species of mammal (the bat) fly. Insects, fishes, and reptiles lay eggs, and there are several rare species of mammals that lay eggs and incubate them. On the other hand, some birds are deficient in one or more of the typical bird characters.