Book excerpt: Excerpt from A History of the Earth and Animated Nature, Vol. 2 All birds are covered with feathers, and they are the only animals which, properly speaking, are so. These feathers are of two sorts - feathers for clothing, to protect the animal from the vicissitudes of the weather, and feathers for ight. Both of these are beautifully modified, so as to suit the different habits of the several species, and adapt them to the climates and the ele ments in which they find their food. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This 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."