HOW BIRDS SLEEP
Very few laymen can understand why a tree-perching bird does not fall off a slender branch when it goes to sleep and becomes unconscious. Tho answer is that it cannot. The bonding ot the knees in the act of sitting down tightens the muscles of the toes in such a way as virtually to lock the .sleeping bird on its perch, and it cannot, leave until they arc straightened and the muscles ol the toes arc relaxed (writes Air Richard Hearten, in the ‘National Review’). Another phase of the matter which puzzles the popular ; .ind is: Why do birds puff out their plumage when going to fileen? This is done in order to retain the heat of their bodies Air is a bad conductor, and by entangling a certain amount of it between their feathers it is kept still, and acts tho part of a wrapper. In oi'der to prove this it is only necessary to mention that two light overcoats will keep a man’s body warmer during a cold winter’s day than a single heavy one. The entangled air between tho two garments prevents the natural heat of the man’s body from escaping.
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ESD19270721.2.103
Bibliographic details
Evening Star, Issue 19614, 21 July 1927, Page 10
Word Count
197HOW BIRDS SLEEP Evening Star, Issue 19614, 21 July 1927, Page 10
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