Susan Fisher, Age 10, Of Cape Elizabeth, Me., for her question:

How do feathers stick to a bird?

If a bird could ask sensible questions, he might want to know why the hair stays on your head. He might wonder why it does not blow off in the wind. But you know that every hair is firmly rooted deep in your skin; and if you try to pull one out, it hurts. The feathers of a bird also grow from roots in the skin.

The soft feathers of a bird get a lot of wear and tear and, in time, became shabby. The worn feathers fall out, and new ones grow from the roots. The bird may shed or molt a few feathers at a time. But some birds molt most of their feathers at the same time, and these poor fellows have to wait around for their new p1umage to grow.