Because the creator has thus provided for the preservation of the warmth of the animals during the cold months of winter. 1036. _Why does a black down grow under the feathers of birds as winter approaches?_ Because the down is a non-conductor of heat, and black the warmest colour. It is therefore best adapted to _keep in_ their bodily warmth during the cold of winter. 1037. _Why has man no external appendage to his mouth?_ Because _his hands_ serve all the purposes of gathering food, and _conveying it to the mouth_. Man's mouth is simply an _opening_; in other animals it is a _projection_. 1038. _Why have dogs, and other carnivorous animals, long pointed teeth, projecting above the rest?_ Because as they have not hands to seize and controul their food, the projecting teeth enable them to _snap and hold_ the objects which they pursue for food. 1039. _Why is the under jaw of the hog, shorter and smaller than the upper one?_ Because the animal pierces the ground _with its long snout_, and then the small under jaw _works freely in the furrow_ that has been opened, in quest of food. 1040. _Why have birds hard beaks?_ Because, having no teeth, the beak enables them to _seize_, _hold_, and _divide their food_. 1041. _Why are the beaks of birds generally long and sharp?_ Because the greater number of birds live by _picking up small objects_, such as worms, insects, seeds, &c. The sharp beak, therefore, serves as a _fine pincers_, enabling them to take hold of their food conveniently. [Verse: "As the fishes that are taken in an evil net, and as the birds that are caught in the snare; so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it falleth suddenly upon them."--ECCLESIASTES IX.] 1042. _Why have snipes and woodcocks long tapering bills?_ Because they live upon worms which they find in the soft mud of streams and marshy places; their long bills, therefore, enable them to _dig down into the mud after their prey_. 1043. _Why have woodcocks, snipes, &c., nerves running down to the extremities of their bills?_ Because, as they dig for their prey in the soft sand and mud, they cannot see the worms upon which they live. Nerves are, therefore, distributed to the very point of their bills (where, in other birds, nerves are entirely absent) _to enable them to prehend their food_. [Illustration: Fig. 67.--SPOONBILL.] 1044. _Why have ducks and geese square-pointed bills?_ Because they not only feed by dabbling in soft and muddy soil, but they consume a considerable quantity of green food, and their square bills enable them to _crop off the blades of grass_. [Verse: "Let the heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and everything that moveth therein."--PSALM LXIX.] 1045. _Why has the spoon-bill a long expanded bill, lined internally with sharp muscular points?_