Miriam Carlon, age 10, of Des Moines,, Iowa, for her questions

How do birds hear?

Most young people think that they hear with those two shell like ears on the aides of their heads. Actually, this is not so. These pretty shells are merely our outer ears. They catch the sounds and direct them to the inner ears, buried deep inside the bones of the skull. The real fob of hearing is done by these inner ears.

Birds, cdrtain seals and many other animals have no outer ears. But they do have inner ears buried, as ours are, in the bones of the skull. A bird's ears are on the sides of his head, ,just where you would expect them to be. There are small holes in his skull which carry the sounds inside to his inner ears. These openings are covered with akin and feathers, which is why we cannot see them.