What Is a Bird? 
        Just exactly what is a bird? Perhaps  you would say that a bird is an animal that flies. But butterflies, which are  insects, and bats, which are mammals, also fly. Some birds, on the other hand,  do not fly at all. The ostrich, the emu, and the kiwi run very fast. The  penguin swims with his short paddlelike wings. None of them can fly.   
      All birds, however, have feathers, which no  other animal has. Feathers then, and not flying, make a bird different from  other animals. Birds are feathered, warm-blooded animals with backbones. They  have two legs. Whether they fly or not, all have a pair of wings corresponding  to the arms or the front legs of many other animals. A beak takes the place of  a jaw with teeth. All birds lay eggs. Most of them build a nest in which they  care for the eggs and the young birds.  
      bird (burd) n. [[ME bird, brid <  OE bridd, bird, orig., young bird]] 
      1 any of a class (Aves) of  warmblooded, two-legged, egg-laying vertebrates with feathers and wings 
      2 a small game bird: distinguished  from WATERFOWL 
      3 a clay pigeon in trapshooting 
      4 a shuttlecock 
      5 [Colloq.] a person, esp. a mildly  eccentric one 
      6 [Slang] a sound of disapproval made  by vibrating the lips 
      7 [Slang] a rocket or guided missile 
      8 [Brit. Slang] a young woman --vi. 
      9 to shoot or catch birds 
      10 to engage in bird-watching –
      birds of  a feather people  with the same characteristics or tastes --eat like a bird to eat very  little food --for the birds [Slang] ridiculous, foolish, worthless,  useless, etc. --the birds and the bees [Colloq.] the basic facts about  sexual matters. (in some bird species both sex looks alike.)       
      Birds are classified under various families and Scientific study of bird called Ornithology