Ray Deck, age 10, of So. Charleston, West Virginia, for his question:

Where are a parakeet's ears?

If one of the members of your family is a perky parakeet, you know that the small fellow can hear. He may carry on a chirpy conversation in his own language or even learn to repeat a few human words. But where are the ears he needs to carry on his dialogues? The fact is, they are hidden. No, you won't find them by parting the feathers on the sides of his little head. They are inside his skull and the small openings are covered with skin and feathers.

Human ears are made in two sections. Those two round handles on the side of your head are outer ears. Their job is to catch sound waves and direct them through to the inner ears that are buried in the bones of your skull. The delicate inner ears, not those ornamental outer ears, do the hearing job. The parakeet has no outer ears and neither do other birds. But all of them have very sharp inner ears, hidden inside their skull bones.