What Is a Bird?

The way i understand something is by having a definition of it in terms of the the correct features. People believe that this is how they know what a bird is, but they're mistaken in an important sense. I could put a couple of wings on this table, a bunch of feathers, a beak and then throw it all up in the air. Do i have a bird? No, i've a bloody mess. What's missing from this is the structural, functional organization that makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts. The germans have a great word for this, gestalt. In english we don't. But when i really know something, i conform to it.