128 TROPICAL NATURE, AND OTHER ESSAYS. 



No less remarkable than the colours are the varied de- 

 velopments of plumage with which these birds are adorned. 

 The head is often crested in a variety of ways ; either a 

 simple flat crest, or with radiating feathers, or diverging 

 into two horns, or spreading laterally like wings, or erect 

 and bushy, or recurved and pointed like that of a plover. 

 The throat and breast are usually adorned with broad 

 scale-like feathers, or these diverge into a tippet, or send 

 out pointed collars, or elegant frills of long and narrow 

 plumes tipped with metallic spots of various colours. 

 But the tail is even a more varied and beautiful ornament, 

 either short and rounded, but pure white or some other 

 strongly contrasted tint ; or with short pointed feathers 

 forming a star ; or with the three outer feathers on each 

 side long and tapering to a point ; or larger, and either 

 square, or round, or deeply forked, or acutely pointed ; 

 or with the two middle feathers excessively long and 

 narrow ; or with the tail very long and deeply forked, 

 with broad and richly-coloured feathers ; or with the two 

 outer feathers wire-like and having broad spoon-shaped 

 tips. All these ornaments, whether of the head, neck, 

 breast or tail, are invariably coloured in some effective 

 or brilliant manner, and often contrast strikingly with 

 the rest of the plumage. Again, these colours often vary 

 in tint according to the direction in which they are seen. 

 In some species they must be looked at from above, in 

 others from below ; in some from the front, in others 

 from behind, in order to catch the full glow of the 

 metallic lustre ; hence, when the birds are seen in their 

 native haunts, the colours come and go and change with 

 their motions, so as to produce a startling and beautiful 

 effect. 



