"PLEASED WITH A FEATHER." 



373 



The commonest method of exhibiting color is by means of pigments 

 either in the external coating of the feathers or in their deeper layers. 

 Cases of this sort are too frequent to need special exemplification ; but 

 some birds have brilliant hues otherwise displayed, as in the wattles of 

 the common barn-door fowl, the fleshy appendages of the turkey, and 

 the painted face of the carrier-pigeon. The wattled honey-sucker of 

 Australia has two drooping folds of flesh which fall like bonnet-strings 

 under his throat; the king-vulture has his head and neck covered with 

 naked skin of every hue in the rainbow; and the cassowary (by far 

 the most frugivorous of all the ostrich tribe) has the same parts of a 

 brilliant red, variegated with melting shades of blue. In many other 

 birds the beak becomes an ornamental adjunct; and this tendency 

 reaches its furthest development in the bill of the toucan, whose colors 

 almost vie with the humming-bird itself. But the most curious of all 

 such aesthetic modifications is that from which the wax-Avings derive 

 their name. In these birds the shafts of certain wing-feathers are 

 prolonged into small, horny expansions, bright scarlet in hue, exactly 

 resembling, both in color and texture, little tags of red sealing-wax. 



The metallic luster of feathers is generally due to fine lines on the 

 surface of the barbules, like those which produce the iridescence of 

 mother-of-pearl. Such luster occurs in the sun-birds and humming- 

 birds, and on many other less ornamented species. Sometimes gleam- 

 ing like gold or bronze, sometimes fading away into jetty black, anon 

 reappearing as glancing outbursts of crimson, azure, or exquisite green, 

 it has gained for the birds on which it appears such poetical names as 

 ruby-tbroated, topaz-crested, amethystine, golden, emerald, and sap- 

 phire. Not only does it occur upon the burnished neck of the dove, 

 but it gives a passing splendor to the sable livery of the crow, and 

 throws a thousand changeful hues over the glossy plumage of the 

 mallard. 



But besides the ornamental effects of color and luster, feathers 

 appeal to the aesthetic taste of birds by their form, their arrangement, 

 and their variety. Only the plainest birds have all their plumage 

 exactly uniform and simply disposed. In an immense number of spe- 

 cies certain feathers have been specially modified in shape so as to 

 form crests, fan-like tails, lappets, and other ornaments. And just as 

 a good architect lavishes his decorations chiefly on the constructive 

 points of his building, the critical parts, such as arches, doorways, 

 windows, and architraves, so do we find that birds have chosen to place 

 their decorative modifications on the most important nodal points of 

 their bodies, and that they generally lavish their richest coloring upon 

 these ornamental adjuncts. This peacock's feather, for instance, formed 

 part of a gorgeous semicircular fan, which composed, as it were, the 

 background or reredos of the whole living picture wdien expanded, 

 and the train of the majestic sultan when folded in repose. A plume 

 from the neck or back, though still beautiful with golden green and 



