THE MOSAIC OF COLOURS 



visssi — of the relatives of the Scarlet Tanager always brought me 

 to my feet. Outside, in the garden, stood a Mamao or Melon-tree. 

 Under the crown of great, spreading leaves hung the yellow fruit, 

 and to these the Sanha^iis were giving their attention, driving their 

 slightly hooked beaks into the melons until the orange-red juice 

 oozed forth. Then the light-blue Sanhagiis came flying up, and the 

 other species, with yellow bodies and green and violet wings; the 

 Coconut Sanha^us were less conspicuous, being a greenish brown 

 in colour. In Rio I often admired the Rainbow Tanagers on the 

 fruits of a Pachiuba palm in the botanical gardens. They glowed 

 like butterflies, green and blue being the prevailing colours of their 

 plumage (Plate 28, Figs. 15-18). 



In the case of all these birds it will strike the careful observer 

 that the colours are juxtaposed in large patches. They show no 

 subtle intricacy of design, and if we come to consider other species 

 of birds, we shall find everywhere immediate contrasts; brown 

 wings on a red body, a golden-yellow breast and a black back, a 

 red head on a black and white body, and so on, in infinite variety. 

 The colour-effects of the Parrots are particularly strident ; greater 

 contrasts than those of the red, blue and yellow or blue and yellow 

 of the Araras or Macaws cannot be imagined. 



But if we wonder why Nature has worked with so broad a brush 

 we must remember that we have learned to regard the colours of 

 birds as tokens by which the species are recognized. These tokens 

 must be recognizable at a distance; fine detail would not help a 

 bird in one tree to recognize a bird in another; its effect would be 

 lost. As Weismann very truly said, the birds are painted, so to speak, 

 in poster style. Our posters are designed to produce an effect at a 

 distance; the object which they represent must be recognizable a 

 long way off"; so their colours are vivid, and applied as broadly as 

 possible. 



But when we consider protective coloration we find a very different 

 style of painting. Such coloration is a necessity to the Inhambiis, 

 for example; like our partridge, they cower on the ground, and 

 above all they must not be seen while they are sitting on their eggs. 

 In the plumage of these birds all possible shades of brown are subtly 

 intermingled, just as they are in the soil on which they crouch. 

 Owls and nightjars also exhibit a coloration which is definitely 

 protective. These birds go about their business by night, so that 

 they have no need of coloured tokens of identity, but by day they 

 crouch sleeping amidst the boughs. Often I have detected an owl 



213 



