MIMICS AMONG BIRDS 207 



Numerous northern sea gulls have a shnilar pro- 

 tection; and every sportsman is familiar with the 

 protective colouring of game birds, such as quail, 

 grouse, woodcock, pheasants, wild turkeys, and a 

 number of water birds. 



Only of recent years has man learned that all 

 variations and peculiarities of birds' plumage and 

 eggs have special significance. At one time these 

 were looked upon as serving for ornament only, 

 and with no other cause for their existence than a 

 gratification for the eye, and a more harmonious 

 agreement with nature. But now we know that 

 many birds that are harmless and unprotected are 

 found to mimic not only the colour of their inani- 

 mate surroundings but sometimes the colour and 

 even the sound of dangerous animals and birds. 



The forms of mimicry of a bird are largely de- 

 termined by its habitat and its enemies. The bril- 

 liant colourings of the cock pheasant are strikingly 

 different from those of the female bird. When sit- 

 ting on the nest, her plumage is exactly like the sur- 

 rounding brownish grey foliage. The same is true 

 of various species of wild ducks, especially the mal- 

 lard. The chaffinch, the ring ouzel, the stonechat, 

 the mocking-bird, the brown thrush, the plover, the 

 curlew, and innumerable others so closely imitate 

 their surroundings in the structure of their nests 



