INTRODUCTORY 3 



The vivid hues which so many species display must be 

 reckoned as only slightly less important in this respect than 

 flight. This fatal gift of beauty has from earliest times sub- 

 jected the wearers to a rigorous persecution, not only at the 

 hands of savage races, but of peoples boasting themselves 

 civilised, among whom women have always been the worst 

 and most heartless offenders. On account of the ceaseless 

 persecution to which these defenceless creatures have been 

 subjected to meet the demands of fashion, savage and " civil- 

 ised," many species have become wiped out of existence, and of 

 many more the doom is sealed ; the more beautiful of the Birds 

 of Paradise and of the Humming-birds, for example, will, in 

 another decade, have ceased to exist ! 



There is more in this colouring of the plumage than meets 

 the eye of the unobservant ; for whether we contemplate broad 

 bands of vivid colours, sharply defined ; or intricate patterns, 

 fine as the most delicate lace work, we are confronted with a 

 mystery which is so far insoluble — what determines the seg- 

 regation and deposition of these pigments? The problem 

 presents its greatest difficulties in such feathers as display, 

 individually, intricate patterns, whether of sober shades or 

 hues such as vie with, or even surpass, the rainbow in splendour. 

 Take, for example, a feather displaying a series of fine concentric 

 lines, divided by wider bands of white, or black, or red, as the 

 case may be. These lines are not continuous, not organically 

 complete, but formed by the exact relation, one to another, of 

 a series of minute spots of pigment, each lodged in a separate 

 filament, so that the several spots in each separate filament, 

 when ranged side by side, form the several series of lines, 

 straight or vermiculated, as the case may be. All that we can 

 say is, that the spots in question are deposited simultaneously in 

 each rod as the feather grows. But what controls the alterna- 

 tions of the deposition of the pigment necessary to bring about so 

 simple a pattern as that to which we refer? And what determines 

 the changes of pattern in the different areas of the body? 



But birds have yet other attractions for us men. Graceful 

 in their movements, and exquisite in their apparel, they are 

 furthermore fascinating in their lives, for they display in their 

 periods of courtship a singular vivacity, and in the care of their 

 offspring a marvellous tenderness and solicitude. 



