24 BIRDS OF FIELD, FOREST AND PARK 



tion is often observed in the harmony that 

 exists between the coloring of a bird's plumage 

 and the prevailing tones in its usual surround- 

 ings. The Sparrow family,, for the most part 

 ground dwellers in field and pasture, have those 

 shades of gray, brown and black which closely 

 resemble the colors of the earth's carpet of grass 

 stalks. The Meadow Lark, Plover and Bob 

 White, living mostly on the ground, have similar 

 coloring. If you visit that sturdy denizen of the 

 woodland, the Ruifed Grouse, in his haunts, you 

 cannot fail to note the almost perfect harmony 

 that exists between the fine tones of gray, brown 

 and buff of his plumage and the color of the dead 

 leaves and mosses that carpet his forest home. 

 But the Spruce Partridge, as his name suggests 

 a dweller of the great spruce woods of the north 

 where the earth is of much darker color, is 

 almost black. Birds that dwell in lands where 

 snow lies on the ground the greater part of the 

 year, like the Snowy Owl and Ptarmigan, are 

 almost white. The Snowbunting, when he comes 

 down from the north to visit us in winter, is 

 almost as white as the snowbank he lights upon. 

 But all of these northern birds turn somewhat 

 darker in the summer when rearing their broods 

 where the snow has disappeared. This change 

 of color is the result of wearing off the white 

 tips of their feathers. 



In the South Kensington Museum in London 

 there are displayed several varieties of birds 

 from the Desert of Sahara resting upon the 

 stones and earth characteristic of their habitat. 

 So complete is the harmony of color between 



