352 OUR RARER BIRDS 



gayest and gaudiest of butterflies, all radiant in their refulgent 

 sheen and gold and silver livery, are no more beautiful than 

 the Humming Birds in their gorgeous dress of green and 

 gold and purple fire. The Kingfisher in his blue and green 

 array vies with the flowers in fairness and richness of colour 

 — the Pheasant and the Mallard are clothed in plumage of 

 highest beauty. For what purpose is all this rare and match- 

 less beauty given throughout the realm of organic nature ? 

 Of what use is it to all its fortunate possessors ? Eest assured 

 that this beauty has not been developed aimlessly, or for the 

 sole purpose of gratifying the eye of man. Much organic 

 beauty is hidden away in ocean depths ; much more in track- 

 less forests, or on the highest mountains, in places where 

 human beings are scarce, and of such low development as to 

 be totally indifferent to the wonders and the charm of beauty 

 in organic life. No ; this beauty in the bird- world especially 

 has a fixed and definite object — one grand and all-important 

 purpose — the henefit of the species acquiring and possessing it. 

 We are not, however, concerned with the origin of the various 

 tints wdth which birds' plumage is adorned — that is a long 

 and intensely interesting story which I hope to tell elsewhere. 

 Sufficient now for us to know that such beauty of plumage 

 has had its origin through the laws of Isolation, or in the 

 struggle for existence to which each bird is subject, either 

 through Natural or Sexual Selection. We are now concerned 

 with the infinite variation of colour, and to some extent of 

 form, in the eggs of birds, and the endless diversity of their 

 beautiful nests. 



Every observer familiar with birds is aware of the fact 

 that the plumage of the female is in a great many cases much 

 less brilliant than that of the male ; and in some instances so 

 marked is this difference of plumage that the sexes of one species 

 might very easily be classed as two separate species. Why 

 this great diversity ? Close observation has revealed the fact 



