416 NOTES ON ALBINO BIRDS. 



so from the moment they arc hatched I Are we to consider that the 

 pied and spotted specimens among those which I have collected were 

 always in that condition ?* Can we not suppose with eqnal confidence 

 that they were originally normally colored, and that as their feathers 

 were lost by molting, they were replaced by white ones, and that finally 

 by this process of substitution albinism was produced ? This does not 

 seem stranger to me than the provision of nature by which the feathers 

 of the ptarmigan, at one season mottled, are, at^the next, replaced by 

 white ones, the latter growing from the same papules, supplied by the 

 same blood vessels, etc. And this theory would seem to be further con- 

 tinued by the fact that sometimes in albinos, perfect in every other re- 

 spect, there are found one or two feathers normally colored, and the 

 remainder of the plumage of snowy whiteness, as if in molting. These 

 one or two feathers had, so to speak, stuck and remained over another 

 season. How else can we account for their color, when all the contigu- 

 ous leathers, which we have every reason to suppose are in the same 

 physical condition, are white ?) u It affects, as a rule, the entire body." 

 This must be cautiously received when referring to birds. How can we 

 account for the spotted and pied specimens? 



(2) "It is not the result of disease." I do not know enough about 

 this matter to enter into any discussion upon it, still, in the case of the 

 meadow-lark and two pale-colored sora, it almost seems as if the color- 

 ing matter was being gradually withdrawn or re-absorbed from the 

 feathers, causing them to fade. 



In the cases of albinism which I have observed yellow seems to be 

 the color least affected. 



By a study of an extensive series of albinos, such as I have not had 

 access to, a great many interesting facts would be developed in regard 

 to the coloring of feathers. Thus, it is stated that certain blues, violets, 

 and greens are not due to the pigment (which is gray), but to surface 

 structure of the feather. Therefore, the feather of an albino of ai 

 species of parrot having such colors, when dipped into a grayish tinct- 

 ure, should reproduce those blues, violets, and greens, if the first state- 

 ment be correct, If I recollect, it was Dr. Wollaston who discovered 

 that the brilliant colors of the " speculum" of such ducks as the com- 

 mon mallard were produced in the same way that the spectra are^ 

 produced in optics, by light reflected from the surface of a highly pol-. 

 ished piece of speculum metal, which has been ruled with microscop- 

 ically tine parallel lines. For this reason, I have always looked out for 

 an albino of such a duck, but have never yet had the good fortune to 

 meet with one. It would be highly interesting to test this matter by 

 staining the feather of such an albino a light gray. 



"There can be no question that some albinos, or partial albinos, were at a pre- 

 vious stage of fcheir <xistence normally colored. I have hart persona' knowledge 

 of snch eases, and have even seen a melani9tic robin (Merula migratoria), entirely 

 black in its first plumage, assume numerous perfectly white feathers after a molt, ami 

 believe that the bird might have eventually beoome an albino, though its prematura 

 death prevented further observation. — R. Ridgway. 



