xi COLOUR AND SONG 301 



Variety of Colours in the same Bird. 



This variety is often most striking. The Beautiful 

 Grass Finch (Poephila mirabilis) displays blue, yellow, 

 green, and red. There is a kind of Parrot, the Red- 

 sided Eclectus from New Guinea, which has a black 

 beak ; a thin ring of blue skin round the eyes ; the 

 head, the under side of the neck, and the upper 

 part of the breast a rich dark red ; a half ring of 

 indigo blue on the back of the neck; the lower 

 part of the breast also indigo blue; the wing 

 coverts and the back claret colour, and the tail 

 scarlet. There is none of the limitation of colours 

 which we find in flowers. It is rarely that we find 

 among flowers a species, a genus, or even an order in 

 which red, blue, and yellow are represented. A blue 

 rose has not yet been invented. All the many butter- 

 cups are yellow or white. In the multitudinous 

 British compositor, red is unknown and blue is rare. 

 In the order which is more remarkable than any other 

 for elaborate specialisation, the orchids, there is, 

 among all the British representatives, no decided blue 

 or yellow. Thus we find individual birds which show 

 more variety of colours than many orders of flowers. 

 Two well-known genera, the anemones and the 

 hyacinths, have blues, yellows, and reds, and this 

 makes them quite remarkable. Besides the splendour 

 of feathers birds often have grand combs and wattles, 

 which latter are appendages on the throat. This will 

 bring the Turkey-cock to any one's mind. Tetrao 

 Cupido, a kind of Capercailzie, has an orange-coloured 



