Heads and Necks 



257 



of birds change, at the season of courtship, from a dull 

 hue to some bright tint, either red, green, or yellow. 



Although eyelashes, as we understand them, are 

 merely stiffened hairs which have been inherited from 

 hairy-coated ancestors, yet among birds we sometimes 

 find lashes similar in appearance and function, but struc- 

 turally derived from feathers. The ostrich has well- 



FiG. 199. — Head of Seriema, showing eyelashes. 



developed eyelashes, which must be of value in helping 

 to exclude the dust of the desert; but why such birds 

 as hornbills and the Seriema should possess them we 

 cannot say. 



A savage thrusts feathers into his hair, warriors of 

 old bedecked their helmets with flowing plumes, the 

 opera hat of milady is by way of wonderful and strange 

 creations; but withal feathers are really beautiful only 



