Heads and Necks 277 



and shunts off the hanging lianas and vines which would 

 otherwise impede its progress. 



In our hasty paragraphs we have seen to what a re- 

 markable extent the ornamentation of the heads of birds 

 is carried, and as many extraordinary examples could 

 be given of decoration of the neck. The Loon has a 

 speckled black and white throat with a long colour band- 

 age of black feathers wound about its neck; the cervical 

 ruffs of our Ruffed Grouse are like wings in miniature; 

 in the Golden and Amherst Pheasants this form of orna- 

 ment is extended into a circular ruff of black and gold 

 and black and white respectively; while in the Superb 

 Bird of Paradise a shoulder-cape flares back, large enough 

 to cover almost the entire body of the bird, giving it the 

 appearance of being clothed in two distinct sets of plu- 

 mage! The nuptial attire of the Ruff, a species of sand- 

 piper, is as greatly developed, except that it forms a 

 double cloak over the breast. 



This cloak or shield of feathers in the Ruff plays a 

 vital part in the life of the bird. We must first notice 

 the remarkable variation in the pattern of this cloak of 

 battle, — for such it really is. If we could see fifty Ruffs 

 standing side by side, some would be seen to have ruffs 

 of pure white, others of gray, black, orange, buff, or chest- 

 nut, while the wavmg ear-plumes are also independent 

 in colour, varying from white to purple, green, or blue. 

 Then there is a type of Ruff with barred cloaks, another 

 with spotted patterns, and so on in almost endless 

 variation. This condition of affairs is wholly unlike 

 the uniform pattern of colouring of other wild birds. 



