° 1911 ] Barbour and Phillips, Concealing Coloration Again. 181 



forest trees. They may be followed and discovered with the great- 

 est ease, and make no efforts at concealment by placing themselves 

 in the proper position, or by remaining motionless so as to deceive 

 one, as do Bitterns, for instance, which use a real protective colora- 

 tion. The females, of course, as has always been known, are in- 

 conspicuously colored; and for this reason they are difficult to 

 observe. 



We would protest gently against the slightly patronizing way in 

 which the effective concealment of many birds is pointed out which 

 has been known and recognized since ornithology began to be 

 studied at all. There is nothing new in the statement that the 

 Woodcock, or any of the horde of Grouse and their allies, have 

 taken on a color which affords them excellent protection. In 

 the Amazonian forests and elsewhere in Tropical America, snow- 

 white Cotingas occur, which coloration might, to be sure, be useful 

 in the Andes; but, when it is accompanied by the characteristic 

 voice of the Campanero, it is hardly concealing. 



The Flamingoes which we find in Mr. Thayer's book depicted as 

 rosey clouds floating against the sky at sunset would, it seems to 

 one who is not versed in optics, but who has seen Flamingoes, 

 more probably appear as dark blotches against this same sky, 

 when seen by an animal in the water in which the Flamingoes may 

 be standing. The crocodile approaching one of the birds from the 

 westward at evening would, we should imagine, be unlikely to see 

 the Flamingo tinted rosily, but rather as a body cutting off the 

 light rays from the afterglow ; and such a body might be tinted any 

 color, and still appear dark. Seen from the opposite direction it 

 would be the only pink thing in the sky. Flamingoes hardly need 

 this carefully arranged protection that is of value but a few minutes 

 each day, and to be sure we see the curious cloud arrangement de- 

 picted on but very few days of the year — if ever. As for food, small 

 gastropod molluscs, the sole food of the Flamingo, are not shy; 

 and may be taken easily by any bird that feeds on them, whatever 

 the color of the bird may be. Over the greater part of the American 

 Flamingoes' range, at any rate, the anacondas and alligators of 

 which Mr. Thayer speaks are not dangerous to him. In the 

 Bahamas there are none of either of these enemies; and crocodiles 

 -are very scarce, and anacondas non-existent, throughout the whole 



