12G THE FINCHES 



I 



supported the view that the brilliant hues of the male crossbill have 

 been acquired through the laws of protective coloration, as directed 

 by natural selection. Ussher and Warren, however, in their Birds 

 of Ireland, remark as follows : " The reds and greens of the cross- 

 bill's plumage may be regarded as protective plumage, the former 

 harmonising with the russet bark of the Scotch fir, and the latter 

 with the foliage." This view was endorsed by Cornish, from observa- 

 tions made by him in the Isle of Wight. He says, speaking of the 

 cock, that the "red and orange-brown" of its plumage "is much 

 less visible than might be supposed, for this matches the bright red- 

 brown of the young pine-shoots and the bark of the branches " x a 

 remark the force of which is somewhat discounted by others which 

 precede it, to the effect that the male birds, in general colouring, are 

 of " a more or less rosy red," that " many of them wore this garment 

 in most resplendent fashion, the brightest and most brilliant tint 

 showing constantly when they fluttered their wings and showed the 

 parts beneath, as they tried to balance themselves on the tips of the 

 pine-shoots," and that "others, sitting sunning themselves, looked 

 like big red fruit on the trees." 2 The faith, as it appears to me, must 

 be great, that can see in a bird of which this can be written an 

 example of the principle under discussion. In this connection I 

 would draw attention to the following considerations, viz. 1. That 

 whatever may be the " red-brown " of the young pine-shoots as against 

 the " crimson," or " rose," or " carmine," or " flame colour " of the male 

 crossbill, there are also old pine-shoots in the northern fir-forests, nor 

 is it always spring there. 2. That there is, besides, a great deal of 

 snow in those latitudes, and that both birds and beasts of prey have 

 to live all through the year. 3. That it is not the seeds of the Scotch 

 fir or larch that are the food par excellence of L. curvirostra, as 



1 Animal Artisans, p. 111. 



2 Ibid., p. 110. Wheelwright, who was not, I believe, obsessed by the theory in question 

 perhaps had not even heard of it, which would make him the better witness writes in A 

 Spring and Summer in Lapland of crossbills flitting about the fir forests " like parrots, their 

 bright-red and orange plumage reflected in the rays of the afternoon sun." 



