Jeffries on the Colors of Feathers. 131 



feather parts in whicli they exist.* The color of the mass of the 

 feather may. however, owing to various colors in the small feather 

 parts, he diflerent from that of any part. 



Of these pigments none seem to be peculiar except turacin. This 

 pigment is altered bv wetting the feathers, and comes from the 

 feathers into the water in which the birds bathe, a fact of consid- 

 erable interest, since the birds maintain their normal color, thus 

 necessitating a new supply of pigment. 



White feathers are the result of the light being reflected as a 

 ^vIlole from the finely (li\ ided feather-parts. Some grays are the 

 result of small black nodes in the barbules, which nodes are of con- 

 siderable size, and do not disperse the light, being distributed 

 along the barl)ules. Other gra\s are the result of a small quan- 

 tity of black pigment. 



Yellow feathers colored with zo(")fulvin receive their hue from 

 this pigment, wliich is prettv evenly distributed through the 

 texture like a d\ e. 



Red feathers, as those of the Flamingo. Cardinal Bird, and the 

 like, are so colored by a red pigment similar ttj the \ellow one. 

 Brown feathers are colored b\- a brown pigment in the feathers, 

 whicli is for tlie most part collected in patches within the cells of 

 the feather. 



Violet pigments are said by some to exist, while others have 

 never lieen able to extract them, so the causes of this color still 

 remain in doubt. 



Green featliers owe their color to various causes. In some it 

 is due to a green pigment, as Turacoverdin or zoochlorin. in others 

 it is said to be due to a mixture of yellow and blue dots. The 

 (dive-greens are sometimes produced bv a yellow pigment over- 

 Iviuij a dark lirown or black. 



* Descriptions of the various pigments may be found in ; 



Krukenberg, Dr. C. Fr. W. ; Vergl.-phys. .Studien, i R, v. Abth .1881, SS. 72-99, u. 

 2 R, I Abth., 1882, SS. 151-171. 



Bogdanow, A., Note sur le pigment destouracos. Compt. rend., T. LIV, 1862, pp. 660- 

 663. Etudes sur les causes de la coloration des Oiseaux. Compt. rend T. XLVI, 1858, 

 pp. 780, 781. 



Church, H. H., Researches on Turacine, an animal pigment containing copper. 

 Chemical News, vol. XIX, 1869, No. 496. 



Blasius, W., A. D. Sitzungsb des Vereins f. Naturwiss, zur Braunschweig. Braun- 

 schvveigische Anzeigen, 1877, Nr. 29. 



