How Theories are Manufactured 97 



Green Woodpecker, "the garnet-headed Yaffingale," 

 adorns his head and nape and the corners of the mouth 

 with crimson. The Great Spotted Woodpecker is chiefly 

 black and white, but crimson on the nape and under 

 tail coverts; the Lesser Spotted Woodpecker has a 

 crimson crown ; and the Great Black Woodpecker, 

 though otherwise sable as a crow, reveals the family 

 taste in his blood-red cap. Another well-marked family, 

 with decided proclivities, are the Titmice, their plumage 

 brightly painted according to a chromatic scheme of 

 their own, eschewing gaudy hues. The Great Tit is 

 in blue and yellow, with a black cap and white cheeks, 

 and a narrow black stomacher. The Tomtit, too well 

 known to need description, with his cobalt coloured 

 crown, and blue, green, and yellow tints of back, breast, 

 and wing, shades off our British species into the ultra- 

 marine and azure tits of the Continent. The Cole Tit 

 on the other hand discards the blues and yellows alto- 

 gether, but is artistic in his treatment of black and white. 

 One Tit develops a crest; another a pointed black 

 moustache. To the Grebes I have already alluded. 

 The Loon has a crest and ruff of dark brown and 

 chestnut; the Sclavonian Grebe has a bushy black 

 ruff and two orange-red horns; the Eared Grebe has, 

 above and behind each ear, a tuft of loose reddish 

 chestnut feathers. Even the modest and retiring little 

 Dab-chick, Shakespeare's 



Didapper peering through a wave 

 Who, being looked on, dives as quickly in, 



cannot forego the scrap of finery supplied by a lurid red 

 tint about the throat. What has been already said 

 about the Duck tribe may serve in this connection for 

 them likewise. No one who has made personal acquaint- 

 ance with the family of the Chats and their kindred, 

 Stonechats, Whinchats, Wheatears, and Redstarts, can 

 fail to note the unity of decorative idea which they 

 exhibit in their diversities ; and the same may be said, 

 in greater or less degree, of the Wagtails, the Linnets. 



