The Wit of the Wild 



r 



with rosy color as the breeding season ap- 

 proaches. 



But it is among birds that the display of col- 

 ors and ornaments to catch the female eye is 

 carried to its highest perfection. 



" In the spring a livelier iris 

 Comes upon the burnished dove," 



but it fades or perhaps wears away, as in the 

 case of the gaudy bobolink before the summer 

 is over. 



In some cases wholly new and conspicuous 

 ornamental feathers come with the spring moult 

 and are not renewed in the fall, so that they seem 

 wholly for the purpose of aiding in courtship. 

 Then these glories of color and ornament are 

 displayed to the best advantage for the choice 

 of the coy hen-birds. For their admiration the 

 great peacock spreads his gorgeous tail, birds 

 of paradise wave their silken plumes in the 

 green half-light of leafy halls, and the hum- 

 mingbird flashes his gems among the flowers ; 

 and it is to woo their bird hearts and hands 

 <* 112 &+> 



