THE NATURAL 



sober clothing and, not being able to lay, assumes at 

 least the further maternal cares: sitting on the eggs. 



In general, nature is, in the bird world, favourable to 

 the male. He is a prince whose wife appears morgan- 

 atic. Often smaller, as the female canepetiere (a sort of 

 bustard), while the female garden warbler is nearly al- 

 ways clothed as Cinderella. The birds which women 

 have massacred in millions in order to deck themselves 

 as parrots and jays, are male birds for the most part; 

 their sisters bear more modest clothing, and one would 

 say that this humility, become favourable to their species, 

 had been developed by nature in provision of human 

 stupidity and badheartedness. The gold-yellow oriole 

 with black wings and tail, has for mate a brown sparrow 

 with grey and greenish touches. The silver pheasant (a 

 false pheasant) has a black tuft standing up from his 

 silver-white nape, his neck and back are of the same 

 metal; his dark belly has a blue shimmer, his beak 

 is blue, his cheeks red, and his feet, red. The smaller 

 female covers her belly sadly in a whitish chemise, her 

 back is russet. In the true pheasant the dimorphism is 

 still more marked. The large, proud male (we are deal- 

 ing with the common pheasant) who has no objection 

 to being admired, is deep green on nape and neck, cop- 

 per-red with violet shimmer on back, flanks, belly and 

 breast; his tail russet with black bands, a reddish brown 

 tuft spreads from his head, and the eye-circle is vivid 

 red. The much smaller female has an earthy plumage 

 speckled with black. The fair Golden Pheasant is really 

 all golden over green. His yellow tail and wings and 

 his saffron red belly complete this marvellous masculine 

 44 



