BIRD STUDY 33 



are sometimes differently colored, break up and fall away or are 

 worn off. 



The writer has seen male Goldfinches in spring with the 

 yellow showing clearly under the brownish tips of the winter 

 plumage. These brownish tips in some way disappeared, leav- 

 ing the bodies of the birds pure yellow. 



The colors of birds, as before indicated, are always high- 

 est in the mating season. Redwing's epaulets fairly blaze; 

 Yellowhead's neck and head are glowing yellow; Robin's breast 

 is really ruddy ; the colors of all male birds are as pure and fresh 

 as though they had just emerged from a Turkish bath; while 

 some cranes and Herons grow special plume-like feathers as a 

 wedding decoration. 



Young birds always take on inconspicuous colors com- 

 pared with those of the most conspicuously dressed parent. Us- 

 ually they are the colors of the female. When parents are alike, 

 or nearly so, as with Robins and Blue Jays, the young are not 

 quite like either. In some cases where parents are unlike, as 

 with Rose-breasted Grosbeaks, the male and female young dif- 

 fer enough in plumage to be told apart. The young of course 

 need color protection. 



Many young birds, like Prairie Chickens and Ducks, are 

 covered with downy coats. It requires several months for them 

 to acquire their first full plumage. Other birds, like the Orioles, 

 require two or three seasons to gain the full dress of the male. 



The plumage of birds, even of the same species, seems to 

 vary with climate, rainfall, and character of the region inhabited. 

 For example, birds of the arid plains of the west are generally 

 lighter colored than their cousins of the east or south. The 

 Western Meadowlarks of our prairies and bad lands are lighter 

 than the Eastern Meadowlarks of Illinois. The same is true of 

 the Horned Larks, which vary considerably in different parts of 

 the country. This fact also would seem to be a phase of pro- 

 tective coloration. The lighter colored birds are most like their 

 surroundings on sandy soil, volcanic ash or where the short 

 grass is parched and dry during most of the summer. 



The more deeply we study into Nature's secrets the more 

 evident it becomes that all nature is one, fitted part to part, and 

 that each part contemplates all the rest. 



