Nature's First Law 



the protective colouring of their plumage, and the 

 more closely it harmonizes with their surroundings 

 the more likely are they to escape the ever-watch- 

 ful eyes of their foes. Naturally, it is the female 

 which requires the greater protection, for, as we 

 have just seen, it is she who builds the nest in the 

 great majority of cases, covers the eggs and cares for 

 the young, often with little help from her mate. 

 His chief business in life is to woo and win her, 

 therefore on him Nature lavishes her choicest gifts 

 of plumage and song, even if she sometimes skimps 

 on his beauty of character. 



The oriole, more than any other of our brightly 

 coloured birds, has learned to confide in man, living 

 on terms of neighbourly intimacy with him; and, 

 finding itself comparatively safe, it has lost the fears 

 that once must have beset all conspicuous birds. 

 Yet there is need for the mother oriole to reflect in 

 her feathers the olive green, soft grayish brown and 

 yellow of the leaves, twigs and sunlight she lives 

 among. She still swings her cradle from the tip of 

 a high branch where small boys, cats, red squirrels 

 and snakes fear to dangle, and, in regions where 

 hawks are common, she makes the felt pouch deep 

 enough to conceal her while she broods. 



The mate of the brilliant scarlet tanager likewise 

 mimics with her clothes the sunny green light of 

 the tree tops. Except for the merest suspicion of 

 blue in her plumage, one would never suspect the 

 indigo bunting's dingy brown little mate of belong- 

 ing to him. She, like her sparrow cousin of the 

 dusty roadsides and dry fields, looks of the earth, 

 earthy, while he, to win her, boldly dares to wear 



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