CHAPTER XII 



PLUMAGE AND ITS MEANING 



ALTHOUGH it may be comforting to think that the 

 brightly hued birds of the earth have been placed thereon, 

 by some all-seeing Providence, for man's especial delight 

 or woman's adornment, a little thought will show that this 

 is by no means the case. In general, the colours of birds 

 are either designed as a means of protection against their 

 enemies or of recognition by their own kind. Let us look 

 at the matter impartially under these two headings, but 

 before doing so we will say a few words anent the colours 

 of nestlings. 



Now it is a peculiar fact that chicks when first hatched 

 usually have a spotted or striped livery, and various 

 theories have been propounded to account for this fact. 

 An ingenious though much debated theory is to the effect 

 that the longitudinal markings serve to render nestlings 

 less conspicuous amongst herbage with long, narrow 

 leaves grasses and the like. Spotted nestlings, on the 

 other hand, are presumed to harmonise better with nests 

 liable to circular shadows from more rounded leaves. And 

 the propounder of this theory supports his case with the 

 statement that " strongly spotted forms mostly occur in 

 places with spotted shadows, the longitudinally striped 

 in more grassy regions. Cross marking is perhaps to be 

 connected with the shadows, for example, of the branches 

 of woody plants thus the marking of the wild cat escapes 

 notice among the branches of trees." 



The great naturalist Wallace, who gave much of his 

 time to the study of this subject, said that " Protective 

 coloration, in some of its varied forms, has not improbably 

 modified the appearance of one half of the animals living 



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