54 ANNALS OF BIRD LIFE. 



filaments and white tufts on the thighs ; just 

 before the season of courtship, the Ducks and 

 Divers don their wedding garments ; and the 

 various species of Herons and Egrets put on 

 their gorgets, plumes, and crests to enter the lists 

 in the tournament of love. The Plovers and the 

 Knots and the Grebes also increase in beauty- 

 early in the spring-time, and the curious Ruff 

 dons his collar-shield of feathers. Many of the 

 Finches, too, become more brilliant, not by a 

 change of dress, or assumption of new plumage, 

 but by the abrasion of the pale, deciduary margins. 

 to the feathers which all the winter have con- 

 cealed the more showy parts of the plumage ; as, 

 for instance, in the Greenfinch, the Chaffinch, and 

 the Brambling. There can be no doubt that 

 these pale tips are a great protection to the birds 

 in shielding them from enemies all the winter, 

 for, by the time they are abraded, vegetation 

 affords more shelter, and the charming dress is 

 ready in all its splendour just when courtship 

 begins. In some of the Gulls and Terns, a 

 delicate rosy tint suffuses the breast just prior 

 to the breeding-time. In many species where 

 the feathers are not absolutely changed before the 

 pairing season, they increase in brilliancy ; as, for 

 instance, the scarlet on the breast of the Linnet, 

 the glossy sheen on the plumage of the Starling, 

 the Rook, the Carrion Crow, and the Magpie. 



Thus we have now seen how so many birds 

 look their best just previous to mating ; now let 



