Aug. 



1890.] 



AN^D OOLOGIST. 



123 



whistling biids was too much for our blood, 

 now aroused in murderous intent. 



By the kindness of my companion, I was 

 sent along the shore while he continued along 

 the road with the carriage. A few birds came 

 to my bag and I was jogging down the beach 

 when the report of tlie Majors gun behind the 

 sand-hills gave token that he was not idle, and 

 the form of a Curlew appeared over the bluff. 



A charge of No. S's made him wince, and he 

 jiitched on a smiU patch of stones about sixty 

 rods off; but his erect licad showed that he 

 was not dead, and there was no cover near, 

 the only chance of approach being from behind 

 the bluff. 



Climbing and crawling, I at last reached a 

 spot ojjposite him, but it was an awful distance 

 and nothing larger than No. 8's in my shells. 



A shot keeled him over, Ijut he got up and 

 after wheeling and fluttering over the spot for 

 several turns lie pitched behind a sand-hill 

 and could not be found. The air was smoky 

 for a time in that immediate vi('inity. 



I now took the road and drove to the nearest 

 house, and went back to meet the Major who 

 had taken the beach. 



A shot from him started ailoek of six Ringed 

 Plover in my direction. Three fell to the 

 right barrel, two to the left, and another shell 

 brought the last one safely to his last home. 



This linished the shooting, for a long drive 

 was before us, and a hard day's work was 

 behind us, but the ride though the still and 

 quiet woodland now darkened by the approach- 

 ing night was a fit ending for the rest of the 

 day, and we reachetl Halifax with many more 

 pleasant memories added to our list. 



F. A. Bates. 



Coloring on Birds. 



There is, perhaps, no truth more wonderful 

 or more important than that of the correlation 

 of the laws of nature, or truth which is being 

 enforced continually, not only by the discovery 

 of new instances, but by the very process by 

 which those discoveries are made. Some cen- 

 tral principle is discovered in one department 

 of the physical world and immediately its 

 presence and influence in some other depart- 

 ment appears. Tlie following remarks will 

 illustrate this with regard to the coloring 

 upon birds and the law of harmony they ex- 

 exhibit. 



It had been long known to me that the col- 

 oring on birds served a number of useful ends, 



such as affording a means of attraction and 

 selection among themselves, and also as afford- 

 ing a means of concealment from pursuers and 

 from pursued. I also knew that this last end 

 was secured by the conformity in color of any 

 particular bird to its environment. A single 

 example will suffice to show what I mean. In 

 the case of the Common Gull we have it so 

 colored beneath as to conform to the color of 

 the sky above it, wliich makes it less visible to 

 its prey beneath, while its back is of such a 

 color as to blend with the color of the waves 

 under it, which helps to conceal it from its 

 enemies above. Now it is obvious that the 

 law governing such an arrangement as this 

 must be the conformity of color in any subject 

 to its environments. It was not until making 

 a special study of color in other departments 

 of nature that I found existing along with this 

 utilitarian law in the coloring of birds another 

 law or principle reducing these colors into 

 harmonies. I have here spoken of the correla- 

 tion of these laws because in some cases the 

 one can not be understood without knowing 

 j something about the other. 



The principle of harmony here spoken of 

 consists in the colors in any arrangement being 

 such as to act on the vision in such a way as 

 to produce unity of effect. Colors can not be 

 used together indiscriminately without affect- 

 ing one another by their complementaries, 

 which tliey have the power of calling up and 

 so making discord, whereas in natural arrange- 

 ments of color there is the presence of one or 

 more unifying colors which have the power of 

 cancelling this injurious effect, in other words 

 produce harmony. This is the secret of na- 

 ture's harmony in color, as could be shown in 

 innumerable instances and in every descrip- 

 tion of natural objects, but in none of them is 

 it more strikingly illustrated than in the case 

 of birds. 



In reading a paper before the Boston Scien- 

 tific Society lately, on the principle of har- 

 mony in color found in nature, 1 was greatly 

 helped by Mr. Frank A. Bates, who kindly 

 furnished a number of specimens of the feath- 

 ered tribe exemplifying the principle. T^hese 

 si^ecimens were handed round among the 

 members for inspection after the unifying 

 colors li:id been pointed out. It is not so easy 

 without examples or illustrations to explain 

 the nature of these unifying colors or liarmon- 

 izers. To those in any measure acquainted 

 with the mixture of pigments a description 

 will be easier. The unifying color partakes of 

 the nature of the individual colors with which 



