Spangling of the Lizard. i6i 



Jonque bird, and takes its name from the frosted, silvery appearance this mealy fringe produces. 

 A reference to Fig. 51 will show this formation of the featlier and will also explain how one 

 feather overlapping another produces the appearance we term " Spangling;" and will further show, 

 better than we can describe, how, the wider and blacker the expanse of the central dark colouring, 

 the larger and more distinct will be the dark eye forming the nucleus of each individual spangle. 

 This arrangement of colour is seen in every feather, from the small ones at the back of the head, 

 and 011 the head in a broken-capped bird, down to the larger feathers of the saddle ; and when it is 

 borne in mind how gradually these increase in size and how regularly they overlap each other, a 

 pretty fair idea may be formed as to what the back of a good Lizard should be like. Commencing 

 immediately at the back of the cap, it should consist of a series of continuous chains of spangles, 

 gradually increasing in distinctness and size. At first the spangles are not distinct, but have 

 more of the appearance of black specks, owing to the disposition of the neck-feathers and the 

 continuous shifting of their position from the motion of the bird ; but when the spangling is 

 carried up on the crown, as is seen in a broken cap, it assumes all its regular form, though on a 

 small scale, the peculiar marking of each feather being seen very plainly when one or two have 

 been extracted, thus exposing the dark flue at the base of those which the extracted feathers 

 previously overlapped. We cannot give a more familiar illustration of this than by saying the 

 vacancy is precisely the same as when one or two slates have been removed from a roof. 



Spangled feathers removed from the margin of a cap expose the clear flue of the clear cap-feathers 

 they overlapped, and clear feathers removed from a run margin expose the base of the spangled 

 feathers in the same way, and sometimes tell a tale not much to the credit of a manipulator 

 who may have been trying to give a practical exposition of the truism — 



" Things are not what they seem." 



We have used the expression " continuous chains." Regular rows of spangling are necessary 

 to form a good back, but they must on no account resolve themselves into mere longitudinal 

 stripes. Each link in the chain must have its clear edging, and each spangle must be as decided 

 as the eyes in a peacock's tail. They must not be thrown on as if indiscriminately and without 

 method, but arranged with the greatest regularity, to which anything approaching open-feathering 

 is directly opposed. The importance of compactness in this respect will be obvious. A bird of 

 slovenly habit simply fails to show its pattern. The back of a Lizard is like an elaborately 

 ■ painted fan on which some geometrical design is drawn. Unless opened out just to the exact 

 degree, the pattern is confusion ; but when rightly arranged, is perfect in all its parts. Or it 

 resembles a volume with illuminated edges, which requires the leaves to be so arranged that each 

 shall contribute its tiny portion of the whole with the most minute exactness, but which, when 

 opened too far, throws the entire design into a mist. 



And a word as to the decided character of the colour of the spangling, in so far as concerns 



the difference between the rendering on the backs of Jonque and Mealy — i.e., Gold and Silver 



birds. The same general properties which belong to these two distinctive forms of colour, where- 



ever found, must here be marked with the utmost precision. The spangle of the Golden bird must 



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