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Bird Lore 



that has been said. Instead of there being a gradual transition from the dark 

 to the Hght areas, there is a sudden, abrupt change, often heightened by a 

 black border. On the head of the Wood Duck, for example, the white of the 

 throat extends up on the cheeks in the form of crescents. These, together 

 with the white stripes through the crest and the black-and-white bars on the 

 sides, would seem to make it most conspicuous. Similarly the Killdeer has its 



A CASE OF MIMICRY 

 The Least Bittern, when alarmed, simulates a broken reed in shape as well as in color 



brown head separated from its similarly colored back by a conspicuous white 

 ring, and its snowy breast is crossed by two coal black bands. In spite of 

 these marks, one finds that both the Wood Duck and the Killdeer in their 

 natural environments, are very inconspicuous, and we are led to believe that 

 these 'ruptive marks', as they are called, serve apparently to split up the bird 

 into several pieces, destroy its continuity of form, and thereby conceal it by 

 making it unbirdlike. Those who followed the development of 'camouflage' 



