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Bird - Lore 



so-called 'flash colors' or 'banner marks.' The white tail of the deer and the 

 cottontail, which are raised and made as conspicuous as possible when the 

 animal is fleeing; the white outer tail-feathers of the Junco and the Meadowlark; 

 the white patch on the rump of the Flicker, and the striking black-and-white 

 wings of the Willet, all fall into this class. These marks were at one time 

 supposed to serve as signals to the young or to others of the species to keep the 

 flock together, but Dr. C. Hart Merriam has suggested a still better use for 

 them by explaining how they may serve to give protection from their enemies. 

 When the animal or bird is fleeing, the eye of the enemy naturally fastens upon 

 the very conspicuous flash color and when the Meadowlark, for instance, drops 



, RUPTIVE MARKS OF THE KILLDEER 

 Note how the white ring around the neck and the black bands across the breast destroy the 

 shape of the bird by breaking up the continuity of surface. Now notice the same thing with 

 the young Killdeer in front of the old bird 



into the grass, or the FHcker claps up against the side of the tree, the banner 

 mark suddenly disappears. But the eye of the enemy, through the persistence 

 of vision, follows on in the same direction in which the bird was going before 

 realizing that it has stopped and, in the interval elapsing, the bird slinks off a 

 few feet further or slips around to the other side of the tree and is nowhere to 

 be seen. The Willet, upon alighting, often lifts its conspicuously marked wings 

 high over its back as if to attract attention to the very spot where it has 

 alighted, but always, upon closing them, it runs along the beach a few feet so 

 that the eye of an enemy can search in vain for the conspicuous quarry that it 

 marked so carefully a moment before. 



These then are the five main principles underlying the concealing coloration 

 of birds. Some authorities have gone so far as to claim that all birds are pro- 



