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'THE GOLOGIST. 



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THE OOLOGIST, Utica, N. Y. 



JUNE, 187G. 



THE PLUMAGE OF BIRDS AS TO 

 GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRI- 

 BUTION. 



T ATITUDE affects the plumage of birds 

 "^^ the same as the clothing of man ; that 

 is, the adaptation to heat or cold are iden- 

 tical. The only difference is that the one 

 is natural, the other assumed. Both are 

 for a common object. It will be noticed 



that the avis inhabitants of the colder re- 

 gions have a very soft and thick plumage, 

 and this quality increases or decreases with 

 the extremes of heat or cold. The tropical 

 bird, in most instances, possesses a peculiar 

 thinness and coarseness of plumage, prev- 

 alent in some species more than in others, 

 this quality increasing in harshness of course, 

 in the larger birds. This homogeneity is 

 observed more readily in two birds of the 

 same species inhabiting the extremes of lat- 

 itude. The degree of characteristic is nat- 

 ural, and th'j adaptation one of nature's 

 best accomplishments ; and though it is not 

 so contrasted as in the instance of man's 

 clothing, it is nevertheless true, and with 

 the structural organism and distinguishing 

 habits of the bird, completes its general 

 outline of life and breath. It is an indis- 

 pensable constituent of the bird's -life in a 

 very applied sense. True, many birds of 

 tropical latitudes have an abundance of plu- 

 mage ; still, in texture it is unlike that of 

 the bird of more northern distribution, in- 

 asmuch as it is a loose, coarse, airy collec- 

 tion of feathers, particularly adapted to the 

 requirements of the climate. Its northern 

 congener has the plumage thick, close, fine 

 and in all respects constituted to resist cold. 

 Land and water birds, in a way also differ 

 in plumage, especially in the texture, which, 

 with regard to the latter, is always hard 

 heavy and either scaly or hairlike. The 

 elements in this case, cause the character 

 of the plumage, identical with the clima,te 

 as referred to. 



Another peculiarity of latitudinal distri- 

 bution is the effect, if it might so be term- 

 ed, upon the coloration and shade of the 

 plumage of birds. And this is no less 

 marked than the one above alluded to ; more 

 so if either way. Whether it is the climate 

 directly, or the peculiarities it compels birds 

 to assume that causes this, is a matter for 

 consideration, but no one can fail to recog- 

 nize the marked dissimilarity that exists in 

 the shade and color of the tropical bird and 

 the one inhabiting the Arctic or Atftarctic 

 regions. The former exhibits all the beau- 

 tiful and gorgeous colors imaginable, and 



