318 



VALUE OF COLOR CHARACTERS IN BIRDS. 



species 



phylogenetic relationships after all, but that each family or other group possesses 

 a certain number of color tendencies which are liable to crop out or be repressed 

 at different parts of the " family tree," as for instance the uniform tawny colora- 

 tion which has already been referred to as occurring in Ceyx and also in one 

 species of Ispidina, and which is found also to some extent in Pelargopsis and 

 Syma. Then there is the tendency to blue coloration above which is well de- 

 veloped in many species and which is perhaps mingled with the tawny color 

 tendency in certain species of Ceyx above referred to. Each family or lesser 

 group seems to have a limited number of colors which in various combinations 

 and in varying shades go to make up the coloration of the great majority of its 



Other colors come in, in the case of outlying species which approach 

 other families, and perhaps inherit certain color tendencies common to them. 

 The curious brown and white barred plumage of the female of Carcineutes 

 pulchellus, for instance, is unique among kingfishers but recalls certain species 



of BucconidoB. 



So also there are certain details of pattern which are characteristic of certain 

 families or genera and are present in the majority of the species, as the black 

 auricular patch and crescentic breast band in Meropidce, and the red nuchal cres- 

 cent in woodpeckers. 



Sometimes both colors and pattern are reproduced in remarkable parallelism 

 in remote parts of the range of a family as, for instance, Helmitherus vermivorus 

 of the Eastern United States, and Basileuterus auricularis of Western Ecuador, 

 members of the family Mniotiltidce, both of which possess the same dull olive 



tone, and the same striped cap. 



In matters of pattern there seems to be a deeper problem involved, i.e., the 



determination of the cause governing the appearance of a differently colored 

 patch on corresponding parts of the plumage of birds belonging to wholly different 

 groups. For instance the crescentic breast patch in Colaptes among the wood- 

 peckers, Sturnella of the Icteridce, Cyanocitta in Corvidce, etc. ; or the presence of 

 a mystacial stripe, a superciliary stripe, a light rump patch, light wing bars, etc. 



In fact if a bird exhibits a bright or contrasting patch of color it is, in the vast 

 maj ority of cases, found on one of several definite portions of the plumage, as the 

 crown, the throat, the bend of the wing, the rump, etc. 



There is much important data in this field to be gathered and compared. 



The probably purely accidental combination of similar patterns and similar 

 colors results in certain remarkable cases of parallelism in birds in no way related 



the red-shouldered black weaver bird of Africa, Diatropura progne 



? 



and the 



red-winged blackbird, Agelaius phcmiceus, of North America ; the African pipi , 

 Macronyx croceus, and the North American meadowlark, Sturnella magna. 



The point I wish to emphasize is the need of a more thorough study 01 

 coloration of birds with the search directed to resemblances rather than o 

 minute differences. The correlation of certain patterns and combinations o 

 color with groups showing real structural differences, the study of coloration 



