244 THE REIGN OF LAW. 



special adaptation in their mode of life ; in other 

 words, that ornament and beauty, merely as such, 

 was the end proposed."* Different parts of the 

 plumage have been selected in different genera as 

 the principal subject of ornament. In some, it is 

 the feathers of the crown worked into different 

 forms of crest ; in some, it is the feathers of the 

 throat, forming gorgets and beards of many shapes 

 and hues; in some, it is a special development of 

 neck plumes, elongated into frills and tippets of 

 extraordinary form and beauty. In a great 

 number of genera the feathers of the tail are the 

 special subjects of decoration, and this on every 

 variety of plan and principle of ornament. In 

 some, the two central feathers are most elongated, 

 the others decreasing in length on either side, so 

 as to give the whole the wedge form. In others, 

 the converse plan is pursued, the two lateral 

 feathers being most developed, so that the whole 

 is forked after the manner of the common Swallow. 

 In others, again, they are radiated, or pointed and 

 sharpened like thorns. In some genera there is 

 an extraordinary development of one or two 



* Gould's Trochilidae, Introduction. 



