CREATION BY LAW. 



247 



but is confined to the marginal feathers on either 

 side. There is, however, one species, {Urosticte 

 Bengamini) recently discovered which affords the 

 only example yet known of a departure from this 

 rule. It is a species in which white is one of the 

 principal ornaments of the Bird, and is used in 

 places where it can be placed in conspicuous con- 

 trast with the darkest tints. Tufts and lines of 

 purest white shine among the greens and violets 

 of the neck and head ; whilst, in exquisite harmony 

 with this, the four central feathers of the tail are 

 alone dipped, as it were, in a solid glaze of the 

 same white, and the marginal feathers on either 

 side are kept wholly dark. Then, as if to mark 

 with emphasis the meaning of this departure from 

 the ordinary rule, it is a departure confined to the 

 ornamented sex ; and the Female Form of the same 

 species follows the ordinary law — white being intro- 

 duced in the marginal feathers, and in these alone. 

 Now, what explanation does the law of Natural 

 Selection give — I will not say of the origin, but even 

 of the continuance and preservation — of such spe- 

 cific varieties as these ? None whatever. A crest 

 of topaz is no better in the struggle for existence 



