GAY PLUMES AND DULL 



hues than those of the temperate zones, shore birds 

 will be shore-tinted, Arctic life will blend more or 

 less with Arctic snows, ground animals will assimi- 

 late to the ground colors, tree animals will show 

 greater variety in tint and form, plains animals will 

 be dull of hue like the plains — all this, as I fancy, 

 not primarily for protection or concealment, but 

 through the law of natural assimilation, like be- 

 getting like, variety breeding variety. 



What more natural than that strictly wood birds 

 should be of many colors and shades, to be in keep- 

 ing with their surroundings ? Will not the play of 

 light and shade, the multiplicity of forms, and the 

 ever moving leaves come in time to have their due 

 eflPect ? Will not a variety of influences tend to pro- 

 duce a variety of results ? Will not sameness breed 

 sameness? Would not one expect the humming- 

 birds to be more brilliant than the warblers, and the 

 warblers more varied in color than the finches? 

 the insect-feeders than the seed-eaters ? The hum- 

 mingbirds are, as it were, begotten by the flowers 

 and the sunshine, as the albatross is begotten by 

 the sea, and the whippoorwill by the dusk. The 

 rat will not be as bright of tint as the squirrel, nor 

 the rabbit as the fox. 



In the spring one may sometimes see a bluebird, 



or a redbird, or a bright warbler for a moment upon 



the ground. How artificial and accidental it looks, 



like a piece of ribbon or a bit of millinery dropped 



81 



