LEAF AND TENDRIL 



but it is checked and thwarted and made sport of 

 by other tendencies. 



Then the principle of coloration of the same spe- 

 cies does not always hold good in difiFerent parts of 

 the earth. Our northern flycatchers are all of dull 

 plumage, but in Mexico we find the vermilion fly- 

 catcher, with under parts of bright scarlet, and in 

 Java is a flycatcher like a flame of fire. With us, as 

 soon as a bird touches the ground it takes on some 

 ground colors. All our ground-feeders are more 

 or less ground-tinted. But in the East this is not 

 to the same extent true. Thus our pigeons and 

 doves are blue-gray and buff. In the Molucca 

 Islands there is a blue and purple dove, and one 

 species with coppery green plumage, a snow-white 

 tail, and snow-white pendent feathers on the neck. 

 Our thrushes are ground-feeders and are ground- 

 colored. The ground thrushes of the Malay Archi- 

 pelago are much more brilliantly marked. One 

 species has the "upper parts soft green, the head 

 jet black, with a stripe of blue and brown over the 

 eye; at the base of the tail and on the shoulders are 

 bands of bright silvery blue, and the under-sides 

 are of delicate buff with a stripe of rich crimson bor- 

 dered with black on the belly." Another ground 

 thrush is velvety black above, relieved by a breast 

 of pure white, shoulders of azure blue, and belly of 

 vivid crimson — one of the most beautiful birds of 

 the East, Wallace says. The Eastern kingfishers are 

 56 



