GAY PLUMES AND DULL 



so plain, some so conspicuous and others so hid- 

 den, some insects so brilliant and others so dull, 

 some fruits so highly colored and others so neutral ? 

 This law of endless variation is no doubt at the 

 bottom of all these things. The bird has varied 

 in color from its parent, and as the variation has 

 not told against it, it has gone on and intensified. 

 So with the flowers. I don't believe cherries are red 

 or black to attract the birds, or plums blue. Poison- 

 ous berries are as brilliant as harmless ones. No 

 doubt there is a reason for all these high colors, 

 and for the plain ones, if we could only find it. Of 

 course, food, environment, climate, have much to 

 do with it all. 



Probably, if we could compare the food which 

 our grouse eats with that which the brilliant pheas- 

 ants of the East eat, or the food of our wild turkey 

 with that of the Central American bird, or of our 

 pigeons with those of the Malay Archipelago, we 

 might hit upon some clue to their difference of colo- 

 ration. The strange and bizarre colors and forms 

 of the birds of Africa compared with those of North 

 America or of Europe may be a matter of food. Why 

 our flicker is brighter colored than our other wood- 

 peckers may be on account of the ants he eats. 



Mr. WaUace in one of his essays points out the 



effect of locality on color, many species of unrelated 



genera both among insects and among birds being 



majked similarly, with white or yellow or black, 



59 



