CHAPTER XIII 

 THE COLOURS OF BIRDS {Continued) 



The Structure of Feathers — Relation between Structure and 

 Colour — The Colours of Sun-birds, Humming-birds, and 

 Birds of Paradise, their Distribution and Characters — 

 Markings of Kingfishers — General Characters of the 

 Colours of Birds — Meaning of Colour in Birds. 



Having in the previous chapter considered some 

 general aspects of the colours of birds, we shall now 

 proceed to study the coloration of special families in 

 detail. In order to make the descriptions readily 

 comprehensible, it will be first necessary to briefly 

 revise the structure of feathers. 



Feathers are outgrowths of the epidermis, formed, 

 like all such outgrowths, of the substance keratin. 

 They differ according to their function, and the part 

 of the body in which they occur. Thus there are 

 the quill-feathers which occur in wings and tail, the 

 general contour-feathers which cover the surface of 

 the body, and the downs or soft under feathers, 

 which are often abundant on the breast. All these 

 either contain pigment or are filled with bubbles of 

 air and so display a white colour. Before proceed- 

 ing to describe the distribution of pigment in these 



