100 THE INFANCY OF ANIMALS 



buflf powdered with black; in the young knot, white, 

 mottled with grey. And from this we see the stripes 

 becoming more and more broken up, and the mottlings 

 growing less and less, until at last, as in the nestling skua, 

 the coloration is of one uniform hue. 



That the nestlings of the crane tribe were originally 

 striped seems certain ; and traces of this ancient dress 

 may be seen, for example, in the young Japanese crane, 

 wherein a broad but nebulous median band runs down 

 the back ; while the young of the great bustard bear 

 a close likeness to many young gulls, being pale-coloured 

 with dark mottlings. The nestling rails are all either 

 black or nearly so, but the young of the black-tailed 

 waterhen {Microtribonyx ventralis) in certain lights reveal 

 traces of a median and two lateral stripes — a fact which 

 is of considerable significance. 



The ducks, geese, and swans are a particularly instructive 

 group in this connection. The typical livery of the downy 

 young is now dark brown as to the upper parts, relieved 

 by a white line above the eye, a white bar along the arm, 

 and two short white bars on the side, behind the wing, 

 and these, originally, obviously formed a continuous 

 lateral stripe, indicating an earlier striped condition. 

 The sheldrakes show a stiU further approximation towards 

 the earlier coloration. But the downy young of the 

 geese and swans, on the other hand, are of a uniform 

 white or grey hue, having departed still further from the 

 primitive coloration. 



Such might well have remained the sum-total of our 

 knowledge in regard to the coloration of the early stages 

 of the Anatidae. But fortunately one or two primitive 

 and little known types have survived which demonstrate, 

 in a very practical manner, the soundness of the con- 



