VARIATION IN COLOUR. 109 



" Whiter than new snow on a raven's back." 



Romeo and Juliet, Act iii. Sc. 2. 



We have seen a variety of the jackdaw of a dirty 

 yellowish-white colour ; it could scarcely be called " amber- 

 colour'd." No doubt other members of the genus Corvus 

 have occasionally been observed to vary quite as much in 

 their plumage. Shakespeare says, — 



" An amber-colour'd raven was well noted." 



Loves Labour's Lost, Act iv. Sc. 3. 



No doubt it was ; quite as much as a white blackbird. 

 This apparent contradiction of terms is in reality no myth. 

 We have seen three or four albino varieties of the black- 

 bird, and could give a tolerably long list of dark-plumaged 

 birds of which pure white, or almost pure white, varieties 

 have been found. This may be the result of disease, or 

 of old age, drying up the animal secretions, and causing 

 the absence of colour which we call white. According to 

 ancient authors, ravens were formerly white, but were 

 changed to black for babbling. The great age to which the 

 raven sometimes attains has been alluded to in the first 

 chapter, where some reference is made to "ancient" eagles, 

 and tame ravens have been known to outlive several 

 masters who owned them successively. But birds, like all 

 things else, succumb to time. Shakespeare tells us, — 



