CHAPTER V. 



COLOR AND STRUCTURE OF PLUMAGE. 



The beaut}' of plumage — Utility of plumage — Structure of the feather 



— Texture of the plumage — Colors found in the plumage — Color 



patterns — Breeding — Color and markings — Growth of plumage. 



In addition to giving shape and outline to the bird and affording 

 protection to its body, the plumage may be bred to carry beautiful 

 color patterns. The relation of plumage to typical shape was dis- 

 cussed in the preceding chapter, and the markings, color and structure 

 of the feathers will be taken up in this chapter. 



The beauty of plumage. Poultry breeders are occasionally criti- 

 cized for laying too much stress upon feather. The reply may be 

 made that the breeders of no other form of animal life have had 

 either the opportunity or the temptation to develop color schemes 

 such as are found in domestic fowls. Feathers are a unique char- 

 acteristic of birds, distinguishing them from other animals. With 

 plumage, there is the possiblity of producing not merely a l.iay or 

 black or belted specimen, but there is the opportunity to produce a 

 complete color design on the individual feather. 



There are always some to ask: "Why put emphasis on beauty 

 in a utility race and demand distinctiveness of barring in a Barred 

 Plymouth Rock and clear, open centers in a Silver Wyandotte; will 

 not the cuckoo colored Rock grow as well, or will not the mossy 

 Silver Wyandotte be as good a layer?" 



If 3'ou could present a pen of sharply-barred Barred Rocks or 

 open-laced Silver Wyandottes to the most shiftless and careless 

 farmer in your township, he would probably get more eggs and raise 

 more chickens than he ever did before because he would take a new 

 interest in the fowls, and, taking pride in them, would give them 

 more thouglitful care and better attention than had previously been 

 given by him to his poultrjr. 



Why did nature inake the robin red breasted? Would it not seek 

 out and eat caterpillars, cut worms, white grubs and earth worms 

 just as well if it were no more beautifully colored than a common 

 sparrow? Would not the wood thrush continue to eat ground-infest- 

 ing insects and larvae, or the woodpecker spend its time seeking 

 larvae hidden in the crevices of posts and under the bark of trees, if 

 they were the plainest of birds? Beauty does not prevent these birds 

 from fighting insects and eating weed seeds and thus working 

 with and for mankind. Does their beauty need defense? "If eyes 

 were made for seeing, then beauty is its own excuse for being." 



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