XI COLOUR AND SONG 301 
Variety of Colours tn the same Bird. 
This variety is often most striking. The Beautiful 
Grass Finch (Poephila mirabilis) displays blue, yellow, 
green, and red. There isa kind of Parrot, the Red- 
sided Eclectus from New Guinea, which has a black 
beak; a thin ring of blue skin round the eyes; the 
head, the under side of the neck, and the upper 
part of the breast a rich dark red; a half ring of 
indigo blue on the back of the neck; the lower 
part of the breast also indigo blue; the wing 
coverts and the back claret colour, and’ the tail 
scarlet. There is none of the limitation of colours 
which we find in flowers. It is rarely that we find 
among flowers a species, a genus, or even an order in 
which red, blue, and yellow are represented. <A blue 
rose has not yet been invented. All the many butter- 
cups are yellow or white. In the multitudinous 
British composite, red is unknown and blue is rare. 
In the order which is more remarkable than any other 
for elaborate specialisation, the orchids, there is, 
among all the British representatives, no decided blue 
or yellow. Thus we find individual birds which show 
more variety of colours than many orders of flowers. 
Two well-known genera, the anemones and the 
hyacinths, have blues, yellows, and reds, and this 
makes them quite remarkable. Besides the splendour ° 
of feathers birds often have grand combs and wattles, 
which latter are appendages on the throat. This will 
bring the Turkey-cock to any one’s mind. Tetrao 
Cupido, a kind of Capercailzie, has an orange-coloured 
