Heads and Necks 277 
and shunts off the hanging Nanas and vines which would 
otherwise impede its progress. 
In our hasty paragraphs we have seen to what a re- 
markable extent the ornamentation of the heads of birds 
is carried, and as many extraordinary examples could 
be given of decoration of the neck. The Loon has a 
speckled black and white throat with a long colour band- 
age of black feathers wound about its neck; the cervical 
ruffs of our Ruffed Grouse are like wings in miniature; 
in the Golden and Amherst Pheasants this form of orna- 
ment is extended into a circular ruff of black and gold 
and black and white respectively; while in the Superb 
Bird of Paradise a shoulder-cape flares back, large enough 
to cover almost the entire body of the bird, giving it the 
appearance of being clothed in two distinct sets of plu- 
mage! The nuptial attire of the Rutf, a species of sand- 
piper, is as greatly developed, except that it forms a 
double cloak over the breast. 
This cloak or shield of feathers in the Ruff plays a 
vital part in the life of the bird. We must first notice 
the remarkable variation in the pattern of this cloak of 
battle,—for such it really is. If we could see fifty Ruffs 
standing side by side, some would be seen to have ruffs 
of pure white, others of gray, black, orange, buff, or chest- 
nut, while the waving ear-plumes are also independent 
in colour, varying from white to purple, green, or blue. 
Then there is a type of Ruff with barred cloaks, another 
with spotted patterns, and so on in almost endless 
variation. This condition of affairs is wholly unlike 
the uniform pattern of colouring of other wild birds. 
