A BUNCH OF BRIGHT BIRDS 287 



snowiest white, and the most brilliant red. Its 

 glory lay in the depth and purity of the three 

 colors ; its singularity lay in a point not men- 

 tioned in book descriptions, being inconspicuous, 

 I suppose, in cabinet specimens : a line (almost 

 literally a line) of white below the eye. From its 

 position and its extreme tenuity I took it for the 

 lower eyelid, but as to that I cannot speak with 

 positiveness. It would hardly have showed, even 

 in life, I dare say, but for its intensely black sur- 

 roundings. As it was, it fairly stared at me. I 

 cannot affirm that it added to the bird's beauty. 

 Apart from it the colors were all what I may caU 

 soUd, — laid on in broad masses, that is : a red 

 belly, a long white band (not a bar) on each 

 wing, some white tail feathers, white lower tail 

 coverts, and everything else black. It does not 

 sound like anything so very extraordinary, I con- 

 fess. But the reader should have seen it. Unless 

 he is a very dry stick indeed, he would have let 

 ofE an exclamation or two, I can warrant. There 

 are cases in which the whole is a good deal more 

 than the sum of all its parts. 



The bird was on one of the larger branches, 

 over which it moved in something of the black- 

 and-white creeper's manner, turning its head to 

 one side and the other alternately as it progressed. 

 Then it sat stiU a long time (a long time for a 



