44 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE PHEASANT 



CHAPTER III 



FREAKS AND ODDITIES 



Every man who shoots is certain sooner or later to 

 come across some pied varieties of birds. Partridges, 

 grouse, woodcock, snipe, and a host of common field- 

 row birds, vary in plumage among their fellows. The 

 birds which show the first departure from the tradi- 

 tional colour of their species are often marked with the 

 same patterns of colours as their mates ; the difference 

 is that these unusual birds reproduce the customary 

 markings upon a paler or darker ground than we are 

 accustomed to see. This deficiency of colour is 

 generally caused by some physiological suppression of 

 the pigments which naturally go to tint the feathers. 

 When this irregularity has become marked, birds be- 

 come white or heavily marked with white, or perhaps 

 throw off a sport in a new direction. White birds are 

 generally called albinos ; but the term is inadmissible, 

 unless they combine the double irregularity of corre- 

 lating pink irides with blanched white plumage. 



Birds that are white but have irides of the usual 



