a golden corolla.* Many of these wading birds have also reed-colored or 

 otherwise deceptively painted legs and feet, which may often save them from 

 being snapped up by alligators and turtles, and must also help them in their 

 hunting. 



The study of the colors of birds' bills and feet in relation to their habits 

 and environments is a large field in itself, and we in this chapter have barely 

 peered over its borders. But there seems little room for doubt that the gen- 

 eral principles here briefly stated are dominant or at least very important 

 ones. 



* It is most noteworthy that scarlet and yellow, the colors of the flowers and leaf stems of the 

 "cow lilies" which aboimd in North American swampy ponds, are also to be found on a great many 

 of the animals that resort to these places. The Wood Duck, the Gallinules, the Red-winged Black- 

 bird, and the Painted Tortoise, for instance, all wear scarlet, black (or dark blue) and yellow, just as 

 does the surface of such a pond, with its black shadows between the lily pads and flowers. Even 

 the long-billed Rails of the same region have (in spring and summer) coral-colored beaks. Indeed, 

 red, orange and yellow seem to be very common colors of aquatic vegetation and of swamp birds' 

 beaks, the world over. 



From a hawk's point of view, as he flies over swamps and ponds, it is not merely the black water 

 itself that these species match, but also the dark mud, and, in general, the dark spaces between the 

 vegetation. From overhead, the Red-winged Blackbird, even when perched on top of the bushes, 

 matches — or simulates — the shadowy spaces beneath; and his faintly discernible outline is easily 

 rendered indistinguishable by the conspicuousness of his scarlet and yellow cow-lily picture (just as 

 the letters in Fig. io6 are made illegible by their patterns) — in spite of his lack of counter shading. 

 In fact, though the 'Redwing' often perches high enough to show black against the sky, to us, to the 

 soaring hawk he is commonly matched to the mud, as much as rails or coots. — A. H. T. 



86 



