462 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



THE COLOUR OF THE KINGFISHER. 

 By Fredk. J. Stubbs. 



Judging from the published remarks of British ornithologists, 

 few people can be aware that the brilliant feathers on the back 

 of the common Kingfisher vary from a deep ultramarine to pale 

 straw colour, and that they alter strictly according to the con- 

 ditions of light. Generally speaking, the bird is ultramarine 

 when between the eye and the light ; cobalt in the open air by 

 almost every light, or in a room with good windows ; green when 

 the observer is between the bird and the source of light ; and 

 straw-yellow when the feathers are viewed at an extremely small 

 angle, the observer being between the light and the bird. 



There is considerable variation due to age and sex, and 

 feathers from different parts of the body vary in intensity of 

 colour, but they all behave exactly the same under similar 

 conditions of light. The dorsal plumes nearest the tail are 

 often the brightest and the bluest, but by arranging the bird in 

 a suitable light they will be seen to change through green to a 

 dull yellow — and, as I shall show presently, to a rich reddish 

 brown. 



Poets, presumably, draw their inspirations and ideas from 

 birds seen in the field, and this explains why they are almost 

 unanimous in speaking of the " sapphire blue " of the Halcyon. 

 The artist in paint is not so lucky, for however well he may 

 know the living Kingfisher, there is always a risk that he will 

 fall into the error of making a careful study of a green Kingfisher 

 in a dark case in some museum, and working this into the fore- 

 ground of his picture. One frequently meets with instances of 

 an indoor Kingfisher painted in an open-air picture ; but, I 

 remember, the bird appears in appropriate tints in a famous 

 picture by Sir J. E. Millais. The descriptions published by 

 ornithologists are one and all vague — at any rate, I have not 

 read an exact description. Even Dr. R. B. Sharpe, who knew 



