108 THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol.XLV 



«lt'ii Hammond, to whom I am indebted for developing 

 and printing these pictures. As a matter of fact the 

 four pictures which accompany this note were taken for 

 the purpose of (a) testing a then new camera as to its 

 usefulness in obtaining pictures to form part of a per- 

 manent record system in poultry-breeding experiments, 

 and (b) to get photographic records of certain particu- 

 lar birds of interest from one standpoint or another. 

 All the exposures were made by the same person (the 

 writer) on the same afternoon and within an hour of 

 each other. It was on a cloudless afternoon early in 

 August, and the Light conditions, shutter-opening, speed, 

 and diaphragm opening were constant for all of the pic- 

 tures. What differences appear in the pictures, then, 

 are such as are referable to the different color patterns 

 of the birds, when seen under the light conditions and 

 against the kind of background which obtained in this 



