ical evidence regarding the relative conspicuousness of 

 two types of plumage pattern. 



II. Data on the Biological Value of the Inconspic- 

 uousness of the Barred Pattern 



The physical fact set forth above is obvious: barred 

 chickens are clearly less conspicuous than self-colored 

 when seen against the background of grass on the range 

 where they live. Has this physical fact any biological 

 significance? Are the barred birds, by virtue of the 

 possession of this color pattern, at any advantage in 

 the struggle for existence? Is their relative inconspic- 

 uousness any real protection against their natural ene- 

 mies? It is the purpose of this section of the paper to 

 present some numerical data regarding this matter. 



The only evidence which exists in the literature on this 

 problem, so far as poultry is concerned, consists in the 

 admittedly fragmentary statistics presented by Daven- 

 port, which have been cited above. It should be pointed 



