EXPLANATION OF PLATE IX 



ROSEATE SPOONBILL. 



Before sunrise or after sunset ; matching the sky behind it, 

 (i. e., the western sky at dawn, or the eastern sky at sunset). 



SUNRISE OR SUNSET. 

 A typical sky, much like the aspect of the Flamingoes. 



RED FLAMINGOES. 



Before sunrise or after sunset, matching the sky 

 behind them, as in the Spoonbill picture. 



By Abbott H. Thayer 



These various sketches of Flamingoes and Spoonbills show how wonderfully such birds match 

 or reproduce the colors of morning or evening skies to the eyes of the inhabitants of the water in 

 which they wade — both their enemies, such as anacondas, alligators, sharks, etc., and such of 

 their prey as can see them. 



Commonly, the bird's upper outline 'melts' into the sky, leaving the rest of his contour, seen 

 through the water, agitated and muddied by his feet, to be lost in the indeterminate color-mass of 

 the flock. Shaken and jumbled by the continual agitations of the water, the image of the flock 

 retains, for eyes beneath the surface, only its color and its position, both of which coincide with 

 those of the dawn or sunset, (though on the other side of the heavens) or the flushed sky opposite. 



Through all stages of twilight this living mass, seen against the less lighted parts of the sky, 

 blends into it, undergoing kindred changes of illumination, and when full sunlight bathes it, its 

 lighted side blazes out into a perfect representation of the dawn or sunset itself, though in the 

 opposite quarter. In the case of the Red Flamingo the bird's legs, including its feathered thighs, 

 are purplish instead of orange-red, in keeping with the color-gradation of the sky, which is, at 

 these hours, commonly purplest at the lowest point, having its purest reds and oranges a little 

 higher up. Thus, each part of the bird has every possible opportunity of matching its 

 background. — A. H. T. 



