176 
Correspondence . 
[March, 
the great Cordillera he saw “ large tawny-coloured fungoid- 
looking substances which in size, shape, and colour resembled 
lions (pumas) lying on the ground.” So great was the likeness, 
he says he “ could not distinguish whether they were (pumas) or 
not ” (p. 77). Speaking of the parrots, he says, “ The plumage 
of the breasts is always of the most gorgeous and brilliant 
description, but their backs are invariably of the colour of the 
country they inhabit. In the region of woods it is generally 
green and bright yellow — they are of these hues ; in the plains 
of grass their backs are a mixture of brown and green, and they 
so resemble the surface of the country as they skim over it that 
it is as difficult to trace them as it is the partridge when flying 
over ploughed lands ” (p. 126). These fadts appear to support 
Mr. Wallace’s theory of colour in birds as contra-distinguished 
from that of Mr. Darwin. — I am, & c., 
S. B. 
