WHY ARE SEA BIRDS WHITE?
The usual explanation of the whiteness ot sea birds-namely, that it is a device to make them invisible to aerial enemies-is entirely erroneous. The natural selection of colors is not carried out to any considerate extent by human eyes, says John leaSIS L< *g man ' s >' although this is often forgotten; but where it is so carried out it corresponds with the facts. An invisibility cannot be operative which does not exist Why, then, are sea birds white? The answer is, for four cumulative reasons. First they are white because flesh-eating enemies powerful enough to weed out whiteness are absent from the element which they frequent; secondly, because whiteness, and especially a white under-surface, facilitates their approach to the fishes which form thenfood; thirdly, because the preference of the sexes for each other, taking the line of least resistance, has accentuated the tendency to"whiteness; and, lastly, because a white plumage forms, in combination with black markings, an excellent signal by which friend can recognise friend, and the whereabouts of food be quickly indicated.
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Bibliographic details
Evening Star, Issue 11621, 4 July 1902, Page 1
Word Count
178WHY ARE SEA BIRDS WHITE? Evening Star, Issue 11621, 4 July 1902, Page 1
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