BIRDS' PLUMAGE

Waipa Post, Volume 36, Issue 2149, 26 April 1928, Page 2

BIRDS' PLUMAGE

Variation in plumage between male and female often interests students of bird life (says the New York Times). In many species the colour is the same in both sexes. Again, the male bird possesses feathers of a gorgeous hue, and his mate wears a dull dress.

For instance, the scarlet tanager is beautiful in bright red and black, and his wife is arrayed in a dull olivegreen with dark wings and tail. The rich blue of the male indigo bunting makes a marked contrast with the greyish-brown of his mate; and the same is true of the rose-breasted grosbeak. The male is decked out in a livery of black, white, and rose red, while the female is quite ordinary in a suit of "greyish brown. There appear to be at least two reasons for this variation of colour in birds. The duller marking of the female is a wise provision of Nature, protecting her against her natural enemies during that perilous period in which her families are raised. Then, again, the brighter plumage of the male proves to be a great asset in the days of courtship, as birds have a peculiar appreciation of the beautiful, and are attracted by it. Male birds in the mating season often perform love dances and engage in other peculiar antics, as, for instance, the mad acrobats of the chat, which are for the special amusement of the females; their effort being, as Darwin observed, to display their charms to their prospective wives.