The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1900-10-18
WAR coLoRs OF BIRDS.


tcct Them From Their Enemies.
War is declared for and against birds
as soon as the eggs are broken-war
with boys, with cats, with snakes and
even with other birds-owls and
hawks, for instance Their plumage
bears the colors of war, as our naval
vessels do when they don a coat Of
gray paint.
When birds prey on insects, they aim
to steal upon them unnoticed, and the
coloring that aids them to do this is
called deceptive and aggressive colora-
ton. l watched a great crested fly
catcher last summer, and | never saw
colors blended more admirably for
making him invisible to the insects
that he makes war on. He was perch
ed in a tree, chiefly green, but with
many leaves already changing to red
dish and yellowish ,tints, and in his
own feathers he matched every leaf
color-olive green washed with grays
and browns like the leaf shadows, the
sulphur yellow underneath, and the
glowing chestnut hue of the tail. Even
ments of the blossoms and the slender
tufts Of young leaves.
All the fycatchers have the green's
and grays of leaves in light and shad-
ow, and several kinds show yellow
touch here and there, as the orange
crown Of the kingbird and the yellow
ish undertints of others. 1t is marvel
ip6c 70
from sight when exploring knotholes
and crevices in dry wood, so perfect is
the assimilation Of color.
Wo0dpeckers, being large birds and
feeding on the helpless Larvae and eggs
Of insects, may fearlessly show their
brilliant scarlet or yellow crowns and
vests, but the smaller nuthatches and
creepers need protective coloring and
maskings and reproduce not only the
colors of barks and wood, but the
stripes and zigzag lines that mark the
tree trunks. They often search a tree
beside us quite unseen unless we are in
the habit of looking out for birds.
So common is protective color for
eluding a foe that we can usually tell
birds habits by it's feathers. The
ground birds have the brown tints of
the earth and it's barred and notified
look in sun and shade, as quails,
grouse, meadow larks and lOngspurs;
| the vireOs or greenletS, which live
among the leaves, are olive and yellow;
the nightbirds are dusky; the cuckoos,
| birds that love shadOWy tree hooks, are
olive gray and soft white, blending
with the gray, and even the scarlet
| tanagers, the f1amelike orioles, the rose
red cardinals. are not so conspicuous
when we remember that they feed on
bright colOred fruits and tree blossoms.
The almost universal law Of color for
birds is dark above where the light
falls and light beneath, on the parts in
shadow.
There are other effects Of light to
shelter birds that are especially con-
| spicuOus. The yellow warbler looks
| wholly yellow to a careless observer,
| but there is a green shade on his back
and f1ecks of reddish brown leaf color
on his breast, and these effects hide
| him among the leaves. The indigo bird
| has a bright green light On his glowing
| blue which protects him in the thickets
as he fits from bush to bush. Tx,
| flicker is very cOnSpicuOusly cOiOred
and marked and loves high places, but
| there is a tint over head and breast, q
rose purple glow like the sunrise or
and high treetop in one suffusiOn of
color and thus helps to conceal him.
There are colors Of recognition, too
white thumb marks on the cuckoo's
| tail and the white feathers that the
| meadow larks and toWhees show as
| they rise. Such markings make a
birds signal code, and by them they
| follow their leader and keep in ranks
on the march OF the migratiOns.
There are also brilliant spots of color,
gay crests and ruffs, merely decorative
| colors, some Of which belong TO the
male bird only. at the time of court
ship and nesting. These are supposed
to be signs of vitality and strength in
| birds, so that ii there be combat be-
| tween two rival bird suitOrs the bright
est cOlored or more vigorous will win,
and thus even these colors may be said
to be reproduced by law Of battle.
| But protective color comes in again
with brown ard olive mates, the spar
rOwlike bird mothers, which need spe-
cial protection as they keep the eggs
warm in the nest. The sober wives of
the tanagers, of the rose breasted gros-
| beaks, Of the orchard orioles, of the
| bobolinks and the indigo birds are in
stances Of this kind and also the nest
| lings, often neutral tinted or even
blackish and sooty, as the babies of the
| glowing bluebirds. These are noncom-
| batants and need not wear the brighter
colors of the warlike male BIRDS Ella
F. Mosby in Philadelphia Times.