File:The bird; its form and function (1906) (14752468881).jpg

Identifier: birditsformfunct01beeb (find matches)
Title: The bird; its form and function
Year: 1906 (1900s)
Authors: Beebe, William, 1877-1962
Subjects: Birds
Publisher: New York, Holt
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Smithsonian Libraries

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em. It is curious how fish-like the coloration of thesebirds really is, and they are said frequently to lay feetand tail together and, drawing their flipper-like wingsto their sides, spring clear of the water again and again,by a single motion of the back muscles, exactly as themammalian dolphins leap ahead of a vessels bow. Again, while we find the ptarmigan mimicking thesnow in colour, we find the Arctic Fox, the Snowy Owl,and the Gyrfalcon, all of which are enemies of this bird,also garbed in white. The ptarmigan may crouch upona drift, but it must ever be on the alert, lest from amidthe snowflakes a white death come suddenly upon it.Nature is terribly just in her plan of lifes battles. In the same region with these lives the Ivory Gull,immaculate as the ice-floe over which it flies, and in itswhiteness we can perhaps read two purposes: a betterchance to elude the fierce Gyrfalcon, and a better chanceto float cloud-like unperceived over the unsuspecting fishwhich it seeks for food.
Text Appearing After Image:
Fig. 246.—Black footed Penguin. X til _.,r ^N^ ■^^SSadoM-Jn , V*^*- -^i: m W\ .,._i»-— ^——^^ Fig. 247.—Pickerel. (Keller, photographer. From life, swimming.) PREDACIOUS, AQUATIC ANIMALS, SHOWLXG AGGRESSIVECOLORATION. 310 The Body of a Bird 311 An instance of what has been called unconsciousmimicry seems to exist in the cuckoo of the Old World,which, like our cowbird, is parasitical in habits, makingno nest of its own, but depositing its eggs in the nests ofother species of birds. The cuckoo bears a striking

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