. The bird, its form and function . -awed, the eggs might remain white; while, on the otherhand, the enterprising race might be wiped out of exist-ence for no more reason than the colour of the second result seems to be the good fortune of theShort-eared Owls. All of these fates have undoubtedlyovertaken birds again and again, and it is by the inter-action of such condition , combined with an ever-chang-ing environment, that many phenomena are brought about. It was by reason of the general similarity in colourwhich the eggs of related groups of birds tend to showto each other th
. The bird, its form and function . -awed, the eggs might remain white; while, on the otherhand, the enterprising race might be wiped out of exist-ence for no more reason than the colour of the second result seems to be the good fortune of theShort-eared Owls. All of these fates have undoubtedlyovertaken birds again and again, and it is by the inter-action of such condition , combined with an ever-chang-ing environment, that many phenomena are brought about. It was by reason of the general similarity in colourwhich the eggs of related groups of birds tend to showto each other that oology, or the science of egg-shells,was able to initiate an important scientific discovery. 452 The Bird At one time the sandpipers and plovers were classed aswading birds, and the gulls and terns in an Order placedat a remote distance in the scheme of classification fromthe former birds; no one suspecting that the two groupswere in any way related. The striking resemblancewhich their eggs showed, however, suggested an affinity. Fig. 357.—(a) Egg of common Tern compared with (6) egg of Black-necked Stilt w^hich was later perfectly confirmed by anatomists andembryologists. The few thousands of years during which our racehas risen to inheritance of the earth is all too shorta time, geologically speaking, for us to flatter ourselvesthat any of the protective colours of animals were de-veloped on our account; but in many instances we,sharing the same five senses of animals, may put our-selves in their position. Imagining ourselves egg-hunting
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