. The bird, its form and function . diversein ap])earance. But it is seldom that we can examinesuch a series at once, and, except in a large collection ofbirds skins in a museum, these wonderful life-chains, or1 wig-tips of the tree of evolution seldom appeal to usvery forcibly. But in a fc^ather it is different. We mayfind on one bird a most dehciitely graduated series, show-ing every step in tlie process by which simple unicoloured. 58 The Bird or spotted feathers assume most intricate and complexcolour masses and patterns. Dnrwiii illustrates this very plainly in the case of theAr<;us Ph
. The bird, its form and function . diversein ap])earance. But it is seldom that we can examinesuch a series at once, and, except in a large collection ofbirds skins in a museum, these wonderful life-chains, or1 wig-tips of the tree of evolution seldom appeal to usvery forcibly. But in a fc^ather it is different. We mayfind on one bird a most dehciitely graduated series, show-ing every step in tlie process by which simple unicoloured. 58 The Bird or spotted feathers assume most intricate and complexcolour masses and patterns. Dnrwiii illustrates this very plainly in the case of theAr<;us Pheasant, and pays a htting tribute to the evolu-tion of the marvellous colour patterns among birds. Theocelli on I he wing-feathers of the Argus Pheasant areshaded in so wonderful a manner as to resemble ballslying loose widiin sockets. That these ornaments shouldha\c l)((Mi formed through the selection of man}- succes-sive variations, not one of which was originally intendedto produce the ball-and-socket effect, seems as incredibleas that one of Raphaels Madonnas should have beenformed 1)} the selection of chance daubs of paint made bya long succession of young artists, not one of whom in-tended at first to diaw the human figure. In order todiscover how the ocelli have been developed we cannotlook to a long hue of progenitors, nor to many closelyallied forms, for such do not now exist. But fortunatelythe several feathers on th
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Keywords: ., bookauthorbeebewil, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookyear1906
