Image from the Biodiversity Heritage Library.
Contributed by Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley.
| www.biodiversitylibrary.org
Transcription
993.
With such temperatures, or higher, prevailing, they do seek the
direct sun rays for short periods, but sooner or later, move out
of them into the shade where they remain most of the time. In order
to get shade A and T will crawl under persons crouched close to
the ground. That this is not for the purpose of concealment is
evidenced by the fact that they will do this when perfectly at ease
otherwise, and by the further fact that they will invariably (under
the temperature conditions mentioned) move into the shadow of a
person standing nearby even when such location is a conspicuous one.
When they are in the cage and the cage placed in the sun it is
necessary to insure that some portion of the cage be shaded irres-
petive of the sun's position. Otherwise they soon begin to pant,
then move about restlessly and begin to complain or try to get out.
Except under these conditions (to which they are subjected only
for the purpose of test) they are perfectly contented, at present,
with their quarters in the cage, which is only about 27 inches long,
/7 inches wide an /y inches high; they regard it, in fact, as a home
and voluntarily enter it as noted herein.
For the first time, today, one of them, Archie, showed that he
and
is able to sit on a perch, on his own initiative. They are both
still somewhat shaky on their feet and can not preen when standing
up without falling down.
The fluorescence of their pupils is diminishing.
The skin colors back of the eyes are becoming more distinct.
The portion that will be red is now saffron yellow. (A guess).
" " " " white is getting paler.
" " " " blue " " bluer.
The irides are hazel (?) and the portion that will become the
brassy ring about the pupil is lighter and redder than the rest.
The white hair-like appendages at the tips of the feathers are
disappearing.
Yellow is beginning to appear through the blue on their legs,
giving a greenish-almost green-turquoise cast in places.
(None of these colors has been compared with charts)
They ate only four times today, which was all they wanted.
They can not feed themselves.