How To Use Plumage In A Sentence

In Florida, cruel men shoot the mother bird. on their nests while they are rearing their young. because their plumage is prettiest at that time. Beautiful Joe: An Autobiography
This is their winter plumage, and some of them are already in it. Times, Sunday Times
Bitterns are virtually invisible as their plumage provides perfect camouflage.
Their plumage is a plain, streaky brown. Times, Sunday Times
Male peacocks have beautiful plumage.

The members of Eurylaiminae are variable in their plumage; the wattled broadbills have an eye ring of large blue wattles.
The bright plumage of a parrot made it beloved by people.
The order mammalia is the resultant of a primary sex-distinction developed by natural selection; but the gorgeous plumage of the peacock's tail is a secondary sex-distinction developed by sexual selection. Women and Economics: A Study of the Economic Relation Between Men and Women as a Factor in Social Evolution
The whilk Swedish feathers, although they look gay to the eye, resembling the shrubs or lesser trees of ane forest, as the puissant pikes, arranged in battalia behind them, correspond to the tall pines thereof, yet, nevertheless, are not altogether so soft to encounter as the plumage of a goose. A Legend of Montrose
Although terns are closely related to seagulls, sharing a general black-and-grey pattern of plumage with their cousins, they have slim silvery bodies and deeply forked tails.
Both the juvenile and the adult have golden plumage at the napes of their necks.
Here, one of the birds spreads its wings to let its plumage dry in the sun, an attitude which is highly characteristic of cormorants and their relatives.
Marbled Murrelets are unusual among the alcids in that they molt to cryptic-brown plumage during the breeding season.
The black-headed gulls are now in their winter plumage.
Furthermore, in bluethroats, European starlings, and blue tits female choice for males with greater UV reflectance appears to favor structural plumage traits.
In springtime the display of the peacocks ' plumage is a very worthy sight, so I hope steps may be taken to increase their number.
On the water, handfuls of gaudy drakes, cloaked in vivid breeding plumage, jockey for position near sought-after hens.
He also found that as Pileated Woodpeckers fly away from the camera, their plumage is hard to distinguish from the Ivory-billed Woodpecker's. Archive 2007-03-01
Some species, such as the blue bird of paradise and the black sicklebill, are hunted for their beautiful, bright plumage and/or skins; others are hunted for food.
Ay, indeed! " cried good old Mr. Wilson. " What little bird of scarlet plumage may this be? ".
The Thayer's Gull is a large gull, with typical gull-like plumage.
One of them was a noble bird, such as I never had seen before, of very fine bright plumage, and larger than a missel-thrush. Lorna Doone
A pair of black guillemots, already in winter plumage, fled in panic.
Towards the yellow-hammer, or yellow-yite -- bird of beautiful plumage though it be -- because it is the subject of an unaccountable superstitious notion, which credits it with drinking a drop of the devil's blood every May morning, the children of Scotland cherish no inconsiderable contempt, which finds expression in the rhyme: -- Children's Rhymes, Children's Games, Children's Songs, Children's Stories A Book for Bairns and Big Folk
All of the missing birds had bright plumage, whereas female specimens left behind had brown feathers. Times, Sunday Times
My three birds were still in this summer plumage. Times, Sunday Times
The epizoa generally lodge themselves in various parts of the plumage of birds; and almost every group of birds becomes the host of some specific or varietal form with distinct adaptations. Scientific American Supplement, No. 470, January 3, 1885
crossbill" with its deep crimson colour; and many others, equally bright and beautiful, enlivened the woods, either with their voice or their gaudy plumage. Popular Adventure Tales
Males in breeding plumage are unmistakable with their dark blue color, rufous sides and crown, and striking white patterning on the face, neck, sides, and back.
The Winter Wren is a tiny woodland bird whose song is as elaborate as its plumage is drab.
The bird was unmistakably a male American Kestrel in full blue and orange plumage.
I have done almost no birding, except yesterday when I saw a Hooded Butcherbird sitting on a coconut frond, tilting back its head and ruffling its pied plumage as it whistled its loud, musical song.
Males in breeding plumage have gray and black striations on their bodies and heads, and black rumps.
The crane has light to dark blue-gray plumage and a crimson cap at the back of its crown.
Nightingales have beautiful plumage.
They are the size of a starling with light brown plumage, red markings round the eyes, a crest and an orange-tipped black tail.
The adult plumage of penguins is blue-black or gray dorsally (back) and white ventrally (front). Penguins
Here and there turkeys showed themselves with their milk and coffee-colored plumage; and peccaries, a sort of wild pig highly appreciated by lovers of venison, and agouties, which are the hares and rabbits of Central America; and tatous belonging to the order of edentates, with their scaly shells of patterns of mosaic. Eight Hundred Leagues on the Amazon
The plumages of hand-reared mallards, baldpates, blue-winged teal, shovellers and ring-necked ducks develop more slowly although pintails, redheads and canvasbacks appear similar.
He likes the bird with exotic plumage.
Like motmots and todies, kingfishers often have brilliant plumage, are largely insectivorous, and nest in cavities that are often excavated in earthen banks.
Birds such as goldfinches, orioles, and cardinals owe their colorful plumages to carotenoids.
With her bouffant hairdo, elaborate plumage, gushing charm and bright smile she is a caricature of a countess.
He called to mind the peculiarities of the "tui" of the natives, sometimes called the mockingbird from its incessant chuckle, and sometimes "the parson," in allusion to the white cravat it wears over its black, cassock-like plumage. In Search of the Castaways
The most unusual plumage and wing modifications among the 40 or so species of manakins belong to the club-winged manakin, Bostwick told the group.
They are also acquiring their summer plumage. Times, Sunday Times
The many juvenile harriers working the mound wore their orange winter plumage, a stark contrast to the hawk's black, white, and brown feathering.
White plumage may be critical for attracting a mate, but even after pairing with a female during the breeding season, a male that keeps a clean profile may have an advantage.
Unlike most birds with different breeding and non-breeding plumages, buntings molt only once a year.
The twenty-three Japanese poachers were arrested and taken to Honolulu for trial, and the _Thetis_ also brought away all the stolen wings and plumage with the exception of one shedful of wings that had to be left behind on account of lack of carrying space. Our Vanishing Wild Life Its Extermination and Preservation
The soft brown plumage has a texture like velvet; they have insuppressible crests and a face pattern to inspire a make-up artist.
Dippers are rounded, short-tailed, rather wren-like birds in form but almost thrush-sized; a striking feature is the large white bib against otherwise dark plumage.
The beautiful subalar plumage is then thrown out and cleaned from any spot that may sully its purity by being passed gently through the bill, the short chocolate-colored wings are extended to the utmost, and he keeps them in a steady flapping motion, at the same time raising up the delicate long feathers over the back, which are spread in a chaste and elegant manner, floating like films in the ambient air. In Nesting Time
The perfect white plumage with just a few faint grey flecks on its back and wings showed it was indeed a male. Times, Sunday Times
However queleas are different because plumage does not signal quality in this species.
However, the most picturesque of all bee-eaters in the world is the crimson plumaged carmine bee-eater, which I had seen once - in a bare, dark thorny tree in Masai Mara, Kenya.
Males and females differ in plumage and song, produced in duets or separately.
The ibis has an exotic air with its burgundy plumage and oddly curved beak.
The ruddy duck, an attractive bird with chestnut plumage and a bright blue bill is well settled as a species in England.
It had complete plumage with fully developed flight feathers and a large wishbone for the attachment of strong muscles for the downstroke of the wings. Modern Science in the Bible
We were extremely fortunate that the cormorants were in breeding plumage.
Females and males in non-breeding plumage are duller than breeding males, their backs mottled gray-brown rather than rufous.
I recall one small urchin without a rag of clothing save the basque waist of a lady's dress, bristling with whalebones, and worn wrong side before, beneath which his smooth ebony legs emerged like those of an ostrich from its plumage.
He likes the bird with exotic plumage.
The extravagant plumage of peacocks contrasts with the drabness of peahens.
In nature, the scenester always migrates to urban areas, and, much like the peacock, delights in showing off its plumage. Globe and Mail
With respect to fauna, the most notable avian endemisms are those relating to the red siskin (Carduelis cucullata), a small bird with bright red and black plumage that is considered one of the most threatened species in Venezuela. Paraguana xeric scrub
Most of them have been immature birds, with plumage like creamy porridge. Times, Sunday Times
Adults in breeding plumage are light brown, and have black spots on their wings.
Yes, a lie, turned topsy – turvy, can be prinked and tinselled out, decked in plumage new and fine, till none knows its lean old carcass. Peer Gynt
Given the strong sexual dimorphism and barred, brown female plumage of the Courol, its semi-zygodactyl feet, strong, reinforced jaws, and habit of eating caterpillars, this proposed link - which, ironically, puts the Coural back where it started in 1783 - is intriguing (cuckoos have really interesting jaws, as do the possibly related turacos and hoatzins) [sexual dimorphism in the cuckoo ScienceBlogs Channel : Life Science
In summer, the breeding season, greenshanks are brown, and in winter their plumage turns gray and gray-brown.
`I had to tell," she said, ruffling her plumage with a coquettish little sigh. THE ANCIENT AND SOLITARY REIGN
If the form to be worked necessitates radiation in the stitching, there results a texture something like the feathering of a bird's breast (Illustration 85), whence the name plumage-stitch, another term describing not so much a stitch as the use of a stitch. Art in Needlework A Book about Embroidery
Nevertheless, they saw, though unable to get near them, a couple of those large birds peculiar to Australia, a sort of cassowary, called emu, five feet in height, and with brown plumage, which belong to the tribe of waders. The Mysterious Island
It is a land of supremely Graceful and refreshingly aromatic gum trees; a land of kaleidoscopic wild flower pageantry; of beautiful birds rich in plumage and song. Australia Looks Ahead
At the same time wings are drooped and body plumage puffed-out.
Birds keep their plumage in good condition using a variety of main and subsidiary maintenance behaviors, including preening, scratching, bathing, dusting, sunning, anting, shaking, and ruffling of the feathers.
The specimen from Massachusetts was an after-hatching-year bird with newly acquired basic plumage and fully developed and unworn flight feathers, indicative of early molt.
It is possible, a conspiracy of his nobles may have co-operated towards his having been "driven" forth as an outcast. hairs ... eagles 'feathers -- matted together, as the hair-like, thick plumage of the ossifraga eagle. Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
There may still be very good mechanistic reasons why melanic plumage color reveals individual quality in European barn swallows, but they should have nothing to do with carotenoid signaling.
The great auks, Purcell reports, were ‘hunted for their feathers… and to loosen their plumage the birds were boiled in large cauldrons over fires fed by oil from auks killed before them.’
birds with gay plumage
Adult plumage is blue-black or gray dorsally and white ventrally, sometimes with distinctive coloring or plumes on the head.
The adult in non-breeding plumage is similar, but with a white forehead that darkens to streaky black, as if the cap has receded.
The female in breeding plumage has a gray back with chestnut and black on the wings.
The bright plumage of many male birds has evolved to attract females.
Sickness in birds may be diagnosed from their plumage, which is ruffled when they are sickly instead of lying smooth as when they are well. The History of Animals
The adult in breeding plumage is mottled black-and-brown, with little or no rufous coloration.
The pure white plumage was reflected perfectly - a shimmering vision of heavenly beauty.
This species is strongly dichromatic, meaning that the males and females have distinctive plumage colours and patterns -- a characteristic that distinguishes it from the monochromatic Cyprus pied wheatear, Oenanthe cypriaca, with which it was formerly considered to be conspecific. Mystery bird: Pied wheatear, Oenanthe pleschanka
This is a male in winter plumage, which will become brighter in the spring. Times, Sunday Times
An example in the Canterbury Museum, so immature that the tail-feathers are only two inches long, has more fulvous in the plumage and no indication whatever of a superciliary streak.
These birds molt twice a year changing between alternate and basic (winter or non-breeding) plumage.
Just a plain, long-nebbed, useless bird, not worth powder and shot, very douce in the plumage, and always at the same song like Gilian The Dreamer His Fancy, His Love and Adventure
A being at the hack of the crowd, a Quillp in full postmating plumage, craned its thin ostrichlike neck forward and asked in a high, squeaky voice, 'In what summer-month my hatchlings come a-bout will?' The Tar-Aiym Krang
At first he planned a reproduction of Rubens 'palace in Antwerp, open _loggie_ for studios, leafy gardens covered with flowers at all seasons, and in the paths, gazelles, giraffes, birds of bright plumage, like flying flowers, and other exotic animals which this great painter used as models in his desire to copy Nature in all its magnificence. Woman Triumphant (La Maja Desnuda)
`I had to tell," she said, ruffling her plumage with a coquettish little sigh. THE ANCIENT AND SOLITARY REIGN
What keeps the plumage from getting totally wet is the unusual structure of the birds' feathers: loose peripheral barbs around a water-resistant central area.
Plumage characters suggest that the Abyssinian catbird is a babbler whose nearest relative may be the bush blackcap, Lioptilus nigricapillus, found in the thickets and forests of eastern South Africa. Mystery bird: Ethiopian catbird, Parophasma galinieri
Collection of the goldfinches took place when plumage dichromatism between males and females is subtle.
The body coloration is typical of gull plumage from above, but both breeding and non-breeding adults have dark underwings with pale wingtips, which are distinctive in flight.
The fall migration is preceded by a molt migration where birds molt in large groups at northern coastal sites before heading south in fresh plumage.
Others still have the mottled brown back of their summer plumage, while the juvenile birds are a chequered grey above. Times, Sunday Times
Another is an adult female, with very consistent dark brown plumage except for some paler feathers under her chin. Times, Sunday Times
Male house finches, experimentally infected with coccidiosis grow a less red plumage and are less often selected by females.
Here were the tropical plumage of the palm, the dark green masses of the live-oak, the glistening verdure of wild orange-groves; and from out the shadowy thickets hung the wreaths of the jessamine and the scarlet trumpets of the bignonia. The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 12, No. 70, August, 1863
A related species, the whiskered auklet, has a similar tangerine-like plumage odor, and other sea birds such as shearwaters and storm petrels have distinct musky odors.
The so-called chatterer has a pleasant note, beautiful plumage, makes a living cleverly, and is graceful in form; it appears to be alien to our country; at all events it is seldom seen at a distance from its own immediate home. The History of Animals
Pipits of the genus Anthus will apply ants to their plumage for cleaning, a behavior called anting.
The members of Eurylaiminae are variable in their plumage; the wattled broadbills have an eye ring of large blue wattles.
Plumage coloration is among the most widespread and conspicuous of ornamental traits in birds.
During the breeding season, adult males are easily distinguished from brownish females and juveniles by their glossy black plumages and white wing underparts.
Other diseases that affect the overall health of finches, including pox and Mycoplasma galliceptum, cause males to grow a less red plumage.
Bright plumage make this bird unmistakable, though often hard to see in the shade of a river bank.
We used molecular markers to sex juvenile birds captured at the feeding stations in July or August and used plumage characteristics to sex all other birds.
Birds in all plumages have yellow around their vents.
Plumage color is an important economic trait. It plays an important role in determining breed purity and phylogenesis.
Females, juveniles, and males in eclipse plumage (from May through August) are mottled brown with orange legs and a green-black iridescent speculum with a blue patch on the forewing.
The toucanets have mostly green plumage with blue markings.
You can study its streaky brown plumage and the large, creamy stripe above its eye. Times, Sunday Times
Crested auklets have a conspicuous black forehead-crest, white auricular plumes, an orange bill with accessory plates, and a citruslike plumage odor.
The purpose of the current study was to test the importance of preen oil in Rock Doves by removing the uropygial gland and quantifying plumage condition over a period of several months.
The tern is a very pretty bird with light grey plumage, a black head and red beak and feet. The Home of the Blizzard Being the Story of the Australasian Antarctic Expedition, 1911-1914
Another interesting feature about pheasants is the extraordinary difference in plumage between the sexes, a gap equalled only between the blackcock and greyhen and quite unknown in the partridge, quail and grouse. Birds in the Calendar
She began to shed the brilliant borrowed chameleon plumage, she wanted to let Lucy in.
Ornamental plumage was defined as any plumage whose functional purpose could not be explained by the requirements of flight or insulation.
These young males are identified by their plumage, which is predominantly red. Armageddon on the Streets
Peacocks strutted about the vast hall, displaying fine plumage and lustrous silks to everyone in the room.
Furthermore, in bluethroats, European starlings, and blue tits female choice for males with greater UV reflectance appears to favor structural plumage traits.
We suggest that, in addition to its other functions, an important selective advantage of melanic plumage is its resistance to degradation by bacteria that are part of every bird's environment.
Rather than being shared by all of the brown-plumaged teals, this character appears to be shared by only the New Zealand teals, because male Chestnut Teals (like Mallards) have a fully green head.
brilliantly plumaged parrots
Also, many manakins have delayed plumage maturation.
But underneath their matt chocolate plumage and chestnut leg feathers, they are very slight.
There is a paroquet with purple feathers, another with scarlet, a woodpecker with variegated plumage of red, green, and yellow, and a small black bird with a single yellow feather under each wing. The Hawaiian Archipelago
Variety in the lovebird's diet is the key to feather perfect plumage and a healthy bird.
Anyway, he seemed chipper, his now completely grey plumage looking very sleek. Times, Sunday Times
Females and males in eclipse plumage may look superficially similar to Mallards.
All plumages of Red-tailed Hawks have a darkish band on the leading edges of the inner underwings, known as the ‘patagial’ markings.
The most common shorebirds were American Oystercatcher and Willet in dapper summer plumage, but at least one Killdeer also winged by.
This poet -- a bird with tropical plumage, and norland sweetness of song Specimens with Memoirs of the Less-known British Poets, Complete
Of those, two were skeletal, seven were based on plumage or soft-part colors, and five dealt with tarsal scutellations, rictal bristles, and egg color.
A red kite was right in front of me in a gaunt old ash tree; it was a raptor of considerable size, with mottled brown and rufous plumage and a distinctive forked tail. Country diary: East Yorkshire
Like motmots and todies, kingfishers often have brilliant plumage, are largely insectivorous, and nest in cavities that are often excavated in earthen banks.
In breeding plumage, the adult has a dark hood with a black eye and bill.
Unlike most birds with different breeding and non-breeding plumages, buntings molt only once a year.
We investigated the signaling function of blue plumage in male blue grosbeaks to determine if structurally based coloration may act as a reliable signal of quality to conspecifics.
It is not long after this molting is complete that they start a second molt to acquire their alternate plumage.
Then you gently and gradually work the new feather on, positioning it to match the original plumage as best you can.
These are still a dark mottled brown, and will not acquire their full white plumage until they are four years old. Times, Sunday Times
Not only does the male Bird of Paradise have fantastic colorful plumage, he dances, poses and completely changes his shape to woo the less exotic-looking females.
I also spent some time watching Eider ducks, the drakes easily distinguished by their white plumage and both species have a beak which resembles somebody with a huge ‘Roman nose’.
Compared with the far more familiar goldcrest, this firecrest displayed considerably more striking plumage characteristics.
Others still have the mottled brown back of their summer plumage, while the juvenile birds are a chequered grey above. Times, Sunday Times
Male has grey plumage with silvery flight feathers and rusty vent.
As the drake loses his bright plumage and acquires the more subdued feathering of the female, the bird appears to become hormonally sexually neutral and, for the remaining duration of the eclipse period, remains as a female.
This fast-paced take on the standard 'match three' puzzler presents you with an array of different birds wandering along a series of power cables – your role as a squirrel seeking vengeance on the avine community – don't ask is to draw lines on the screen to connect targets with the same coloured plumage, thereby electrifying them. The 25 best smartphone games of 2011 (so far) – part one
Plumage coloration, not length or symmetry of tail-streamers, is a sexually selected trait in North American barn swallows.
The biologist and writer Julian Huxley, grandson of Darwin's great friend and supporter Thomas Henry Huxley, thought that the white plumage of the male ptarmigan might distract a predator away from the female.
The perfect white plumage with just a few faint grey flecks on its back and wings showed it was indeed a male. Times, Sunday Times
This is the only species of flamingo in the region, easily recognized by its pink plumage.
The males are now acquiring their bright spring plumage, with the dull tips of their winter feathers wearing off. Times, Sunday Times
They molt twice a year, the first molt, after breeding, gives the males their eclipse plumage.
The sublime jostled with the ridiculous for attention as Edmonton's Thespians donned their finest plumage to dazzle, bewilder and delight.
They are stocky little birds, with mainly white plumage, and a sharp yellow beak. Times, Sunday Times
Wring the swan's neck who with deceiving plumage inscribes his whiteness on the azure stream; he merely vaunts his grace and nothing feels of nature's voice or the soul of things. Archive 2008-01-01
Juveniles appear similar to adults in non-breeding plumage, but the gray mantle is mottled.
As the drake loses his bright plumage and acquires the more subdued feathering of the female, the bird appears to become hormonally sexually neutral and, for the remaining duration of the eclipse period, remains as a female.
The bird upon the sapling was a robin, the tiny round body perched upon his delicate legs, plump and bright plumaged for mating. The Shuttle
In juvenile birds and birds molting into adult plumage for the first time, the shield was typically a deep purple.
The male is unmistakable; scaly, sooty-black plumage offset by a white crescentic bib.
This specimen is an adult male in very high nuptial plumage, and is No.3002 of my register.
The crane has light to dark blue-gray plumage and a crimson cap at the back of its crown.
While males remain white, females molt into one of the most cryptic plumages known in birds.
Nature notes A large, distinctive gull with plumage that looks just like creamy porridge has been seen this winter in many places. Times, Sunday Times
Unlike most birds with different breeding and non-breeding plumages, longspurs molt only once a year.
When the color of the landscape changes, females shed their white plumage as brown replacement feathers grow in.
Striking black and white breeding plumage.
At this time of the year individuals have completed breeding and begin to molt into their brown eclipse plumage, and they are easy to accurately age as adult breeding males.
tricolor plumage
The male's body plumage is glossy black, and the wings and tail feathers are white.
She makes her nest on the woodland floor, and her marbled brown plumage blends miraculously with the dead leaves. Times, Sunday Times
The young birds are easily recognised by their brown plumage. Times, Sunday Times
Increased plumage abrasion caused by a higher rate of preening could break feather barbules, leading to a reduction in plumage condition.
Look out for geese, swans and ducks wearing their fancy breeding plumage and strutting their stuff in search of a mate.
‘grub-picker’ (or tree-creeper), about as small as the penduline titmouse, with speckled plumage of an ashen colour, and with a poor note; it is a variety of the woodpecker. The History of Animals
Mind like water, I am clearing the bean rows when a Rhode Island Red, finally a juvenile in full plumage, catches my attention. MY EMPIRE OF DIRT
Note that ectoparasite intensity was not significantly correlated with the date of its census, and brood size was not associated with female plumage spottiness.
It has been suggested that as feeders in the grass they are better camouflaged with green plumage. Times, Sunday Times
Its body plumage suddenly began to ruffle and swell.
This hypothesis would be supported if unpaired males in breeding plumage were more vigilant than unpaired males in cryptic eclipse plumage.
Not until age six will a young condor molt its brown feathers and grow the black-and-white plumage of adults.
Somewhere between these two extremes lies the investigation of disjunct traits that have a similar metabolic origin, for example, multiple white plumage patches on different body parts.
One is the courlan, called "crazy widow" from its mourning plumage and long melancholy screams, which on still evenings may be heard a league away. The Naturalist in La Plata
Despite their names they are often confused with one another, as the grey wagtail is a striking bird with plenty of lemon-yellow in its plumage. Birdwatch: Pied wagtail
A pointless attention had been paid to the particularities of their plumage, their iridescence, and so on. LOOKING FOR THE SPARK
Although drab in winter, males spend much of the year resplendent in bright lemon-yellow plumage set off by black and white wings, cap, and tail.
The politically (and anatomically) correct term is pygostyle -- literally rump post -- for the structure of fused vertebra that anchors the turkey's magnificent tail feathers (rectrices) and also harbors the uropygial gland, source of preen oil, the yummy fat the bird uses to groom its plumage. Cold Turkey
The evolution of endothermic metabolic rates and pelage and plumage in the earliest mammals and birds, respectively, followed radically different sequential chronologies.

How To Use Plumage In A Sentence

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