aubade:

Albrecht Dürer, “Wing of a European Roller,” 1512

For glory and brilliance the colours of feathers
are unsurpassed. Yet the pigments which produce
those shades are few. Some (called subjective
or optical colours) are illusions formed
by the quills’ pattern and its achromatic,
horny surface. Is other creatures’ vision
of them different, paler or darker than ours?

Melanin, from blood-plasma or haemoglobin,
makes black, brown and grey; turacin, which fades
when wet, will flush to purple. Darwin wrote
that natives of the Amazonian region
feed fatty fish to green parrots so the lipochromes
will streak them red and yellow (the sacred
tints of royal Inca’s feather garments).

Prismatic and metallic tones: blue, gold
and glossy black, are the structural colours.
Only the white lacks underlying pigment.
The evolution of vivid plumage began with
the struggle to win a mate. But the drab hues
of survivors disturb: such complex beauty
unnecessary after that triumph.

Carol Rumens, “The Coloration of Feathers”

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