Abstract
DURING the past year (1935), work was begun to improve the feeding routine of all animal groups at the Zoological Garden in Philadelphia. Efforts are being made to devise food mixtures that are complete in all known essentials, contain a wide variety of materials and allow for seasonal abundance so as to be economical, and are similar in general physical characters to natural foods. From time to time, various factors have necessitated modifications of formulæ, so that complete descriptions of the diets to which reference will be made are better postponed. Eventually records of these studies will be used as the subject matter of a report on methods of feeding wild animals in captivity. In spite of the present incompleteness of the investigation, however, certain effects of changes in diet upon the colours of the plumage of several species of birds seem worthy of record at this time.
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RATCLIFFE, H. Diet and Colour of Birds. Nature 137, 402 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137402a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137402a0
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