Coloration evidence for natural selection J. Bowler wrote that Darwin's theory In his 1889 book "Darwinism", the naturalist Alfred Russel Wallace considered the white coloration of Arctic animals. He recorded that the Arctic fox, Arctic hare, ermine and ptarmigan change their colour seasonally, and gave "the obvious explanation", that it was for concealment. The modern ornithologist W. L. N. Tickell, reviewing proposed explanations of white plumage in birds, writes that in the ptarmigan "it is difficult to escape the conclusion that cryptic brown summer plumage becomes a liability in snow, and white plumage is therefore another cryptic adaptation." All the same, he notes, "in spite
Ptarmigan (sternwheeler) surface). Captain Armstrong was able to raise "Ptarmigan" and return her to service. However "Ptarmigan" caught fire later in 1907, and her upper works were destroyed. Again, "Ptarmigan" was salvaged, her upper works were rebuilt and she was returned to service. The gasoline engine was a new development in the early 1900s. Captain Northcote Cantlie, who has gone down in history as "an eccentric Scot" purchased a gasoline-engined launch, "Gian", and placed her on the upper Columbia. Unlike Armstrong, Cantlie came from a wealthy background, drank champagne for breakfast, and kept a bagpiper as his personal attendant. Cantlie, knowing that