526 Rev. W. WurTEAn on the Changes of the Plumage of Birds. 
brown were discoverable. The wing-coverts were in a similar 
state of change. Many of the feathers on the head of a Reed- 
Bunting (killed the same day as the gull) were black with reddish- 
brown tips, the extremity of each feather apparently retaining the 
winter tint, while the greater part of it had assumed that of the 
summer. : fe 
The above observations seem pretty strongly to confirm the fact 
which Mr. Youell has pointed out, namely, that a change in the 
colour of the plumage of birds does not always arise from a change 
of feathers, but sometimes proceeds from the feathers themselves 
assuming at one season of the year a different colour from that 
which they have at another. This fact may be fully tried upon 
living birds. If the feathers of a live bird, apparently beginning to 
change, were marked by fastening a piece of silk to them, notch- 
ing, them, or otherwise, and it was observed that the first colour 
of the feather gradually disappeared, while the new colour ex- 
tended itself more and more, till the feather had assumed that 
‘exhibited by the perfect bird, the fact would be established be- 
yond contradiction. 
Having called the attention of ornithologists to this subject, I 
hope it will be pursued by those who have better opportunities of 
investigating it than myself. An inquiry into the changes which 
the feathered race undergo, can hardly fail of throwing light upon 
the history of this beautiful and interesting part of the creation. 
March 18, 1819. 
XXXIV. A 
