Plumage of the Female Smew. — Pomarine Skua. 395 



tical deception ? — a phantasmagoria ? No ! It is a fact, to* 

 shiver to atoms the delusions of theorists. Numerous other 

 insects were subjected to the same trial ; and in every one of 

 them an auditory mechanism is manifest; this we may all con- 

 firm by examining for ourselves. 



During the investigation appearances presented themselves 

 from which I think I shall be able to prove to Mr. Newman, 

 that even if there be no communication directly with the at- 

 mosphere, the structure of the antenna is of the very best 

 possible kind, for the creatures possessing them to use as or- 

 gans of hearing. At my leisure I shall resume the enquiry, 

 and either make the result public, either through the medium 

 of your pages, or by some other convenient channel. In my 

 next I shall point out the method by which I proceed, and il- 

 lustrate it with outline sketches. But the subject is of so 

 much importance to zoologists, that I deem it better not to 

 postpone this notice of it. — Leonard W. Clarke, Hon. Ento- 

 mological Curator to the Birmingham Royal School of Me- 

 dicine, fyc. —June 9th, 1838. 



Adult plumage of the female Smew. — Your correspondent 

 Mr. Skaife is mistaken in supposing his female smew, (p. 331), 

 to have attained its mature or final livery. 



Great numbers were brought last winter to the London mar- 

 kets ; but during the severe weather, none occurred in the 

 state of plumage of his specimen, which is the second dress 

 of the species, and common to both sexes. In their first garb 

 — that which immediately succeeds the down, — the feathers 

 are of looser texture, and the tertiaries, (I perceive in some 

 that have not quite completed their moult), have conspicuous 

 terminal pale spots : this first change is mostly perfected, how- 

 ever, before their arrival, and in ordinary winters, the majority 

 of specimens occur in the garb of the first winter, which re- 

 mains till the succeeding autumn : the males then acquire 

 their elegant brilliant white livery, and the females that cor- 

 rectly figured by Mr. Gould, wherein the markings of the wing 

 become purer and better contrasted, and the black on the sides 

 of the face is assumed invariably. I have seen a dozen fe- 

 males together, all in this state of plumage. 



As in many other birds, the adult smews are commonly 

 seen in pairs, and are more shy and difficult to procure than 

 immature specimens. Hence it is, that the old females are 

 not commonly obtained ; for when a pair of the adults have 

 been approached within gun-shot, the superior beauty, size, 

 and conspicuousness of the male, are sure to engross the at- 

 tention, so that his mate escapes on almost every occasion. 



Pomarine Skua; (p. 338).— A very considerable number 



