598 Change of Colour in confined Birds. 



swallow at Bushire. (J. B. Fraser, in note * to p. 471. of 

 his Histojical and Descriptive Account of Persia,) 



The Robin, White, — A white robin was caught, in June, 

 3825, in the garden of the rectory at Writhlington, near Rad- 

 stock, and it is now in the possession of the Rev. G. Cookson, 

 at Writhlington : its eyes are red, its legs and bill yellow. 

 {Morning Herald, July 4. 1825.) Captain Brown has seen 

 ** a white robin,Vith red eyes." 



All Albinos have Red Eyes, 



The Colour of Plumage of the Ringdove is remarlcably cofi- 

 slant, — " I know of no British bird," says Mr. Waterton, 

 in p. 332., " which has the colour of its plumage so constant 

 as is that of the ringdove." 



The Change in the Colours of Birds kept in Confinement is 

 referable to the Confinement and the Nature of the Food upon 

 mohich they are fed. — This seems generally agreed upon. Facts 

 in proof of it are given in the case of a goldfinch, in II. 64. ; 

 in the case of the Senegal sparrow, goldfinch, and bullfinch, 

 in V. 398. : hempseed is marked as the food most conducive 

 to the change. Mr. Yarrell, the author of " Observations 

 on the laws which appear to influence the assumption and 

 changes of plumage in birds,'' treatise third, in the Zoological 

 Society's Transactions, has concluded, as we have stated in VI. 

 502., that " feathers are influenced by constitutional power, 

 and their colour affected as the secretions alter under constitu- 

 tional changes." Those who can make access to this excellent 

 treatise will not omit to peruse it. It may be objected that 

 all this has rather little to do with birds produced white from 

 the egg ; but the case of these is inseparable ; there must have 

 been a cause for the whiteness, whatever may have been that 

 cause.] 



Throstles hwve built their Nests, when pressed by Necessity, in 

 a surprisingly short Space of Time. — I have known throstles, 

 which had been robbed of their nests after one or two eggs 

 had been laid, rebuild in a surprisingly short period ; and even 

 upon the old foundation. I once took a nest, containing three 

 eggs, but accidentally left behind the coarse external part of 

 the nest ; circumstances led me by the place on the following 

 morning, when I observed the throstle seated on the remnant 

 of her nest, in which she had deposited her fourth egg, having, 

 since the day before (that of the robbery), plastered it with 

 the usual coating of rotten wood, moist earth, and, perhaps, a 

 little cow-dung. ■ — Henry Berry, Bootle, near Liverpool, Aug, 

 27. 1834. 



Hybrid Birds produced between the Throstle and Blackbird 

 in a State of Nature, — With respect to the throstle, I recollect 



