PROCEEDINOS OF SOCIETIES. 21 



hare sent a bird with sach a blemish. On receiving my birds home, I partica. 

 larly examined her. and saw that her legs were opaque white. In about a fortnight 

 afterwardd they became vivid pink behind, which colour has since depart«d. I 

 further observed that some of the hucklo and back feathers were not laced 

 with black, although I am sure they were so before she left Ireland. I was about 

 to kill her, as of no further use, but on consideration thought it better to retain 

 her, and watch if this progressed. Prior to being deispatched, she was, as 1 said 

 before, perfect in e\ery respect, in apparently perfect health and laying sound 

 eggs ; shortly after her return she was constantly looking for a nest, and laying 

 soft eggs, and became so fat that her natural shape was altered. I immediately 

 procured some old lime rubbish, and in about a week her anxiety to lay diminiiihed, 

 and her eggs had the shell perfect as usual. I have continued to observe, and 

 found almost daily changes, the black markings vanishing and the feathers remain> 

 ing purely white. When despatched to Liverpool her tail feathers were pure white, 

 accurately laced with black, which almost totally disappeared, but now seem to be 

 increasing, though irregularly. This bird is now in her third year, and is one 

 of the lot with which I took the first prize at the December show of the Amateur 

 Poultry Society of this city. A sister of hers, in the spring of last year, presented 

 similar features, but not so remarkably, the markings becoming so indistinct as to 

 appear as if viewed through gauze. I had her killed, and she proved a very supe- 

 rior bird on the table ; some of her eggs were set, and of the produce four birds 

 were marked as the one now exhibited ; they were the largest chickens of the kind 

 I ever saw, being much larger than otlicrs of the same age, one of which presented 

 features so nearly approaching both sexes that until near a year old it could not be 

 decided whether it was male or female. When hatched they were pure white, 

 with the exception of some black spots on the side of the head, but on moultmg 

 acquired black collars and some spangled feathers, with almost obliterated mark- 

 ings. The exhibition of these will convey to the members how varieties of poultry 

 are produced. The bird in question, in common with others, was fed on India 

 meal, oats, potatoes, and barley occasionally, and had an extensive grass run. I 

 shall now pass to another portion which demands the attention of physiologists to 

 account for, and which, as far as I can discover, is unexplained. I have at various 

 times observed changes in the colour of feathers, but from not having carefully 

 watched them thought 1 must have been mistaken, until my attention was aroused 

 by a paper given in this Society on the changes that occur in the plumage of birds 

 without a moult, as in the case I allude to, that of the black-headed gull, Larus 

 ridibundus, where the feathers of the head change almost suddenly from white to 

 black, as also in the breast of the plovers. In the bird before you we have the 

 reverse. We are all aware that sudden discoloratfon frequently occurs in the 

 head of man, and that changes in colour appear in several animals from shocks of 

 the nervous system, disease, injuries, or abrasions ; in the case of farcy in horses, 

 whence they become spotted all over with white, under the collar and saddle, &c. 

 I knew a case where a hen, which I still have, was bitten by a dog across the back, 

 and white feathers almost immediau*ly appeared in the shape of the bite. These 

 disappeared on the next moult. I knew a case where a mare was bitten in the 

 crest by a horse, and for four generations the foals had a white mark on the crest 

 in the shape of the mouth. It has been my anxiety to produce male birds of the 

 Hamburgh fowl, whose tail feathers should bo white laced with black, as shown ia 

 the plate of Rees' Cycloi)a3dia (produced), and last year I was successful, but wm 

 surprised to see that on the moult of the bird for this year the body of the feather 

 was de^ly mossed ; some time after the bird was moulted, the mossing declined, 

 and some of the feathers were pure white, laced with black. I waa not able to keep 

 this bird for want of space, but shall from time to time hear what changes may 

 take place. I presume this subject has somewhat to do with Albinism ; on which 

 question, as relating to the ferret, I read a paper before this society some years ago, 

 and now lay on the table specimens of several birds in exemplification. 



Mr. Montgomery read some notes on experiments he had made to try the effect 

 ol extracting periodically eggs from the nests of birds, thereby causing them to lay 



K 



