On Female Pheasants assuming the Male Plumage. 307 



duced entirely, or even only partially, such as the common phea- 

 sant, the collared pheasant, and the golden pheasant. Taking 

 analog}?^ for our guide, we might even be tempted to give a much 

 greater degree of generality to these conclusions ; and there are 

 in reality several facts that seem to favour such an opinion. 

 Thus, several travellers have made recitals which can only be 

 properly explained, upon the supposition that they have spoken 

 of females with male plumage. M. Dufresne, who has charge 

 of the zoological laboratory of the museum, assures me, that the 

 females of the cotinga become similar to their males as they 

 grow old, M. Florent Prevost has seen the change of plumage 

 begin in several female chaffinches ; and the same observation 

 has also been made with regard to the female of the rouge- 

 queue, and of that of our starling. Lastly ^ I might remark, 

 that similar facts are observed even in animals of very different 

 organization, and in the human species itself. Thus, in many 

 women, after the cessation of the menses, the chin and upper 

 lips become furnished with a true beard, a phenomenon, the re- 

 lation of which, with the development of the plumage of our hen 

 pheasant, cannot be denied. 



It would, however, be wrong, notwithstanding these remark- 

 able analogies, to make a general fact of this phenomenon ; for 

 there are species of birds in which it would appear never to be 

 observed. Thus, although a great number of peacocks are kept 

 in the menagerie of the museum, where they are always allowed 

 to die a natural death, and where many females must conse- 

 quently have died of old age, no such change has ever been ob- 

 served, as that which I have related to have taken place, more 

 or less, completely in three individuals of different species of 

 pheasant, and which has been also seen in many others. It is to 

 be observed that the peacock, although thus differing from the 

 pheasant in this respect, is not only of the same order with it, 

 but also of a genus very closely allied, which renders the case 

 more striking. 



We remark further, that the young male pheasant, and the 

 female pheasant, when she begins to grow old, are both in a 

 similar condition with respect to the point in question. Both 

 have the same plumage ; both will at length complete the 

 change ; and it were natural to think that it wjli-* be brought 



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