which assume the Plumage of the Male. 13 



preceding the last moult were preserved by those who first 

 possessed the bird, and it is owing to this circumstance, as well 

 as to the memoranda with which they furnished me, that I 

 have been enabled to bring forward many of the above de- 

 tails. 



3. The Collared Pheasant — The female of the collared 

 pheasant, whose history we have now to relate, was reared like 

 the preceding, by a private individual near Paris, and was in 

 like manner presented to the Museum in its old age. The 

 donor mentioned that she had produced eggs several times 

 with him ; nevertheless, as the change of plumage was already 

 far advanced, and she presented rather the characters of the 

 male than the female, it was thought necessary, after her death, 

 to ascertain the actual sex, by a dissection of the genital or- 

 gans. 



The colours were in effect very similar to those of the male, 

 as may be seen by consulting the specimen itself, in the gal- 

 leries of the museum. Yet the upper wing and tail covers 

 were red like the rest of the body, the collar less marked, and 

 the belly much less black than in the male ; so that the resem- 

 blance was by no means so exact as in the preceding example. 

 Thus we should not have admitted this case, which we did 

 not examine in the living state, and consequently did not 

 trace the developement, if it had not excited in another re- 

 spect considerable interest. The spur — a character peculiar 

 to the male sex — was present in this bird, and even almost as 

 large as in a vigorous perfect male. 



We find, therefore, that the spur itself is not, among phea- 

 sants, the exclusive property of the male, but exists occasion- 

 ally in the female ; and that a hen-pheasant may, after a cer- 

 tain lapse of time, not only become clothed with the exact 

 plumage of the male, but acquire all the external characters, 

 the trifling developement of the red circum-orbital membrane 

 remaining the only index of its true sex. 



The voice of the old female changes at the same time as 

 her plumage, and becomes, as has been long known, like that 

 of the male. Country people are well acquainted with this 

 fact in the common fowl. 



It ought, however, to be here remarked, that it is by no 



