Tin: MOUIiTHIG (»r BXBDB. 295 



them. But in May. in their return to their breeding 

 plaees. the garb of the male is so totally dissimilar to that of 

 the female, that many persons are doubtful whether or not 

 they constitute the same species. This change begins to 

 take place in March, the plumage at first assuming a mottled 

 appearance; and in May. he exhibits the full party-coloured 

 dress, which is the striking characteristic of hi-- w \. Hut 

 during the time thai the male is undergoing this metamor* 

 phosis. there is no change of fathers: their colours being 

 altogether the result of their organical secretions. This fad 

 has been verified in many instance- of these birds confined in 

 cages or aviaries. Even if we had no means of experiment- 

 ing upon this subject, analogical reasoning alone would not 

 a little aid us in investigating the truth: for no person who 

 his taken the trouble to keep Canaries, or IVfocking-birds, 

 will venture to affirm, that they shed their plumage, or moult, 

 more than once a year. 



So long ago as the year 1811. Wilson, in his history of the 

 Carolina Parrot, in giving an account of the vernal change of 

 the colours of the feathers of the young of the preceding 

 year, asserted, that B the colour changes without change ttf plu- 

 mage." Bad this excellent ornithologist been fully aware 

 of the importance of this fact, it would, doubtless, have led 

 him to an investigation, the result of which might bave had 

 a tendency to repress much of the absurdity which, since his 



time, has been promulgated on the subject <»f the moulting 

 of Birds: for the authority of bo experienced an observer, 

 would have had greater weight than that of a mere compiler, 

 or a closet naturalist 



in the year 1819, the Rev. William Whitear communica- 

 ted to the I mi nea 1 1 Society of London, some «* Remarks on the 

 changes of the Plumage of Birds." These were published 



in the Transactions of that learned body. This gentleman, 



after detailing the result of observations which had been 

 made, during the winter and spring, upon Mallards. Sandpi- 

 pers, a Black -headed (Jull, and some other hi ids. thus expresses 



himself: — -The above observations seem pretty strongly to 



