Till. Mm l.l i\(. OF BIBD8. 299 



resplendeni with violet and purple, hating ;i margin of dark 

 glossy green. These eleganl feathers continued to increase 

 in number, till the whole upper part of 1 li« ■ back had nearly 

 assumed ihis beautiful plumage by the first of April. \i 

 this time no other part of the bird indicated any further 

 change of plumage: the scapulars and coverts, many of which 

 had recently changed, continued of the same colour a< 

 last described, without the purple reflections or marginal 

 a. It is scarcely possible to account for such a suc- 

 cession of change in plumage in so short a time, excepl by 

 supposing, that a change in the constitution of the bird, pro- 

 duced by captivity, and a want of natural fond, bad caused 

 obstruction to the usual course of moulting; and thai the au- 

 tumnal change had been retarded, and was scarcely effected 

 before the spring moulting commenced*." 



Withregard to the above, we would remark, that the sup- 

 position of a retardation of the autumnal moulting h totally 

 inadmissihle. inasmuch as the author distinctly states, from 

 autoptical experience, that -the bird continued very gradually 

 to moult throughout the summer and winter." And that 

 there was no want of natural food in its state of captivity, 

 we Irani fmni the history of its habits, detailed by Montagu 

 himself, in the preceding part of the paper above quoted. 

 Let it also In- observed, that all the species of the genus Ci- 

 riiniu. as well as of the genus Jirdea, are acknowledged to 

 cast their feathers but once a year, and that in the autumn. 



It being now satisfactorily proved, that a change of colour 

 obtains, in some birds, in the winter, and the spring, with- 

 out a change of plumage; I am disposed to conclude, that the 

 state of Mot ltino, properly so called, takes place, in all 

 l>inl>. but once a y< ax. 



* Some Remarks on the Natural History of the Black Simk, .\ 

 of the Linnean i London, vol. xii, |». If. 



