°go6 j From Magazines, &c. 22 1 



is subject to fits. The old birds should be fed chiefly on fruit 

 and vegetables. 



How long does it take the male Regent to don its full 

 plumage of glorious yellow and velvety black ? On this point 

 Mr. Phillips records some interesting particulars. But as the 

 observ^ations were made in a country where the climate is 

 comparatively dark and cold, and where the bird's seasons are 

 reversed, the periods of time might have varied had the same birds 

 been under observation in Australia. Going into details of the 

 process of colouration as regards his mature males, Mr. Phillips 

 states : — " My present bird, when received on the 4th August, 

 1899, had just a little yellow on the wings. During the moult of 

 that autumn he put on a trifle more yellow but no black. In 

 July, 1900, he commenced growing a few yellow and black flights, 

 and during the autumn his bill became yellower and the head 

 assumed a faint wash of the same colour. Judging by my 

 earlier specimens, and this bird and others I have seen, I think 

 that the Regent either takes a longer period to come into full 

 colour than Mr. Campbell supposes,* or else that the due 

 development of the colour is greatly retarded by the coldness 

 of our climate or the adverse influences of a life in captivity. 

 This bird completed the adult plumage in October, 1901. But 

 what was his age when he reached my hands .'' Judging by 

 other examples, he could hardly have been less than rising two, 

 otherwise he must have been hatched, say, in January, 1899, 

 and have commenced to put on colour when some seven months 

 old. So far as I have been able to observe, this could not have 

 been the case, for males in 'female' plumage — unless I am 

 greatly mistaken — have reached this countr)' which vi//si have 

 been hatched a full twelvemonth previously. 



" Let us trace another specimen. In January, 1903, I received 

 an immature but well-advanced male — so advanced in plumage 

 that at the least he must have been a year older than the old 

 male was at the time he came into my hands. He could not have 

 been /ess than two years old. In the autumn of that year he 

 became more yellow, but not much more. He was in perfect 

 health all through the moult, the fit previously referred to not 

 occurring until 23rd October. A year later he became more 

 black and a little more yellow, but was far from being in the full 

 plumage of the adult when he died on 5th November, 1904. I 

 then found, according to my notes made at the time, that the 

 tail ' seemed new and perfect, but was not black.' The flights 

 had all been more or less renewed : and it is most improbable 

 that the old 1903 tail, which had borne the brunt of the fit, 

 could have remained perfect, and that not a single feather had 

 been renewed or even cast during the moult. The 1904 tail 



* "The youthful male resembles (he female. The second year the bill is yellowish, 

 the third or fourth year the plumage is complete." — " Nests and Eggs," p. 209. 



