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fingers, several of the old feathers came out from the back of its 

 neck, and I found that each of them had the bulb of the neiv orange 

 feather attached to the base of the old feather. Upon examining 

 the other feathers, I found that most of them were the same, 

 which showed that new feathers, in the " pen " form, came 



THROUGH BEFORE THE OLD FEATHERS FELL OFF. 



August 21st. — Throat of Bishop now nearly covered with new orange 

 feathers in different stages of development. 



New black feathers of lower breast and abdomen developing fast. 



August 24th. — New black feathers of head now quite clear for just over 

 \ inch from nostrils, and new feathers developing fast all over the 

 crown and back of head. 



Took three old feathers, with new orange bnlb attached, from side of 

 neck ; and the three old feathers, with black bnlb attached from lower 

 breast. 

 As I now had specimens of feathers (of the Orange 



Bishop) from most parts of the birds I left it for some days, 



September 4th. — All old feathers now shed from forehead and crown. 

 Nea*rly all new orange feathers now round neck, including " ruffle," 

 the latter mostly half-developed feathers, these not lying flat zvith 

 surface of skin, but sticking out almost straight therefrom. 



Took four old (white) feathers from abdomen with bulb of new 

 black feather attached. 



September 10th. — The head, throat, neck, and upper breast now clear of 

 old feathers, but still showing a number of " pen " feathers in different 

 stages of growth. Abdomen still showing a row of old feathersdowu 

 each side giving a rough appearance similar to a rough sided crest- 

 bred canary. Most of these old feathers, I noticed, were attached to 

 the ends of the new feathers, which were already through nearly \ inch. 

 This added length would no doubt cause the roughness of the 

 plumage at the side. 



None of the wing (either flight or coverts), or tail feathers had yet 



been shed. Only a few old feathers remained on the back, and rump 



and under tail quite clear of old feathers. The new long orange 



plumes now reaching almost to the end of the old tail feathers. 



I returned the Orange Bishop to my friend on October 3rd, 



but still none of the wing or tail feathers had dropped out. The 



bird was in full plumage, looking very fine, with a good ruffle 



round the neck. 



I have made some sketches so as to better illustrate the 



growth and development of the new feathers, and also to show 



the different shapes of the •' winter " and " summer " feathers. 



