Breeding of the White-neched Crane. 485 



dress began to appear on the breast and along the sides of 

 the neck, whilst at the back of the neck some pure white 

 feathers became visible. I was rather surprised to observe 

 thisj as the birds, only three and a half months old, had in 

 fact just finished growing their first feathers and were 

 not even quite full-grown. The white colour increased with 

 extraordinary rapidity, and also the general moult, so that 

 on the 16th of October the birds could be described as 

 follows : — 



Bill greenish as in the adults, but flesh-coloured at the base ; 

 the head still entirely feathered and brown ; the hind-neck. 

 completely white from the base of the head downwards ; the 

 white of the neck surrounded, by blue-grey feathers as in the 

 adults ; fore part of neck and breast and under parts mottled 

 with blue-grey feathers, which daily increased in number 

 and also appeared on the upper parts ; the legs assumed 

 gradually the bluish-pink colour found in the adults. 



On the 20th of November the head was still brown except 

 the ear-coverts, which had. become grey. The throat and 

 sides of head, which are white in the adults, had assumed a 

 pale blue colour, and the bare red skin of the head was 

 becoming slightly visible. The body was also moulting 

 fast. 



On the 19th of December the occiput was becoming white 

 and the pale blue-grey throat was turning white, as were 

 the sides of the head. 



By the 1st of February, 1907, the white throat and side- 

 head markings had become more apparent, the face had 

 become red and bare, and the black hairs were sprouting. 



On the 20th of February the birds had nearly completed 

 their changes, only the flight-feathers with some of their 

 coverts and perhaps also the tail-feathers being then retained. 

 There was still some brown in the white of the occiput, and 

 the white and blue neck-markings, although quite distinct, 

 were not so sharply defined as in the old birds. In the 

 course of the summer the last remains of the immature 

 dress disappeared. 



