Art. IL — Notes on the Plumage Changes of Petroeca 

 Ijhoenicea (Goidd); Pachycephala gutturalis 

 (Latham); and Microeca fascinans (Latham). 



By ROBERT HALL. 



(Commvinicated by the Hou. Sec). 

 [Eead 19tli April, 1900.] 



The following notes, made upon three species of our most 

 common insectivorous birds, bear reference especially to the 

 males, because of their development from birds, which, in the 

 early stages, present so marked an opposition in plumage to the 

 adult. Having taken a sample of each of three characteristic 

 genera of our birds and traced their development in plumage, I 

 believe the observations will apply to the many species of the 

 first two treated and a few of the third. While Petroeca exhibits 

 a plain plumage in the early stage and a brilliant one in the 

 later, and Microeca an ornamental plumage in the early stage, 

 with an unassuming one in the later, it is to be noticed that 

 Pachycephala has a striking, though uniform, plumage in the 

 first place, a brilliant one in the last stage, and a quiet grey one 

 in the intermediate stage. In Petroeca and Microeca, the 

 marked changes are performed, roughly speaking, in two acts, 

 while in Pachycephala its varying changes have three distinct 

 and opposed plumages, as regards the colour — the males alone are 

 referred to. 



Petroeca phoenicea, Gould. 



Until certain of the following specimens were collected by the 

 author, there were two points of interest about which much 

 private discussion occurred : — the first, a local matter, namely 

 where the species goes to in the summer, and the second, 

 whether the male effects seasonal changes in its plumage, and 

 if so, how 1 By collecting male specimens in the Plenty Ranges 

 on the 27th of January last, and observing others while on an 

 excursion with the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, I conclude 



