NOTES. 59 



description by Mr. S. G. Shattock of the sexual glands of these 

 birds, from which it would appear that they were perfectl}^ 

 normal. 



At the I'ebruary meeting of ths British Ornithologists' 

 Club, Mr J. G. Millais exhibit 3d (c/. Bull. B.O.C., XXVII., 

 p. 54) an adult male Pheasant which was also partly in a 

 plumage like that of a female. The bird was shot at Alnwick 

 Castle, Northumberland, on November 23rd, 1910, and its 

 organs appeared to be normal, but were not examined 

 microscopically. 



The only examples previously recorded of a cock Pheasant 

 assuming female-like plumage known to Mr. Hammond Smith 

 are : A live bird kept under observation in 1903 by Mr. S. G. 

 Shattock and Dr. C. G. Seghman, in which the tail-feathers, 

 during their growth, exhibited the female character in their 

 proximal portions, but these characters were lost, and the bird 

 became perfectly normal after subsequent moults ; a case 

 recorded by Mr. J. G. Millais, and another by the Hon. Walter 

 Rothschild. 



Blackcock Assuming Female-like Plumage. — At the 

 February meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club, Mr. J. G. 

 Millais exhibited an example of a Blackcock shot by Mr. F. 

 Stobart at Glen Troot, Wigtownshire, on September 20th, 

 1910, which was partially in a female-Uke plumage. The 

 sexual organs of this bird were said to be normal, but they 

 were not examined microscopically. Like the Pheasants 

 mentioned above, this bird was considered to be assuming 

 the plumage of the female, but I do not think that there is 

 proof of this in any of these cases. They can all be more 

 reasonably explained, I think, by supposing that these birds 

 were wanting in pigment, and this is what I suggested in 

 exliibiting an abnormally coloured Blackcock at the April 

 meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club. This bird was 

 shot on the 10th of November, 1910, at Clonrae, Dumfriesshire, 

 by Mr. H. S. Gladstone, who very kindly sent it to me. In 

 skinning it I was able to make sure, by the condition of the 

 skull and also by finding two unshed feathers of the juvenile 

 plumage, that the specimen was a bird of the j^ear. I preserved 

 the testes, which appeared outwardly normal, and they have 

 since very kindly been examined microscopically by Captain 

 A. E. Hamerton, R.A.M.C, who informs me that they are, 

 in his opinion, perfectly normal. The plumage of the bird is, 

 however, quite abnormal, especially on the head, neck, mantle, 

 upper-breast, and flanks, the feathers of which are barred 

 and vermiculated A\ith vellomsh-brown. In most of the 



