36 Transactions of the 



already received. On further enquiry, I find that Mr. Ward, 

 of Wigmore Street, had noticed the evanescence and solu- 

 bility of the red tint in question many years ago, and that 

 other observers, within the last few years, have even suc- 

 ceeded in staining pieces of paper with the red solution 

 whicli these feathers yield. In order that it may be seen 

 what was the position of the enquiry, when I commenced in 

 1866 my experiments on this subject, I may cite the 

 authority of some private letters, which have been placed 

 at my disposal, through the courtesy of Mr. Hugh Owen. 

 These letters were written by Dr. Benjamin Hinde, principal 

 medical officer on the military staff at Bathurst, on the 

 Gambia. In one of his letters, dated May 1865, Dr. Hinde 

 enclosed a piece of paper stained with the red pigment of a 

 one-inch feather of the violet Plantain-eater {Musofhaga 

 violacea). He says that the moment soap touches the feathers 

 the colour runs, but that it is difficult of extraction with 

 pure water. But he adds, " the birds I sent home washed 

 themselves nearly white in the water left for them to drink!" 

 In a subsequent letter, Dr. Hinde gives some details con- 

 cerning the different species of Plantain-eaters, and says, 

 with reference to the feathers he had previously sent to 

 England, " all the feathers were sent from the same bird, and 

 grew in this house." This fact negatives any idea of artificial 

 dye being present in the feathers, and is further refen-ed to in 

 the following memorandum by Mr. Hugh Owen : — " A pair 

 of violet Plantain- eaters from the Gambia were sent over to a 

 friend in Ireland by Dr. Hinde. The birds arrived in excel- 

 lent condition, and were speedily provided with ample space 

 and all appliances for cleanliness. For a while this splendid 

 plumage, the deep crimson patch on the dark violet of the 

 wing, excited continual admiration. After a day or two the 

 crimson faded ; in a few more, the colour changed to a pale 

 and dirty grey. The disappointed owner wrote an account 

 of this change to Bathurst, concluding, of course, that the 

 natives had imposed on Dr. Hinde, by selling him a pair of 

 painted birds ; this, however, was impossible ; there was no 

 mistaking the peculiar and shield-shaped bill, or the legs of 

 the Musophaga. Whatever change had taken place, the 

 birds were genuine Touracous. Without delay, another bird 

 was procured, so young as to be only partly fledged, the 

 wings only in the pin-feathers. As soon as these were suffi- 

 ciently grown, the experiment was repeated, and the colour 

 found to be inconstant and capable of extraction." The data 

 already given, and many others with which I have been sub- 



