Bev. W. WiiiTEAR on the Changes of the Plumage of Birds.' 525 



to make such observations upon them as might tend either to 

 establish or disprove the fact. 



On the 9th of January last I received a young wild Mallard, 

 which had nearly assumed the plumage of the adult bird. Upon 

 examining the feathers of this bird, I found many of them which 

 were party-coloured, the same individual feather retaining in 

 some parts the colours of the bird during its first months, and in 

 other parts exhibiting those of the perfect bird. A male Chaf- 

 finch, killed in February, had the feathers on the crown of the 

 head blueish ash-colour, except at their extremities, which were 

 rufous-brown, apparently still retaining on those parts the colour 

 of the young bird, while the greater part of each feather had as- 

 sumed that of the old one. Three specimens of the Swiss Sand- 

 piper, in a state of change from the winter to the summer garb, 

 had many feathers upon the breast and belly perfectly black, 

 others perfectly white, and the rest sprinkled with black and 

 white in various degrees; in some the black just beginning to 

 appear, in others only a little white remaining upon them. A 

 white-fronted goose, killed in October, had the breast, belly and 

 sides, white blotched irregularly with black. The feathers upon 

 those parts exhibited exactly the same varied appearance as 

 those of the Swiss Sandpipers. A Dunlin, in a state of change 

 from winter to summer plumage, presented a similar mixture of 

 black and white in the feathers on the belly ; but in this bird the 

 black did not predominate so much as in the foregoing. In a 

 young specimen of the black-headed Gull, killed the 9th of March, 

 the scapulars were of a mixed colour, the same feather retaining 

 some of the brown of the imperfect bird, together with the light 

 blue ash-colour of the adult state. And the two colours prevailed 

 in various degrees, some feathers exhibiting only the nascent 

 shades of the ash-colour, and in others the remains alone of the 



3 y 2 brown 



