526 Rev. W. Whitea r on the Changes of the Plumage of Birds. 



brown were discoverable. The wing-coverts were in a similar 

 state of change. Many of the feathers on the head of a Reed- 

 Bunting (killed the same day as the gull) were black with reddish- 

 brown tips, the extremity of each feather apparently retaining the 

 winter tint, while the greater part of it had assumed that of the 

 summer. 



The above observations seem pretty strongly to confirm the fact 

 which Mr. Youell has pointed out, namely, that a change in the 

 colour of the plumage of birds does not always arise from a change 

 of feathers, but sometimes proceeds from the feathers themselves 

 assuming at one season of the year a different colour from that 

 Avhich they have at another. This fact may be fully tried upon 

 living birds. If the feathers of a live bird, apparently beginning tO' 

 change, were marked by fastening a piece of silk to them, notch- 

 ing them, or otherwise, and it Avas observed that the first colour 

 of the feather gradually disappeared, while the new colour ex- 

 tended itself more and more, till the feather had assumed that 

 exhibited by the perfect bird, the fact would be established be- 

 yond contradiction. 



Having called the attention of ornithologists to this subject, I 

 hope it will be pursued by those who have better opportunities of 

 investigating it than myself. An inquiry into the changes which- 

 the feathered race undergo, can hardly fail of throwing light upon, 

 the history of this beautiful and interesting part of the creation. 



March 18, 1819. 



XXXIV. A 



