have swallowed many down feathers with- 

 out it being observed in the excrement. 



As I frequently examined the bird closely 

 I noticed at once that the developing feath- 

 ers which were supplying the places of the 

 cast-off ones, far from appearing to change 

 the color of the bird to blue, were actually 

 coming true to the colors in which they 

 were shed, i. e., in the colors of the fall 

 plumage. To be positive I collected and 

 examined extensively and in every case 

 verified this most interesting principle. It 

 will be recollected that in my observations 

 upon the Aptosochromatism of Chrysotis 

 Levaillanti (see Osprey, III., No. 8, April, 

 '99), similar results were noticed. In later 

 dates a few parti-changed feathers were 

 found in the embryonic condition, but these 

 may be readily accounted for in two ways, 

 for in no cases were fully changed feathers 

 so detected. (1) Where a partially changed 

 feather had been pulled out or shed and 

 was being renewed, and (2) where a feather 

 had begun to change before it was matured 

 (this being noticed in my parrot investiga- 

 tion). Many of the contradictory and con- 

 fusing remarks of dealers in birds may per- 

 haps be explained by these most important 

 observations, and it may readily be true 

 that more than a few instances of so-called 

 color changes depending upon spring moults 

 in cage birds, may be due to extensive 

 feather losses precedent to an Aptosochro- 

 matic change. 



It seems unnecessary to dwell upon the 

 fact that no vital process can readily take 

 place in a greatly injured organic structure, 

 and the renewal of my bird's feathers con- 

 current with the approach of the macro- 

 scopic activity of the color change is, I 

 think, an incident of no little value. 



