BIRDS. 531 



I may here premise, first, that the several cases or rules 

 graduate into each other ; and secondly, that when the 

 young are said to resemble their parents it is not meant 

 that they are identically alike, for their colors are almost 

 always less vivid, and the feathers are softer and often of a 

 different shape. 



RULES OR CLASSES OF CASES. 



I. When the adult male is more beautiful or conspicuous 

 than the adult female, the young of both sexes in their 

 first plumage closely resemble the adult female, as with 

 the common fowl and peacock; or, as occasionally occurs, 

 they resemble her much more closely than they do the 

 adult male. 



II. When the adult female is more conspicuous than 

 the adult male, as sometimes, though rarely, occurs, the 

 young of both sexes in their first plumage resemble the 

 adult male. 



III. When the adult male resembles the adult female, 

 the young of both sexes have a peculiar first plumage of 

 their own, as with the robin. 



IV. When the adult male resembles the adult female, 

 the young of both sexes in their first plumage resemble the 

 adults, as with the kingfisher, many parrots, crows, hedge- 

 warblers. 



V. W^hen the adult of both sexes have a distinct winter 

 and summer plumage, whether or not the male differs from 

 the female, the young resemble the adults of both sexes in 

 their winter dress, or much more rarely in their summer 

 dress, or they resemble the females alone. Or the young 

 may have an intermediate character; or again they may 

 differ greatly from the adults in both their seasonal 

 plumages. 



VI. In some few cases the young in their first plumage 

 differ from each other according to sex; the young males 

 resembling more or less closely the adult males, and the 

 young females more or less closely the adult females. 



Class I. In this class the young of both sexes more or 

 less closely resemble the adult female, while the adult male 

 differs from the adult female, often in the most conspicu- 

 ous manner. Innumerable instances in all orders could bQ 



