RICE BUNTING. 173 



been mistaken, declares that he uniformly found them to be fe- 

 males. These assertions must appear odd to the inhabitants of 

 the eastern states, to whom the change of plumage in these 

 birds is familiar, as it passes immediately under their eye; and 

 also to those, who like myself, have kept them in cages, and 

 witnessed their gradual change of colour. That accurate obser- 

 ver, Mr. William Bartram, appears, from the following extract, 

 to have taken notice of, or at least suspected this change of co- 

 lour in these birds more than forty years ago. " Being in 

 Charleston," says he, " in the month of June, I observed a cage 

 "full of Rice-birds, that is of the yellow or female colour, who 

 " were very merry and vociferous, having the same variable 

 " music with the pied or male bird, which I thought extraordi- 

 " nary, and observing it to the gentleman, he assured me that 

 " they were all of the male kind, taking the preceding spring; 

 " but had changed their colour, and would be next spring of 

 " the colour of the pied, thus changing colour with the seasons 

 " of the year. If this is really the case, it appears they are both 

 "of the same species intermixed, spring and fall." Without, 

 however, implicating the veracity of Catesby, who, I have no 

 doubt, believed as he wrote, a few words will easily explain 

 why he was deceived. The internal organization of undomesti- 

 cated birds of all kinds, undergoes a remarkable change, every 

 spring and summer; and those who wish to ascertain this point 

 by dissection will do well to remember, that in this bird those 

 parts that characterize the male are, in autumn, no larger than 

 the smallest pin's head, and in young birds of the first year can 

 scarcely be discovered; though in spring their magnitude in 

 each is at least one hundred times greater. To an unacquain- 

 tance with this extraordinary circumstance I am persuaded has 

 been owing the mistake of Mr. Catesby that the females only 

 return in the fall; for the same opinion I long entertained my- 

 self, till a more particular examination showed me the source 

 of my mistake. Since that, I have opened and examined many 

 hundreds of these birds, in the months of September and Octo- 

 ber, and, on the whole, have found about as many males as 



