194 



COW BUNTING. 



the plate; it is evidently that of an Emberiza;the tail is slightly 

 forked; legs and claws glossy black, strong and muscular; iris 

 of the eye dark hazel. Catesby says of this bird, " it is all over 

 " of a brown colour, and something lighter below;" a description 

 that applies only to the female, and has been repeated, in nearly 

 the same words, by almost all succeeding ornithologists. The 

 young male birds are at first altogether brown, and for a month, 

 or more, are naked of feathers round the eye and mouth; the 

 breast is also spotted like that of a Thrush, with light drab and 

 darker streaks. In about two months after they leave the nest, 

 the black commences at the shoulders of the wings, and gradu- 

 ally increases along each side, as the young feathers come out, 

 until the bird appears mottled on the back and breast with deep 

 black and light drab. At three months the colours of the plu- 

 mage are complete, and, except in moulting, are subject to no 

 periodical change. 



