302 GYRANTES. COLUMBAD^E. 



these feathers were greyish-white, and at the same 

 time the grey hue was beginning to spread up the 

 forehead, I believe by the dropping of the black 

 feathers, and their immediate replacement by the 

 white ones. About this time also the general plu- 

 mage began to assume the blue hue of the adult, 

 in patches; and on the 12th of October, I first 

 observed the beautiful iridescent feathers of the 

 neck, but as yet only on one side. These notes 

 refer to the elder ; the other was about two weeks 

 more backward. On the 16th, I first heard it coo ; 

 for some time it had now and then uttered a single 

 note, but on this day it gave the whole Sary-coat- 

 blue t but short, and in a low tone ; and that only 

 once. By the end of November the white had spread 

 over the whole crown as in the adult, but was not 

 yet so pure or so smooth. A third, which I pur- 

 chased in November, though a young one of the 

 season, having been reared from the nest, was much 

 more mature both in plumage and size. By the end 

 of that month the crown of this one was perfectly 

 in the adult plumage, the neck feathers complete 

 on both sides, the body plump and smooth. This 

 individual, when first put into the cage, was very 

 cross, pecking at all the others, including some Pea- 

 doves, whenever they came near him, and even 

 stretching himself down from his perch to reach 

 them as they walked under him. One or two of the 

 Pea-doves suffered particularly, for he munched out 

 their feathers by mouthfuls, laying bare a large 

 portion of their backs. He soon became more 

 reconciled, but never associated with them, never 



