GAME BIRDS. 183 



Naturalists have frequently noticed the fact that the 

 hen pheasant will sometimes partially assume the plu- 

 mage of the male. Montagu says, " in confinement ;" 

 and adds, " in a state of nature this circumstance pro- 

 bably does not take place. It is not, however, restricted 

 to birds in confinement, for I have met with well-defined 

 instances of it in wild birds. It is rarely that the full 

 plumage of the male is assumed ; but the change is 

 most frequently confined to the head, neck, and breast, 

 the black margins on the feathers of the latter not being 

 so well defined as in the male, and consequently the 

 contrast does not appear so rich. Sometimes the spurs 

 are put on also. 



In March, 3854, I met with a well-marked instance 

 of this singular change. The head and neck were of 

 the usual purplish green, and the bare skin around the 

 eye bright scarlet ; the breast and shoulders were glossy 

 golden red, especially the former, each feather possess- 

 ing the ordinary broad margin of velvety black. The 

 rest of the plumage was entirely that of the female, but 

 the change was further indicated by a small pair of 

 spurs. This assumption by the female of the plumage 

 of the other sex is well known to be produced by 

 diseased ovaries, and is not necessarily connected with 

 age. 



I have before me the notes of a remarkable instance 

 of transformation from the same cause in a domestic 

 fowl of the black bantam kind, which belonged to my 

 friend Mr. T. Sissons of Hull, by whom she was bred. 

 Up to the age of seven years she laid abundance of eggs 

 at all seasons, but never sat, or showed any wish to incu- 

 bate. In her eighth year she ceased to lay, and began 

 to assume the male dress, which in the following year 



