142 CAPTAIN C ART WRIGHT'S 



teen black ones in the tail excepted) which always 

 remain the same. 



When I was in England,* Mr. Banks, Doctor 

 Solander, and several other naturalists having 

 enquired of me, respecting the manner of these 

 birds changing colour, I took particular notice of 

 those I killed, and can aver, for a fact, that they 

 get at this time of the year a very large addition 

 of feathers, all of which are white; and that the 

 coloured feathers at the same time change to 

 white. In spring, most of the white feathers drop 

 off, and are succeeded by coloured ones: or, I 

 rather believe, all the white ones drop off, and 

 that they get an entirely new set.^ At the two 

 seasons they change very differently; in the 

 spring, beginning at the neck, and spreading from 

 thence; now, they begin on the belly, and end at 

 the neck. There are also ptharmagans in this 

 country, w^hich are in all respects, the same as 

 those I have killed on some high mountains in 

 Scotland.^ 



Wednes., October 6, 1773. [At White Cove] 

 I killed a brace of spruce-game with my rifle, and 

 a diver with shot; and one of my people killed a 



* Now Sir Joseph Banks. ^ 



1 An English naturalist and patron of science. He equipped the En- 

 deavour, and accompanied Cook's first expedition 1768-71, visited Iceland 

 in 1772 and was president of the Royal Society from 1778 to 1820. 



2 This latter view is the one generally accepted today, especially by 

 most American ornithologists, who have discarded the view that the 

 colour of the mature feather changes. 



' The ptarmiaian found in tho Highlands of Scotland is Lagoptis wiifvs, 

 and turns white in winter. The American bird h? refers to is the rock 

 ptarmigan, Lagopus rupestris, 



