CHAPTER VI. 



PARAGRAPHS ON PLUMAGE. 



THERE is no more appropriate season than the 

 present for a few remarks on the plumage of 

 birds. Questions relating to the various changes 

 and characteristics of plumage are constantly 

 coming before the notice of the student in autumn, 

 for this is the season when every bird of the 

 northern hemisphere renews its worn and faded 

 dress. The dull-plumaged young birds acquire 

 the brighter and more varied tints peculiar to their 

 parents, or assume a winter dress like the adults. 

 To enter into the colour details of birds' plumage 

 may seem a dry and uninviting task, yet the 

 subject is of great importance and is surrounded 

 with no ordinary degree of interest. 



The student of birds will soon become cognisant 

 of the fact that various peculiarities of plumage are 

 either common to certain well-defined groups of 

 species, or are present in many birds in which 

 relationship is of the remotest kind. These 

 peculiarities are known to naturalists as " patterns 

 of colour," and are often more reliable and constant 



