404 TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION D. 



mystery of the reasoning soul ; for these things are not for the biologist at all, 

 but constitute the Psychologist's scientific domain. 



In Wonderment, says Aristotle, does philosophy begin, 9 and more than once 

 he rings the changes on the theme. Now, as in the beginning, wonderment 

 and admiration are the portion of the biologist, as of all those who contemplate 

 the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that in them ie. 



And if Wonderment springs, as again Aristotle tells us, from ignorance of 

 the causes of things, it does not cease when we have traced and discovered the 

 proximate causes, the physical causes, the Efficient Causes of our phenomena. 

 For beyond and remote from physical causation lies the End, the Final Cause of 

 the philosopher, the reason Why, in the which are hidden the problems of organic 

 harmony and autonomy and the mysteries of apparent purpose, adaptation, fit- 

 ness, and design. Here, in the region of teleology, the plain rationalism that 

 guided us through the physical facts and causes begins to disappoint us, and 

 Intuition, which is of close kin to Faith, begins to make herself heard. 



And so it is that, as in Wonderment does all philosophy begin, so in Amaze- 

 ment does Plato tell us that all our philosophy comes to an end. 9 Ever and anon, 

 in presence of the magnolia naturae., we feel inclined to say with the poet : — 



ov yap ti vvv ye Kax^s, o\\' aei wore 

 £rj ravra, KovSfh oISzv e£ '6tov '<pdvn. 



' These things are not of to-day nor yesterday, but evermore, and no man 

 knoweth whence they came.' 



I will not quote the noblest words of all that come into my mind ; but only 

 the lesser language of another of the greatest of the Greeks : ' The ways of His 

 thoughts are as paths in a wood thick with leaves, and one seeth through them 

 but a little way.' 



The following Papere were then read : — 



1. The Vernal- Plumage Changes in the Adolescent Blackbird (Turdus morula) 

 and their Correlation with Sexual Maturity. By C. J. Patten, M.A., 

 M.D., Sc.D. 



The question regarding the age at which wild birds first begin to breed 

 seems to have received but scant attention. Evidence has been put forward on the 

 ground that because a bird has arrived at an age when it assumes a permanent 

 pattern of plumage (that is to say, a plumage repeated during subsequent years), 

 the first appearance of this plumage signifies the hall-mark of sexual maturity. 

 A gannet takes five years before reaching its permanent plumage-garb, this also 

 applies to some of the gulls ; other birds take three, others two, while some of 

 the shorter-lived species probably appear in permanent dress when twelve months 

 old. But the question arises — are all such birds sexually mature when they first 

 don their permanent garb ? From observations made on Calidris arenaria 

 (sanderling), I have already shown that in this species there is assumed an ap- 

 parent nuptial plumage which precedes sexual maturity. At the same time this 

 pre-nuptial plumage 1 (as I have called it) in this species so closely resembles the 

 plumage of the sexually mature bird that only a trained and practised eye could 

 discern the difference. And whether that difference exists as a result in other 

 species is a matter for future investigation. But, as before mentioned, 2 I have 

 reason to believe that other species of shore-birds besides the sanderling take 

 more than one year to reach maturity, and that prior to this period they may 

 assume a summer-garb to all intents and purposes identical with the dress worn 



• Met, I., 2, 982b, 12, &c. 

 9 Cf. Coleridge, Biogr. Lit. 



1 'The Pre-nuptial Plumage in Calidris arenaria,' Brit. Assoc.\Report. Winnipeg, 

 1909, p. 505. 



2 'Semination in Calidris arenaria,' [Brit. Assoc. Report, Sheffield, 1910, pp. 637, 

 638. 



