61 [Vol. xxix. 



outermost pair, wliich measured 4<*5 inches, were slightly 

 the longest, and very slightly curved outwards towards the 

 tip ; the remaining pairs were blackish, with irregular 

 jagged cross-bars o£ buflf and rufous on the basal two-thirds 

 and with the terminal portion black. 



In a normal young Blackcock killed in November the tail 

 resembled that of the adult male, but the shorter feathers 

 were narrowly edged with white, and the outermost feathers, 

 though much less lengthened and curved than those of the 

 adult, measured about 6'5 inches. 



On the underparts the bird shot by Colonel Wade-Dalton 

 had a number of feathers on the breast and flanks quite 

 like those of the adult female, rufous barred with black and 

 with mottled black and grey tips, a peculiarity which rendered 

 them easily distinguishable from those of the immature 

 plumage. Other breast-feathers had the basal portion 

 barred with black and rufous and the terminal portion 

 black. 



Though the bird was shot as late as the 24th of December, 

 many of the feathers of the head, neck, and breast were still 

 in moult and of an unusually glossy blue-black. 



There were also shown for comparison: — a normal young 

 male killed in November ; an immature male in September, 

 still retaining the greater part of the first plumage ; and an 

 adult female killed in December. 



Mr. WiTHERBY exhibited three female Pheasants assuming 

 male plumage and a Blackcock* (a bird of the year) shot 

 on the 10th of November, 1910, at Clonrae, Dumfriesshire, 

 which had many brown-barred feathers as well as a good 

 many marked with white. All these birds had been sent to 

 him by Mr. H. S. Gladstone. 



Mr. Witherby remarked that in the case of female 

 Pheasants it had been proved that their assumption of 



* For a full description of this bird, see Wither by 's Brit. Birds, v. 

 p. 59. 



