41 [Vol. xxxvi. 



ever^ known that many birds, which required more than one 

 year to assume their adult plumage, bred in their immature 

 dress. This was especially the case with the larger Raptores 

 such as the Imperial and Spanish Imperial Eagles, Aquila 

 mogilnik and A. adalberti, which bred in all sorts of 

 plumages. In the Sandwich Islands, Messrs. Palmer and 

 Perkins had proved that the native Flycatchers Chasiempis 

 also bred in the immature and intermediate plumages. As 

 regards the length of time taken to assume the adult 

 plumage, in the case of the Paradise Birds on Little Tobago, 

 it was possible that their capture, transport to England, and 

 thence to the West Indies, may have produced such a shock 

 to the system that the assumption of the adult plumage 

 may have been retarded, though, of course, not to the same 

 extent as in real confinement. In the latter condition, two 

 examples of Aquila adalberti, a bird supposed to take from 

 five to seven years to assume adult plumage, lived for twenty- 

 five years in the Hamburg Gardens without changing from 

 the first year's plumage — i. e. the new feathers each year 

 coming of the colour of the first plumage, and a Corean 

 Sea-Eagle only assumed the white tail after ten years instead 

 of five. The Gannet, which became adult in its fifth season, 

 however, appeared not to be affected by the shock of captivity; 

 though often in a state of nature a few birds assumed the 

 final plumage as early as the fourth season. 



Mr. Ogilvib-Grant said that in the allied form, Paradisea 

 apoda nov(B-guinece , from Southern Dutch New Guinea, the 

 full adult plumage was not assumed until the sixth year. 

 This had been recorded in his Jubilee Volume of the ' Ibis,' 

 which would be published in a few days. 



He also reminded the Chairman that specimens of the 

 Condor kept in the Zoological Gardens, Kegent's Park, had 

 not assumed their full plumage with grey secondary-quills 

 and white ruflf until the tenth year. It was, of course, 

 possible — even likely — that the assumption of full plumage 

 had been retarded by the fact that they were kept in 

 captivity. 



