43



inclined to admit, and I, therefore, conclude that the accounts

which give this bird a change of plumage are quite correct.


While on this subject, it seems to me that I may draw

the attention of ornithologists to a similar change, apparently

hitherto unrecorded, in a bird which, though not believed to be

allied to our Suubirds, and inhabiting the New World, never¬

theless in form and habits presents at least an analogous

resemblance to these. I allude to the Yellow-winged Blue

Sugar-bird (Ccereba cyanea ) of which several specimens have

been exhibited in the London Zoological Society’s Gardens.


During my previous acquaintance with the species there,

I had been struck by the change of plumage that the male

appeared to undergo, and, when in England last September, I

found the Society’s specimen, a male which had been acquired

so long ago as 1890, actually passing into the full violet plumage

from the undress stage, which had been olive-green above, and

yellowish below, much resembling the coloration of the female.

The tail was black, the wings yellow and black, and the legs

pink-red, as in the male in full plumage. In fact, the bird

presented much the same appearance as a skin in the Indian

Museum collection, except that there were many more violet

feathers visible.


The keepers I consulted bore me out as to the regular

■occurrence of the change of plumage in the male of this species,

and one was of the opinion that the quills and tail changed also;

but this I do not recollect seeing n^self. Unfortunately this

bird also soon after died, and was not preserved.


The existence of this change of coloration in the male

■of a Ccereba is interesting as tending to confirm the views of

those naturalists (Dr. Scalter and Messrs. Baird, Brewer, and

Ridgway) who place the Ccerebidce in close connection with the

Tanagers, in which group the male of Pyranga rubra exhibits a

.similar seasonal alteration of plumage (a).



{a) The specimens of Ccereba cyanea in the possession of our member Mr. E). Richard

’.undergo this seasonal change.—En.



