54 Mr. Reginald Phillipps,


FEMALE REGENT BIRD ASSUMING MALE’S

PLUMAGE.


As may be seen on reference to onr December number for

I 9 ° 5 > PP- 58-9 of vol. IV of our New Series, in January, 1903,

certain Regent Birds, Sericulus meliuus, came into my hands.


The particular Regent about which —alas, I can no longer

venture to say whom —I now propose to write was referred to by

me in Nos. 2, 3, and 4 of vol. IV as “ a smaller and very flighty

creature” (p. 63), “eccentric second female” (p. 64, note), and

generally as the second or odd female. At pp. 63-4 I mentioned

how, during the spring of 1905, the male had paid court to her,

how they had been shut up together for nesting purposes, and

how, on May 18, she had been frightened into a fit by a L,ong-

tailed Whydah and had had to be removed ; how (pp. 66-7), later

in the season, the male had again made up to her but breeding

had been stopped by the increasing cold of the advancing winter.

And, once more, last March, at p. 142, I mentioned how the

young male had courted her, and had died prematurely after a fit

011 February 15-16.


This bird, it may be perceived, had suffered various dis¬

appointments ; and the sudden death of the young male must

have given her a grievous shock ; and it is hardly to be wondered

at that her health suffered materially.


For some time she was dull and listless. During May she

became exceedingly restless, both by night and day, and seemed

to be filled with a desire to be off and away after a mate. During

June I became aware that the bill had changed its colour to a

decided yellow. During June—July, four flights were cast, the

herald of approaching moult. On July 26, I had occasion to

handle her, and found that the two new primaries on each wing

which were replacing the cast feathers were black-and-yellow—

and then the bitter truth flashed upon me, the bird was assuming

the plumage of the adult male !


This female Regent is now (mid-October) in the plumage

of the fully adult male, not a feather of the female dress remain¬

ing ; the yellow shield on either wing shews a few black streaks,

which mark the course of the black heads of some flights as they

push their way forward but have not yet come fully into line



