on Female Regent Bird assuming Male's Plumage. 55


with their fellows, but practically the plumage is complete. The

only external differences between it and a true male are that the

bill, although yellow, and at one time bright yellow, is now not

nearly so clear and bright as a male’s should be, and that the

yellow of the head does not show so much of the rich red-orange

that makes the colouring of a good male so attractive; the eyes,

too, are comparatively but of a feeble yellow.


It is rarely that one has opportunity of noticing the precise

course followed by moult over the body of a bird ; and a few brief

notes on this point may not be out of place. It must be remem¬

bered that in this case every feather, the large and the small, has

been replaced by a feather of a totally different colour, so that the

appearance and growth of every new feather could be detected

and watched. In the spring, it was a “gaudy buff and brown”

bird, now its colour is “ sober black and yellow.” For the

sake of brevity, I shall refer to the old plumage just as buff or

brown.


The first change of colour appeared among the flights ; and

a few of these, as already stated, are still not quite fully grown,

the last of the old plumage, a secondary, not having been shed

until October 12. Year after year, I have observed how a primary

or two would be dropped by the Regents quite early in the sum¬

mer, long before there was any appearance of moult, and how the

flights would continue to be shed, practically in pairs, right up to

the verge of winter. Possibly our cold climate may be in part

responsible for this; but, personally, I regard it rather as one of

those beautiful provisions of what we materialistic heathen of the

present day call “ nature” (with a small “11”) which enables a

shy and timid creature with many enemies to retain its powers of

flight unimpaired all through the moult.


As regards the body feathers generally, including the wing-

coverts, the black first appeared on either side of the chest, and

was immediately followed—possibly accompanied—by some on

the lower back, or around the root of the tail. From these three

centres the black gradually extended ; not in any instance did a

black feather crop up at random—each spot spread as a sore.

By August 17, there was quite a large patch of black on each side

of the breast, and another on the back ; one black feather was



