56



Mr. R. Phillipps,



sake of his skin, and does not choose to betray his presence

except now and then on occasions when he is practically safe

amongst the topmost branches of the highest trees. The females

and immature males may at times be easily approached.


When the adult male Regent wishes to conceal himself, he

mounts to the highest available perch in some shady corner*

fluffs out his body feathers, draws his head well in, remains

absolutely still, and then he is moderately invisible even in my

little aviary—and knows it. All of the underparts are of that

unfathomable darkness already mentioned which offers no resist¬

ance to the human eye; and consider how this must be in the

“ Haunt of the Regent Bird,” of which Mr! Campbell gives ns an

illustration in his Nests a?id Eggs ! Directly he flies, however,

the bright yellow of the flights gleams in the shade of the bush

like a flash of light; and doubtless it is from this circumstance

that the bird has gained from the black fellows of Australia the

name of Yelgun, or the sun (A 7 ! & E., p. 211).


From time to time it is brought to my notice that not a

few aviculturists have the idea that a male Regent comes into and

goes out of colour annually, after the manner of Bishops, Blue

Wrens, &c., but this is a mistake. The male Regent, like the

male Satin-bird, takes some few years to attain mature plumage,

but when once the full feather has been donned it is retained

summer and winter until death.


And how long does it take the male Regent to obtain the

full feather of the adult ? Mr. Campbell says,—“The youthful

male resembles the female ; the second year the bill is yellowish ;

the third or fourth year the plumage is complete.” This in the

main tallies with my experiences ; with me, however, the yellow

bill has not been obtained until a comparatively late period. In

some examples the irides became yellow before any other part,

but in others yellow, but not black, appeared first on one or two

of the wing feathers. Here we must bear in mind that the feather

bearing the yellow patch may be an early visitor thrown out to

replace one which has been prematurely lost. And it must be a

real patch, not a simple wash of yellow which may often be seen

near to the shaft of a flight in the wing of a female, usually on

the inner web alone. More than once this } r ellow on the wings



