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Mr. R. Phiixipps,



but I do not know whether all four were moulting or only some

of them. This is unfortunate, but I regarded the occurrence as

an ordinary autumnal moult and made few notes; though I

certainly was of opinion at the time that there was a more or less

general moult going on amongst the whole party. These birds,

at any rate with me, never tell you that they are moulting, the

cast feathers and an untidy face for a couple of days being the

only outward signs—I have not yet had one that did not sport

quite a respectable tail all through the moult; close watching,

however, shewed that every feather was changed and quickly

too ; I have never seen a shabby Violet Ear. East autumn, one

was a young male that had been assuming the plumage of the

adult; his change of feather, at any rate of the small feathers,

was unquestionable, but it appeared to have been completed

prior to October 19, so some of the others must have been

concerned ; and the larger feathers were shed in abundance.

Of course the voyage and change of climate may have thrown

the birds out of order. This April-May, the surviving male and

the female that had not nested effected a complete moult of both

large and small feathers, and the other female moulted about two-

months later. On May 22 I received yet another male, a new

arrival, but it was not well, and for a time I failed to detect what

was wrong. It turned out that it was a case of suppressed moult,

the bird presumably having had a chill or check somewhere on

the voyage ; so, if I am not confusing cause and effect, here we

have a case of a bird fresh from South Africa that had a spring

(English) as those which reached this country last September

appear to have had an autumnal moult.


All these incidents seem to point strongly to the natural

breeding season of this species being during our winter, and to

the breeding season being duly followed by a complete change

of feather in our spring. As regards our autumnal moult, we

must just wait and watch. The nest found in June (the South

African winter) by Stark, and as already pointed out he mentions

only one nest, may have been an accidental occurrence, or a

case of different localities different seasons; and it would

naturally follow that a pair breeding in June would moult

toward September—October.



