ORDER PASSERES. 305 



males assume their bridal habits, and begin to sing, takes 

 place in spring, and the second in autumn, or, to speak more 

 correctly, at the epochs which correspond to those seasons in 

 intertropical countries. After the last moulting, the males 

 resemble the females so nearly, that they may be very easily 

 confounded together, without that very accurate knowledge 

 of them, which can only be obtained by frequent and almost 

 habitual comparison. The females also undergo two moult- 

 ings, but suffer no changes, except that in growing old ; some 

 are observed to assume colours almost similar to those of the 

 male, during the season of reproduction. This observation 

 was made by Mauduyt, on an individual of the species Para- 

 disea- Whidha-Bunting, which he preserved alive for a consi- 

 derable time. " In proportion," he says, " as she advanced in 

 age, she became less like the male in her winter plumage, 

 and more like him in her summer dress, still she was not so 

 handsome, and wanted the long tail feathers." 



It was the opinion of Montbeillard, and it has in a measure 

 been adopted by the Baron, who has at least expressed him- 

 self as if such were the case in some species, that these long 

 feathers were what is called a false tail, or a mere elongation 

 of some of the upper coverts. This observation according to 

 M. Vieillot holds true, only of one species, (Longicauda). 

 It applies very well to some long feathers of this widow-bird, 

 but, as it would appear, not to the others, in which the 

 lengthened tail is not a developement of some of the upper 

 coverts. These long feathers in the paradisea, regia, serena^ 

 and panayensis, are the four intermediate quills of the tail, 

 which, with the other eight, for these birds have no more, 

 constitute the full number of twelve, which the males, 

 females, and young possess at all times. If these four quills 

 did not form a part of the tail, it would only be composed of 

 eight ; from which it would result that the males in perfect 



VOL. VII. X 



