CH. XXXVIII.] CHANGES OF PLUMAGE. 391 



brown. This tuft of plumage can be elevated and spread 

 out at pleasure, so as almost to conceal the body of the bh'd. 

 These splendid ornaments are entirely confined to the 

 male sex, while the female is really a very plain and 

 ordinary-looking bird of a uniform coffee-brown colour 

 which never changes, neither does she jjossess the long 

 tail wires, nor a single yellow or green feather about the 

 head. The young males of the first year exactly resemble 

 the females, so that they can only be distinguished by 

 dissection. The first change is the acquisition of the 

 yellow and gTcen colour on the head and throat, and at 

 the same time the two middle tail feathers grow a few 

 inches longer than the rest, but remain webbed on both 

 sides. At a later period these feathers are replaced by 

 the long bare shafts of the full length, as in the adult 

 bird ; but there is still no sign of the magnificent orange 

 side-plumes, which later still complete the attire of the 

 perfect male. To effect these changes there must be at 

 least three successive moultings ; and as the birds were 

 found by me in all the stages about the same time, it 

 is probable that they moult only once a year, and that 

 the full plumage is not acquired till the bird is four 

 years old. It was long thought that the fine train of 

 feathers was assumed for a short time only at the breed- 

 ing season, but my own experience, as well as the obser- 

 vation of birds of an allied species which I brought home 



