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ARTICLE IV. 



Observations on the Changes of Colour in Birds and Quadrupeds. By 

 John Bachman, D.D., President of the Literary and Philosophical 

 Society of Charleston, S. C, S^c. Mead May 19, 1837. 



No attentive observer of nature can have failed to remark the strik- 

 ing and wonderful mutations to which some birds and quadrupeds are 

 subject, from the young to the adult state, and at different periods of 

 the year. The young of our Indigo bird, and Blue Grosbeak, are clothed 

 with brown, but in the adult state are brilliantly blue. The young 

 of the Painted Bunting is of an humble ash colour ; and, after undergo- 

 ing a succession of changes, puts on a livery of bright purplish lilac, 

 vermilion and glossy green. The young of the White Ibis and the 

 Whooping Crane wear a homely brown garb, whilst the adult is pure 

 white ; on the other hand, the young of our Blue Heron and Reddish 

 Egret are white ; and the adult in the one case bright blue, and in the 

 other rufous. There are other birds, such as the Reed bird, the Ame- 

 rican Goldfinch, the Yellow crowned Warbler (S. coronata), and various 

 species of Gulls and Sandpipers, that disguise themselves so during 

 six months of the year, whilst on their migrations, as to be with dif- 

 ficulty recognisable. Some of our quadrupeds also, as if seeking for 

 notoriety, at one season are clothed in white ; and, as if courting ob- 

 scurity in the other, assume the humbler dress of the earth and the 

 dried leaves around them. To account for these mutations, or even to 



