COLOUR IN BIRDS AND QUADRUPEDS. 201 



sary to our present inquiry) I saw in the possession of some lads, who 

 were dragging it through the streets by a string, an individual of this 

 species, so singularly marked that I was induced to ask them for it. 

 They stated that they had found it with a broken wing in the woods. 

 The wing was nearly severed, but the wound apparently healed ; a 

 proof that the injury was of long standing. The bird, though lean, 

 was in moult. The lesser wing coverts, a portion of the head, and an 

 irregular spot on the breast, had nearly attained the markings of the 

 mature bird ; the rest of the feathers that had not been moulted re- 

 mained the colour of the young. It survived but a few days. Whe- 

 ther this was a spring moult, or that of summer retarded in conse- 

 quence of the wound, I had no means of ascertaining. 



Psitiacus Carolinensis, Carolina parrot. This bird has become so 

 rare in Carolina, that I only once noticed a small flock of five or six 

 among the cypress trees of the Salt Katcher swamps. In the autumn, 

 however, of 1831, a friend received from St Augustine five young 

 birds of this species. They were never in my possession, but I visited 

 them occasionally, and scarcely ever without the expense of a wound, 

 which they were at all times ready to inflict upon any strange visiter. 

 They continued in the uniform plumage of the young of this species 

 till the beginning of February, when they all about the same time 

 commenced moulting, more perceptibly and more extensively in some 

 of the individuals than in others. A striking increase of brightness 

 was visible in all the new feathers. Those on the neck, which first 

 came out a yellowish green, gradually and irregularly became bright 

 yellow; but in all cases, as far as I had an opportunity of judging, the 

 change of plumage was in the new feather. Absence from the city 

 prevented me from seeing these birds after they had arrived at full 

 plumage. 



Icterus Baltimore, Baltimore Oriole. The only opportunity afforded 

 me of observing the changes of colour in this beautiful species, was in 

 the state of New York, in May 1815. A young male had been ob- 

 tained and confined in a cage, where it was for some time fed by its 

 parents. In the month of October of the same year it moulted ; the 

 young feathers were much brighter than those which were dropping 

 out; and in two months afterwards the bird was in full plumage. Our 



