COLOUR IN BIRDS AND QUADRUPEDS. 207 



species, as the nests I examined contained only three eggs, and in one 

 instance four, on which the females had for some time been sitting, 

 and the eggs were white, covered over with a calcareous matter, like 

 those of Cormorants. The young were brought home, fed on fish, 

 and became very familiar and amusing. The sexes, when young, are 

 alike of a brown colour. The male commenced moulting in Novem- 

 ber. The young feathers came out black, and seemed to assume nearly 

 all their bright colours immediately. When it had nearly arrived at 

 full plumage, in January, it was unfortunately killed by a dog, in re- 

 venge for the severe bites it was wont to inflict on all intruders upon 

 it at meal time. In this species the full plumage is received before it 

 is a year old. In all the instances I have enumerated, it will be per- 

 ceived that in the changes which occur in the plumage of birds, from 

 the young to the adult state, nature is nearly uniform in her opera- 

 tions. That these changes occur immediately after the moulting of 

 the bird, and that many feathers may, in process of time, become of a 

 different colour; in short, that the colour may change without a change 

 of plumage. 



This leads to a further inquiry. 



2. Whether old birds, whose plumage has arrived at full maturity, 

 are subject to the same general law with those who advance from im- 

 mature to perfect plumage. In other words, does their plumage be- 

 come perfect at once, or is it subject to gradual changes, as in the case 

 of young birds ? 



It is admitted that in a great majority of birds, as in the Crow, 

 Blackbirds, Blue Jays, &c., these colours are permanent, and there is 

 no perceptible change in colour from the formation of the feathers till 

 they have matured and drop off. But in many species this is not the 

 case. Many instances have fallen under my observation, to satisfy me 

 fully, that feathers change their colours in adult as well as in young 

 birds. 



A female wild Turkey was sent to me eighteen months ago by my 

 friend Dr Tidyman, in order to enable me to ascertain whether this 

 species, when taken wild and full grown, could be domesticated. It 

 had been just caught in a trap, and was excessively wild. By subject- 

 ing it to confinement with the tame variety, and excluding the light, 



VI. — 3 B 



