208 OBSERVATIONS ON THE CHANGES OF 



in part, it lost all its wild habits, and eventually "became so gentle as 

 to approach my hand to be fed. In the month of October last it 

 moulted, like the tame turkeys, with which it now associated. But 

 I was surprised to find many of the tail and wing feathers, and some 

 of the feathers on the back, coming out of a light ash colour, whilst 

 others were nearly white ; insomuch, that some of my friends were in- 

 duced to pronounce it only one of our varieties of the tame turkey. 

 Shortly afterwards these feathers began to change in colour, and gra- 

 dually become darker and brighter, till, after the expiration of a month, 

 it had again all the rich plumage of the wild female turkey. 



A male of the Summer Duck (^nas sponsa) has been in my pos- 

 session for several years. In the moulting season, which occurred in 

 August last, he lost all his fine plumage, and the new feathers were at 

 first so much of the colour of the female, that the sexes could scarcely be 

 distinguished by the plumage. Shortly afterwards, however, a change 

 commenced ; from day to day the beautiful tints of the male were 

 returning; his rich colours were gradually restored; and in the course 

 of six weeks, this, the most elegant of all the species, was again in full 

 plumage. 



These observations are calculated to strengthen the opinion advanced 

 by the Rev. Mr Whitear, contained in the twelfth volume of the Trans- 

 actions of the LinnaBan Society of London, that " a change in the co- 

 lour of the plumage of birds does not always arise from a change of 

 feathers, but sometimes proceeds from the feathers themselves assum- 

 ing at one season of the year a different colour from that which they 

 have at another." 



To this theory I am disposed to subscribe, to a certain extent, and 

 under some limitations. That feathers are changed in colour, without 

 a change of the plumage, is admitted, and, I think, satisfactorily proved. 

 But, as far as I have been able to ascertain, this change is always pre- 

 ceded by a recent moult. 



At this stage of our inquiries we arrive at an interesting point. 

 There are many birds that are subject to a semi-annual change of co- 

 lour, after they have arrived at full maturity. The male Rice Bird 

 (^Emheriza oryzivora) is of a brownish yellow colour during six 

 mouths of the year, and returns to its breeding place, in the northern 



