Birds. 379 



change is usually produced by the assumption of an entirely new tint, 

 and very seldom by the spreading of any colour which belonged to 

 the individual in its natural state. Still less frequently does it hap- 

 pen that the head, or any particular part of a bird, undergoes an ac- 

 cidental change, leaving the remaining parts in their natural plumage. 

 Thus we occasionally find the starling, the blackbird, the sparrow, 

 and several of the other finches, in a vv^ild state, entirely changed to a 

 white or cream colour, of which little or none belonged to the bird in 

 its natural state. But instances do not occur in which the blue bars 

 have spread over the whole wing of the jay ; nor do we find that the 

 whole head of the gold-crest ever assumes the bright yellow colour 

 from which the bird derives its name. Although marks and spots 

 vary in the depth of their tints, becoming in some species darker, in 

 others brighter, according to the age of the bird, yet Nature seldom 

 permits them to vary in size. She "has set them their bounds which 

 they cannot pass." But to return to the capped buzzard. The spe- 

 cimen figured appears to be in the perfect barred plumage, which, as 

 I have already hinted, there seems some reason to suppose to be at- 

 tained simultaneously with the ash- coloured head. The bird de- 

 scribed and drawn by Bewick, is in nearly the same plumage as this 

 bird, and he says that " the head is large, flat, and ash-coloured^ 

 Buffon says too that the head is large, flat, and of a grey cinereous ; 

 but he does not describe the rest of the bird. Some of your corre- 

 spondents who may have met with specimens of the capped buzzard, 

 can perhaps inform us if they correspond in other respects with this. 

 If so, a question arises as to the age of the bird in this state of plu- 

 mage — and whether the grey head is common to both sexes ? The 

 example in my possession (fig. 3) I must confess shows no signs of it. 

 The head has a mottled appearance, the feathers being tipped with 

 light brown ; but in this bird the barred plumage has not attained 

 perfection. Another foreign specimen in my possession, which was 

 said to be a female, although in other respects almost exactly resem- 

 bling fig. 4, has not the grey head. The tail is also somewhat differ- 

 ently marked, being very similar to that of the bird in the British 

 Museum figured by Mr. Yarrell. 



A link is here wanting to show more clearly the change firom the 

 barred plumage of the breast and under parts to the pure white. The 

 bird, however, from which 



Figure 5 

 was drawn, has some patches of brown on the breast, which appear to 

 indicate the former existence of those bars. The forehead is white ; 



