14C FUINOILLID.E. 



question, and indeed offers a strong proof against it. This 

 specimen "was apparently an old bird, agreeing in every 

 particular with Temminck's description of the adult and 

 aged males above mentioned. Its plumage was green, grey, 

 and olive intermixed ; but on closer examination, the bird 

 was found to be in the act of moulting ; many new feathers 

 about the back and mantle were still in their quills, their 

 extreme tips only projecting from the encircling tubes : 

 these tips were, to our surprise, of a brilliant red, plainly 

 proclaiming a change, contrary to all the systematists, from 

 green to red. It cannot be objected that this was a 

 young bird, making his first change from nestling plumage 

 to the feathering of a year old, since the plumage that he 

 then wore had no affinity with nestling plumage, nor ex- 

 hibited any marks proper to that age. 



These observations inclined us to take part in the very 

 opposite opinion of Nauman on this subject, that the red 

 plumage is that of the adult instead of the young male, 

 and is not perfected until after the lapse of several years, 

 during which the bird undergoes several changes from green 

 to yellow and orange, and finally to red. 



According, therefore, with this view, the upper figure in 

 our plate is a male of about two years of age ; the lower, 

 or red bird, three or more years. Females are said never 

 to assume the red plumage, but to wear a simple dress of 

 green, grey, and yellow; young birds in the nest are dull 

 green, with the centre or shaft of each feather darker, 

 somewhat resembling the young of the greenfinch. 



The egg of the Common Crossbill is figured ] 16 in the 

 plate. 



