182 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Manners of the young. 



amazing swiftness. They are sometimes caught; 

 and, very different from the old ones, suffer 

 themselves to be carried home, and are tamed 

 very easily. In five or six days they become 

 so familiar as to eat out of the hand; they 

 drink a surprising quantity of sea-water, and 

 of which it is necessary to give them plenty* 

 But though they are easily rendered domestic 

 they are not reared without the greatest diffi- 

 culty ; for they generally pine away, for want of 

 their natural supplies, and mostly die in a short 

 time. While they are yet young, their colours 

 are very different from those lively tints they 

 acquire with age. In their first year they are 

 covered with plumage of a white colour, mixed 

 with grey; in the second year the whole body 

 is white, with here and there a. slight tint of 

 scarlet ; and the great covert feathers of the 

 wings are black; the third year the bird ac- 

 quires all its beauty; the plumage of the whole 

 body is scarlet, except some of the feathers in 

 the wings, that still retain their sable hue. Of 

 these beautiful plumes, the savages make va- 

 rious ornaments ; and they were formerly trans- 

 ported into Europe for the purpose of making 

 muffs, but are at present almost in disuse, and 

 preserved only as ornaments by the curious. 



These beautiful birds were much esteemed, 

 by the Romans, who often used them in their 

 grand sacrifices, and sumptuous entertainments. 



