202 RICE BUNTING. 



extract, to have taken notice of, or at least suspected, this 

 change of colour in these birds, more than forty years ago. 

 " Being in Charleston," says he, " in the month of June, 

 I observed a cage full of rice birds, that is, of the yellow, or 

 female colour, who were very merry and vociferous, having 

 the same variable music with the pied, or male bird, which 

 I thought extraordinary, and, observing it to the gentleman, 

 he assured me that they were all of the male kind, taken the 

 preceding spring ; but had changed their colour, and would 

 be next spring of the colour of the pied, thus changing colour 

 with the seasons of the year. If this is really the case, it 

 appears they are both of the same species intermixed, spring 

 and fall." Without, however, implicating the veracity of 

 Catesby, who, I have no doubt, believed as he wrote, a few 

 words will easily explain why he was deceived. The internal 

 organisation of undomesticated birds, of all kinds, undergoes 

 a remarkable change every spring and summer ; and those 

 who wish to ascertain this point by dissection will do well to 

 remember, that in this bird those parts that characterise the 

 male are, in autumn, no larger than the smallest pin's head, 

 and in young birds of the first year can scarcely be discovered ; 

 though in spring their magnitude in each is at least one 

 hundred times greater. To an unacquaintance with this 

 extraordinary circumstance, I am persuaded, has been owing 

 the mistake of Mr Catesby, that the females only return in 

 the fall ; for the same opinion I long entertained myself, till 

 a more particular examination showed me the source of my 

 mistake. Since that, I have opened and examined many 

 hundreds of these birds, in the months of September and 

 October, and, on the whole, have found about as many males 

 as females among them. The latter may be distinguished 

 from the former by being of a rather more shining yellow on 

 the breast and belly : it is the same with the young birds of 

 the first season. 



Daring the breeding season, they are dispersed over the 

 country ; but, as soon as the young are able to fly, they collect 



