190 



ON THE CHANGE OF 



these writers, nor Shaw nor Pennant, allude even to 

 the probability of the change taking place in old do- 

 mestic fowls. 



Buffon, with his usual diffuseness, enters largely 

 into the varieties and descriptions of common fowls, 

 but does not notice their age, nor any changes they 

 undergo like those in question , nor does he men- 

 tion, in any of the editions of his works that I have 

 seen, the fact, of old hen pheasants changing their 

 plumage for that of the male ; and yet there are spe- 

 cimens to be seen in almost every collection of birds. 



The circumstances which I have now advanced, I 

 have been in the habit of mentioning to many of my 

 friends and acquaintances,— gentlemen well versed 

 in the science of zoology ; and I have learnt, that no 

 facts similar to those now detailed, exist in the writings 

 of British naturalists ; or at least that those authors 

 who have given a history of the sexual characters, 

 varieties and peculiarities of the different species of 

 British birds, have not remarked* that the common 

 hen ever assumes the plumage of the cock, whereas 

 this change in the female pheasant they seldom 

 omit to mention. 



In the spring of 1817, as I was passing through 

 London to the Continent, my much valued friend, 

 Dr Leach, introduced me to Sir Joseph Banks, to 

 whom I mentioned such facts as I had ascertained 

 respecting the changes in old domestic hens ; and 

 remarked, that they seemed not to have been gene* 



