PLUMAGE IN HEN-BIRDS 



191 



rally known. Mr Brown, however, being present, 

 had the kindness to refer me to a work, (the title of 

 which I have forgotten), in which it was recorded, 

 that female " Gallinae" exchanged their feathers at an 

 advanced period of life for those of the cock. 



When I was at Paris, I conversed with MM, 

 Cuvier, Blainville, and other distinguished zoolor 

 gists upon this subject; all of whom seemed to be per- 

 fectly well acquainted with the change of plumage 

 known to take place in old hen-pheasants, and some 

 other gallinaceous birds, but had not observed that 

 common hen-fowls ever adopted in their old age a si- 

 milar change. Neither could I see a specimen pf the 

 sort in the fine collection of birds at the Garden 

 of Plants, nor in any Museum at Turin, at Florence, 

 Milan, Naples, or Geneva, I have also exami* 

 ned the British and the Hunterian Museums both 

 in London and Glasgow, and not found any spe- 

 cimen of a domestic hen with the cock's plumage, 

 though there are such examples of hen pheasants. 

 If I remember correctly, Mr Bullock told me, in 

 the year 1817, that in his collection there was 

 not a specimen of this sort, nor had he ever seen 

 one. 



My late correspondent, Colonel Montagu of 

 Kingsbridge, has remarked in his Ornithological 

 Dictionary, that female pheasants in confinement 

 sometimes assumed the plumage of the male, and 

 at that time became barren, and were equally buf- 



