192 



ON THE CHANGE OF 



feted by both sexes ; yet he did not consider that 

 this change was merely the effect of age ; for he i 

 speaks of having been assured by Lord Caernar- 

 von, who had many pheasants in this state, that it 

 takes place at three or four years old. How far 

 these alterations in wild birds may be expedited or 

 changed by confinement, I cannot venture to say ; 

 but of this I am satisfied, that all hen-pheasants, as 

 well as common hen-fowls, would assume the plumage 

 of the cock, to a certain degree, if they were kept 

 to a proper age. The sexes in partridges (vide 

 Montagu, Dictionary and Supplement) have a 

 more early disposition to resemble each other in 

 plumage ; for after the third year, the hen cannot 

 be distinguished from the male, by what is termed 

 the Horse-shoe mark ; as, after that time, this mark 

 is equally strong in both sexes. 



If I remember correctly, Colonel Montagu has 

 also stated, that he once shot nine partridges be- 

 longing to the same covey, late in the season, and 

 that every one had the horse-shoe mark on the 

 breast, characteristic of the male sex, but that 

 on dissection, several of them proved to be fe- 

 males. I may here mention, that I once shot 

 several partridges in the month of December, with 

 the horse- shoe mark on the breast, and found 

 one, which I dissected and stuffed, to be a fe- 

 male bird. In winter, therefore, it should seem 

 that the distinctions between male and female 



