PLUMAGE IN HEN-BIRDS. 



201 



Blumenbach mentions, that the female of the 

 common and golden pheasant, when old, occasion- 

 ally assume the plumage, and voice of the male. — 

 Blumenbach, Commentatio de Anomalis et vitiosis 

 quibusdam Nisus formativi aberrationibus. — Gottin- 

 gen, 1813, p. 8. 



It may here be mentioned, that an example of 

 the golden hen-pheasant taking on the male plu- 

 mage in old age, lately occurred at Dalkeith, in the 

 pheasantry of the Duke of Buccleugh. 



Tiedemann mentions the same of the domestic 

 pigeon, bustard and domestic duck ; and Bechstein, 

 in his Natural History of the Animals in Germany, 

 informs us that the old Turkey-hen sometimes as- 

 sumes the tuft of hair on the breast, which cha- 

 racterizes the male. — Vide Bechstsein, in Natur- 

 geschichte Deutchlands, b. 3. s. 116. 



I have also been informed by Mr James Wilson, 

 that Mr Falconer of Carlowrie, a member of the 

 Wernerian Society, is acquainted with a change of 

 plumage, like that already described, having taken 

 place in the common domestic duck. A nobleman 

 in Devonshire, whose name I am not at liberty to 

 mention, assured me, not long ago, that a wild 

 duck, which was kept in his park, had assumed the 

 plumage of the drake. 



I may also mention, that a pea-hen, beginning to as- 

 sume the male plumage, has been lately presented by 

 Lord Glenlee to the 1 Museum of the University of 

 Edinburgh. It is not so good a specimen of the sort 



