360 TRAVELS IN 
others. One of thefe clofet naturalifts, for 
inftance, fliewed me four birds as fo many dif- 
ferent fpecies, and even as not belonging to 
the fame genus, with which I was well ac- 
quainted, and which I knew to be the fame 
bird, only of different ages. 
In the firft place, every male when young 
has the fame plumage as his mother; and it is 
only as he grows older that he affumes that of 
his fex. I will not venture to affirm that this 
is an univerfal and invariable rule ; but I have 
hitherto met with no exception to it, whereas 
I have verified it, by my own ol)fervation, iri 
more than a l-houfand different fp^ cies. 
Many females too, when they grow fo old 
as to ceafe laying eggs, undergo a fimilar 
change, and affume th^ more fplendid colours 
be^longing to the male of the fpecies, which they 
retain during the remainder oC their lives* 
This fad: is ftrikingly perceptible in thofe 
fpecies in which the male and female very 
much difler in their colour; as the golden 
pheafant of China, for inflance, now fo com- 
mon in our aviaries, in vhich the change 
takes place. I have obferved the fame tranf- 
mutation in many other birds, of which I 
fiiall 
