46 Bulletin Wisconsin Natural History Societij. [Vol. 6, Nos. 1—2. 
noticed and here and there a black one." After the following fall 
moult the wings and tail were almost completely white while be- 
low he was clear black, except for a side patch of red unler each 
wing and the usual white belly. The next fall moult brought forth 
the normal robin plumage which a year later was replaced by the 
following coloration : ''Above clear black ; tail mostly white ; in- 
terscapulars and m'ost of the wing feathers white on outer webs ; 
chin, throat, belly and under tail coverts normaL The upper 
breast shows a somewhat crescent-shaped patch of red, and almost 
as continuations of this on either side are red patches under the 
wings. A few red feathers down the middle of the breast imper- 
fectly separate the black which would otherwise form a single 
large pectoral patch. The white about the eyes is normal." 
Barrows in 1885^ reports another robin taken at Middletown, 
Conn., as a normal nestling which retained its normal colors for 
two or three years. ''Gradually the plumage became somewhat 
variegated with black and white, the black predominating above, 
though Mr. Leonard thinks the bird became ultimately almost 
white. There was no return to the normal plumage after the ab- 
normal dress was once assumed." This bird died when about five 
years old. 
Dr. Walter Faxon*'' in 1886 cites a robin "as dark as a Euro- 
pean Blackbird", kept in an aviary the owner of which informed 
him that "Robins thus raised in confinement were often thus col- 
ored." Mr. Faxon pertinently asks : "Is not the melanism to be 
connected with the peculiar conditions to which the bird is ex- 
posed? The aviary is built like a greenhouse, with one side (glass) 
sloping to the south. It has no artificial heat yet keeps southern 
birds (as Cardinal Grosbeaks) in good condition." 
In these accounts it will be noticed that albinism and melan- 
ism are not infrequently, in fact are usually associated together. 
It has long been supposed that humidity was conducive to the 
deepening of colors in birds and the colors of lepidopterous insects 
