78 
rally, especially the greater coverts of the 
wings, and a few grey feathers in different 
parts of the body. On the 20th of August 
the greater part of the quill and tail feathers 
were grown to their full length, and a gra- 
dual increase of grey feathers appeared on 
most other parts ; the eyes also became more 
orange: but it was not till the middle of 
October that it had attained that state which 
made it desirable to be retained as an exist- 
ing fact of the change ; it was then killed, 
and is now in my museum. 
" In this state, the plumage of the Ring- 
tail, or female, still remains about the neck, 
the smaller coverts of the wings, the thighs, 
and part of the belly, intermixed with the 
male plumage; the top of the head and 
wreath have also a mixture of the feathers of 
both sexes : the quills, scapulars, and tail are 
completely masculine; in the last of these 
are a few small broken bars of cinereous- 
brown, on a white ground, in the three outer 
feathers ; the exterior margins cinereous- 
grey; the six middle feathers are almost 
wholly grey, and the markings are very ob- 
scure beneath. 
