RICE BUNTING. 
173 
been mistaken, declares that he uniformly found them to be fe- 
males. These assertions must appear odd to the inhabitants of 
the eastern states, to whom the change of plumage in these 
birds is familiar, as it passes immediately under their eye; and 
also to those, who like myself, have kept them in cages, and 
witnessed their gradual change of colour. That accurate obser- 
ver, Mr. William Bartram, appears, from the following extract, 
to have taken notice of, or at least suspected this change of co- 
lour in these birds more than forty years ago. ‘‘ Being in 
Charleston,” says he, “in the month of June, I observed a cage 
“ full of Rice-birds, that is of the yellow or female colour, who 
“ were very merry and vociferous, having the same variable 
“ music with the pied or male bird, which I thought extraordi- 
“ nary, and observing it to the gentleman, he assured me that 
“ they were all of the male kind, taking the preceding spring; 
“ but had changed their colour, and would be next spring of 
“ the colour of the pied, thus changing colour with the seasons 
“ of the year. If this is really the case, it appears they are both 
“ of the same species intermixed, spring and fall.” Without, 
however, implicating the veracity of Catesby, who, I have no 
doubt, believed as he wrote, a few words will easily explain 
why he was deceived. The internal organization of undomesti- 
cated birds of all kinds, undergoes a remarkable change, every 
spring and summer; and those who wish to ascertain this point 
by dissection will do well to remember, that in this bird those 
parts that characterize the male are, in autumn, no larger than 
the smallest pin’s head, and in young birds of the first year can 
scarcely be discovered; though in spring their magnitude in 
each is at least one hundred times greater. To an unacquain- 
tance with this extraordinary circumstance I am persuaded has 
been owing the mistake of Mr. Catesby that the females only 
return in the fall; for the same opinion I long entertained my- 
self, till a more particular examination showed me the source 
of my mistake. Since that, I have opened and examined many 
hundreds of these birds, in the months of September and Octo- 
ber, and, on the whole, have found about as many males as 
