FEMALE WHITE-WINGED CROSSBILL. 
443 
on the back, where it generally forms a kind of band descend- 
ing from the base of the wing : the rump is of a beautiful rose- 
red ; the black of the wings and tail is deeper ; the white, pure, 
and more extended ; the lining of the quills, and especially of 
the tail-feathers, more conspicuous,* the belly is of a pure 
whitish, much less streaked, &c. 
The bird which, from analogy, we take for the adult male, 
though we have no positive evidence for deciding whether it 
is in the passage to, or from, the preceding, differs only in ha- 
ving a light buff orange tinge, where the other has crimson : 
it agrees with it in all its minute markings, the patch on the 
sides of the head is better defined, and the wings and tail are 
of a still deeper black, the edges of the quills and tail-feathers 
being very conspicuous, and almost pure white. All these 
facts conspire to favour our opinion. In this state, the bird is 
rare, as might be expected, and has not before been noticed 
by any naturalist : we have not represented it, only that we 
might not mulf:iply figures of the same species. 
The very young male before assuming the red, at the age 
of one year, exactly resembles the female ; being only more 
greyish, and less tinged with olive, and having the rump green- 
ish yellow, instead of yellow. 
The four above-described states of plumage are selected 
from a number of specimens shot on the same day, and out of 
the same flock. The changes of these birds must still rank 
among the unexplained phenomena of natural history. An 
illustration might be attempted, by supposing a double moult 
to take place in the birds of this genus, but besides that we 
ought to be cautious in admitting an hypothesis like this, not 
founded on observation, it would be entirely untenable in the 
present instance, from the fact, that all the variations of plu- 
mage are found at the same period of the year ; thus proving 
that age, and, of course, sex, but not season, produce these 
changes ; and we must provisionally admit, that, contrary to 
what takes place in all other birds, these (the crossbills), to- 
