FEMALE INDIGO FINCH. 
95 
ginated; the feet are dusky, the tarsus measuring three-quarters 
of an inch. 
The male, after his autumnal moult, exhibits pretty much the 
same dress, except being more or less tinged with bluish. We 
shall here observe, that we do not believe that the individual kept 
by Wilson in a cage through the winter, in which the gay plumage 
did not return for more than two months, formed an exception to 
the general law, as he supposed. We have no doubt that this 
circumstance is characteristic of the species in its wild state. 
The young strongly resemble the female; the drab colour is 
however much less pure and glossy, being somewhat intermixed 
with dusky olive, owing to the centre of the feathers being of 
the latter hue. Consequently, during the progress from youth to 
adolescence, and even during the two periodical changes, the 
plumage of this bird is more or less intermixed with drab, blue, 
and white, according to the stage of the moulting process, some 
being beautifully and regularly spotted with large masses of those 
colours, symmetrically disposed. In one of these males, but 
little advanced in its changes, we readily recognise the Emberiza 
ccerulea of authors, Jlzuroux of Buffon, &c.; and in another, which 
has made farther progress towards the perfect state, the shoulders 
only retaining the ferruginous tinge, we can trace the Emberiza 
cyanella of Sparmann. 
END OF VOL. II. 
