PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
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have sent a bird with such a blemish. On receiving my birds home, I particu¬ 
larly examined her, and saw that her legs were opaque white. In about a fortnight 
afterwards they became vivid pink behind, which colour has since departed. I 
further observed that some of the hackle and back feathers were not laced 
with black, although I am sure they were so before she left Ireland. I was about 
to kill her, as of no further use, but on consideration thought it better to retain 
her, and watch if this progressed. Prior to being despatched, she was, as 1 said 
before, perfect in every respect, in apparently perfect t health and laying sound 
eggs; shortly after her return she was constantly looking for a nest, and laying 
soft eggs, and became so fat that her natural shape was altered. I immediately 
procured some old lime rubbish, and in about a week her anxiety to lay diminished, 
and her eggs had the shell perfect as usual. I have continued to observe, and 
found almost daily changes, the black markings vanishing and the feathers remain¬ 
ing purely white. When despatched to Liverpool her tail feathers were pure white, 
accurately laced with black, which almost totally disappeared, but now seem to be 
increasing, though irregularly. This bird is now in her third year, and is one 
of the lot with which I took the first prize at the December show of the Amateur 
Poultry Society of this city. A sister of hers, in the spring of last year, presented 
similar features, but not so remarkably, the markings becoming so indistinct as to 
appear as if viewed through gauze. I had her killed, and she proved a very supe¬ 
rior bird on the table ; some of her eggs were set, and of the produce four birds 
were marked as the one now exhibited ; they were the largest chickens of the kind 
I ever saw, being much larger than others of the same age, one of which presented 
features so nearly approaching both sexes that until near a year old it could not be 
decided whether it was male or female. When hatched they were pure white, 
with the exception of some black spots on the side of the head, but on moulting 
acquired black collars and some spangled feathers, with almost obliterated mark¬ 
ings. The exhibition of these will convey to the members how varieties of poultry 
are produced. The bird in question, in common with others, was fed on India 
meal, oats, potatoes, and barley occasionally, and had an extensive grass run. I 
shall now pass to another portion which demands the attention of physiologists to 
account for, and which, as far as I can discover, is unexplained. I have at various 
times observed changes in the colour of feathers, but from not having carefully 
watched them thought I must have been mistaken, until'my attention was aroused 
by a paper given in this Society on the changes that occur in the plumage of birds 
without a moult, as in the case I allude to, that of the black-headed gull, Larus 
ridibundus, where the feathers of the head change almost suddenly from white to 
black, as also in the breast of the plovers. In the bird before you we have the 
reverse. We are all aware that sudden discoloration frequently occurs in the 
head of man, and that changes in colour appear in several animals from shocks of 
the nervous system, disease, injuries, or abrasions ; in the case of farcy in horses, 
whence they become spotted all over with white, under the collar and saddle, &c. 
I knew a case where a hen, which I still have, was bitten by a dog across the back, 
and white feathers almost immediately appeared in the shape of the bite. These 
disappeared on the next moult. I knew a case where a mare was bitten in the 
crest by a horse, and for four generations the foals had a white mark on the crest 
in the shape of the mouth. It has been my anxiety to produce male birds of the 
Hamburgh fowl, whose tail feathers should be white laced with black, as shown in 
the plate of Rees’ Cyclopaedia (produced), and last year I was successful, but was 
surprised to see that on the moult of the bird for this year the body of the feather 
was deeply mossed ; some time after the bird was moulted, the mossing declined, 
and some of the feathers were pure white, laced with black. I was not able to keep 
this bird for want of space, but shall from time to time hear what changes may 
take place. I presume this subject has somewhat to do with Albinism ; on which 
question, as relating to the ferret, I read a paper before this society some years ago, 
and now lay on the table specimens of several birds in exemplification. 
Mr. Montgomery read some notes on experiments he had made to try the effect 
ot extracting periodically eggs from the nests of birds, thereby causing them to lay 
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