‘) 
3. The Juvenal Plumage.—The third or juvenal plumage does not fol- 
low immediately upon the second or chick plumage, as the moulting is 
_never uniform over all the body. The body feathers of the chick are 
pushed out gradually, one at a time, from four or five months onwards, 
and are replaced by larger juvenal feathers of an altogether different type. 
Instead of being mottled, the new feathers are of a ‘uniformly dark grey 
or slate colour, and the tip is rounded, not pointed. 
The chick as a whole begins to lose its mottled appearance from eight 
or nine months onwards. ‘This is partly due to the replacement of the 
lighter tipped chick-feathers by others of a uniform hue, and partly to 
the fading and wearing away of the light tip of the old ones remaining. 
By the time the young birds are a year old nearly all the body-feathers 
show the drab colour of the juvenal plumage, those of the cocks being a 
little darker than those of the hens. All the feathers of the juvenal 
plumage are not fully ripe until the birds are about sixteen months old, 
the last to ripen being the wing-quills, which are known as “ first-after- 
chicks,”’ or, better, as juvenals. 
4. The Adult Plumage.—The 
adult plumage in the cock ostrich 
is altogether different from that 
of the hen. The full distinction 
is reached when the birds are 
about two years old, but great 
variation is met with, some 
strains completing their plumage 
much before others. The adult 
cock is characterised by the 
possession of black body-feathers 
and coverts, the hen by drab body- 
feathers and coverts. The differ- 
ence may perhaps better be 
appreciated by saying that the 
hen retains the same grey col- 
ours which she had in the juvenal 
plumage, while the cock passes 
through this to a further stage, 
where the feathers are black. 
Both are practically alike in 
colour as far as the juvenal plum- 
age, and the hen retains this 
throughout life, while the cock 
goes a stage beyond. 
With the fourth plumage, Fig. 3.—Chick Ostrich, about five months 
‘* second-after-chicks,’’ the val- old, showing the chick plumage. Each feather 
. “ay is spear shaped, light brown towards the tips 
uable wingquills of both the cock and dark grey below, thus producing a mottled 
and the hen have reached effect. 
their full size and _ show 
their best characteristics. The third and fourth clippings are generally con- 
sidered to represent the best efforts of the ostrich in the direction of feather 
production, but with the high feeding now largely followed the juvenal 
feathers or first-after-chicks ‘show almost mature characteristics. 
With proper usage an adult ostrich will continue to give feathers of 
practically the same quality for many years; instances are known of birds 
thirty-five years old or more which still produce good plumes. With careless 
usage, especially in the matter of quilling, the character of the plumes 
rapidly deteriorates. 
