I add a few particulars of some which I kept from early age. I shot
a young one on the 2nd of September, breaking the tarsus; and about
a week afterwards another was brought me which may have been rather
older. The former appeared not to have finally left the nest. Both were
exceedingly ugly; long-necked, thin-bodied, the head not well rounded,
the fleshy part of the beak prominent, and its base unfeathered. The
whole plumage was blackish ash-coloured, each feather slightly tipped
with paler, and the feathers of the head terminating in little curled
grey filaments, which added to the uncouth appearance of the birds. In
a week or two I perceived these filaments were gradually disappearing,
and about the beginning of October the small feathers began to clothe
the base of the beak: these feathers were greyish-white, and at the
same time the grey hue was beginning to spread up the forehead, I
believe by the dropping of the black feathers, and their immediate
replacement by the white ones. About this time also the general plumage
began to assume the blue hue of the adult, in patches; and on the 12th
of October, I first observed the beautiful iridescent feathers of the
neck, but as yet only on one side. These notes refer to the elder; the
other was about two weeks more backward. On the 16th, I first heard it
coo; for some time it had now and then uttered a single note, but on
this day it gave the whole _Sary̆-coat-blūe_, but short, and in a low
tone; and that only once. By the end of November the white had spread
over the whole crown as in the adult, but was not yet so pure or so
smooth. A third, which I purchased in November, though a young one of
the season, having been reared from the nest, was much more mature both
in plumage and size. By the end of that month the crown of this one was
_perfectly_ in the adult plumage, the neck feathers complete on both
sides, the body plump and smooth. This individual, when first put into
the cage, was very cross, pecking at all the others, including some
Pea-doves, whenever they came near him, and even stretching himself
down from his perch to reach them as they walked under him. One or
two of the Pea-doves suffered particularly, for he munched out their
feathers by mouthfuls, laying bare a large portion of their backs. He
soon became more reconciled, but never associated with them, never
descending from his perch all day, except to feed or drink. The other
Bald-pates walked about a good deal with the Pea-doves, and were rather
playful. Any new object they would examine and lay hold of. Their cage,
a capacious packing-box, was lined with paper; somehow or other, a bit
of it was torn up; the Bald-pates were continually pulling at this, and
were not content till they had stripped off a large space. A hole in
the gauze front had been darned with thread; they would take the loose
ends in their beaks and tug at them. Sometimes they would seize a stick
or twig, and drag it about the cage.
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