The Naturalist's Repository, Volume 1 (of 5): or Monthly Miscellany of Exotic Natural History: etc. etc.Donovan, E. (Edward)
Science
The Naturalist's Repository, Volume 1 (of 5): or Monthly Miscellany of Exotic Natural History: etc. etc.
Donovan, E. (Edward)
Zoology -- Pictorial works
The varieties of the very beautiful species now before us are rather
numerous, as may be imagined from its moulting twice in a year, and not
arriving, as it is pretty generally believed, at its full state of
plumage till nearly the third year. These are the progressive changes of
the male bird, and it may be also added, that the female undergoes
several mutations of the same kind, as well as the male bird.
When its plumage has attained its full perfection, there are few birds
of more striking beauty than the male of this species. Its size is
scarcely inferior to that of our common Hedge Sparrow, the length
between five and six inches. The head and neck of a fine blue purple,
with a circle of red round the eyes. The whole of the underside,
including the chin, throat, breast, and abdomen, is a fulvous, or rather
a vivid scarlet; the back green, below which is a space of yellow, and
the rump scarlet, like the abdomen. The wings are greenish, being shaded
with brown, and having the edges of the feathers of a delicate green:
the greater wing coverts in our specimen are of a pale rose colour, and
which in the general conformation of the plumage constitutes a roseate
band across the wings. The tail, like the wings, are brownish, having
the edges of each feather green; the bill and legs dark.
In some of the varieties of this bird, occasioned as before observed,
through the moulting of the feathers, the blue purple of the head and
neck is more generally extended along the back, and sometimes appears in
patches upon other parts of the plumage. Sometimes, also, the dark spots
that appear upon the scarlet space of the chin, throat, breast, and
abdomen, are more diffused, and in other states of moulting the abdomen
becomes yellow or yellowish. The abdomen has also, in some instances,
been known to change white, leaving only a rounded spot of red upon the
breast.
Catesby describes this species as a native of Carolina. It is an
inhabitant of all the warmer parts of America, extending from Mexico and
Peru, as far as Canada, in the milder seasons of the year. It is rather
a hardy bird, insomuch, that some attempts have been made by the Dutch
to naturalize the species in Europe, like the Canary; but not, however,
with the same success, although they may be kept alive for some time
after being brought into the less genial climates of the Continent of
Europe.
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