I t will now however be within the knowledge of most
ornithologists that these so-called “ laws ” are subject to
numerous exceptions, while they by no means include all
the different cases which an extended acquaintance with the
feathered creation will shew. The first of them when taken
according to the precise terms in which it was enunciated
seems to have the most force, but cases occur, as in some
of the Woodpeckers, where the young have a plumage peculiar
to themselves even when that of their parents differ sexually;
and we ought also to take up the converse of the proposition,
where we find that in the rare cases in which the female
possesses more lively colours than the male, the young of
both sexes resemble him. To the second of these “ laws ”
exceptions are more plentiful even among common British
birds; for in many of the Crows and in the Kingfisher,
where the sexual differences of the adults are exceedingly
slight, the young have no plumage that can be called peculiar
to themselves. Nor are cases far to seek in which the
third “ law ” will not apply ; for in the Razor-bill and the
Common Guillemot, where the breeding plumage of both
sexes is alike and yet decidedly different from that which
they wear in winter, the first plumage of the young resembles
the wedding garments of their parents without possessing
anything of an intermediate character between the two
periodical states. Again there are instances in which both
adults and young differ according to sex, thus the male
Blackbird can be distinguished from the female even as a
nestling. All these cases have been very fully' considered
by Mr. Darwin in his latest work, and, quite irrespective of
any arguments that may be founded upon them, the chapter
in which they are treated deserves the closest attention of
ornithologists.*
Into the question of the various modes by which changes
in the appearance of the plumage of birds are produced it
is not proposed at present to enter.
* ‘ The Descent of Man, and Selection in relation to Sex.’ London: 1871,
vol. ii. chap. xvi. pp. 187-223.
P ASSURES. LAN1IDÆ.
L a n iu s a u r ic u l a t u s , P. L. S. Muller*.
THE WOODCHAT.
Lanius rutilus\.
W h a t e v e r doubts might have existed formerly of the
propriety of including the Woodchat among the Shrikes
that visit England, there can he no question on this subject
now, and it is thought that the species may have even
bred in this country.
One of the earliest specimens recorded as British is that
noticed by Gilbert White in his letter to Pennant, dated
Selborne, August 30tli, 1769, wherein the writer says that
* Natursystem, Supplem. p. 71 (1776).
f Latham, Ind. Orn. i. p. 70 (1790).