The young in their first plumage are blackish-brown above,
each feather having a median spot or streak of pale rufous :
lower parts light rufous-brown, with terminal dark spots.
The males as soon as fledged can be distinguished by
their darker colour above and their more distinct spotting
beneath ; after their first moult, they are intermediate in
the appearance between the adults of either sex.
Some of the supposed laws which have been thought to
govern the assumption of peculiar styles of plumage in birds
having been previously stated (p. 213), a few remarks on the
disposition and situation of the feathers themselves may
here be added. I t is not, however, intended to attempt to
describe the structure and growth of a feather, the most
complicated of all the varied products of the skin in animals,
such minute anatomical and physiological details
being out of place in this Work ; but the reader who is
inclined to pursue the subject may consult with advantage
Frédéric Cuvier’s observations on Feathers in the ‘Mémoires
du Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle ’ (xiii. p. 327), Prof.
Owen’s article “ Aves,” in the ‘ Cyclopædia of Anatomy
and Physiology’ (i. pp. 349-353), or, still better, Prof.
Burmeister’s note appended to the first section of Nitzsch’s
‘ System der Pterylographie ’ of which a translation was
published by the Bay Society in 1867.
In young birds the first feathers are preceded in their
passage through the skin by a bundle of downy filaments
enclosed in a sheath which soon crumbles away ; but afterwards,
at the regular period of moulting, each old feather is
the pioneer of that which is to follow. The natural moult
proceeds by degrees, and the quill-feathers of the wings and
tail are generally shed and renewed by pairs.
Although the feathers of Birds appear to be an entire
and uniform covering, they do not arise equally from every
part of the body, but only from such parts of the skin as
are least liable to be affected by the motion of the contiguous
parts, such as the motion of the limbs.
The feathers arise pretty equably on the head where
there is no motion; and along the 1 tack ; on the wings
between joint and jo in t; as also on the thighs and legs :
the whole forming a kind of partial coat of mail. As they
do not arise from every part of the skin equally, they must
be proportionately thick-set where they do arise.
“ The places of origin of feathers are very observable in
a bird that has been plucked; but still more so in young
birds just feathering, more especially of such as have but
little down, and of which the clumps of feathers, from their
colour, as in the young Blackbird, present a great contrast
with the skin.
“ In the interstices of the clumps of feathers, there are
others disposed irregularly, but so sparingly as not to interfere
with the motion of the part.”
The four preceding paragraphs from the pen of the great
John Hunter, though only given to the world in 1836, and the
two following representations of the nestling Blackbird, while
assuming its first feathers*, are taken from Prof. Owen’s
‘Descriptive and Illustrated Catalogue of the Physiological
Series of Comparative Anatomy, contained in the Museum
of the Royal College of Surgeons in London’ (iii. part ii.
p. 311, pis. xlv., xlvi).
The upper figure on the next page shews the clumps of
young feathers on the side and lower part of the h ead;
the long clump of feathers down each side of the breast,
which, when full grown, cover the lower surface of the
body ; the extended line of fliglit-feathers, partly concealed
by the bend of the wing; and above them the various lowrer
wing-coverts.
The lower figure shews the long clump of feathers covering
the skull, and the whole length of the spinal column ;
* In 1840 Prof. Burmeister published Nitzsch’s work, above mentioned,
wherein it was conclusively shewn th a t the mode in which the clumps of feathers
are distributed on the body of birds is very important in revealing the affinities
and differences of various groups of species, and consequently affords a set^ of
characters of great use in classification, and to be neglected by no systematist.
English ornithologists are or should be deeply indebted to Mr. Sclater, one of the
earliest in this country to recognize the value of Nitzsch’s labours, for inciting
the Ray Society to avail itself of Mr. Dallas’s experience and bring out a trans