Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/127

Rh chicks begin to moult their youthful plumage of narrow pointed feathers, and gradually acquire those of the adult bird, possessing them in their entirety, at the latest, when about four years old. Up to the time when the change begins, the sexes are not distinguishable; but after the moult the cocks acquire a black and the hens a drab plumage, which differs from that of a big chick not so much in colour as in the shape and quality of the feathers. The cocks do not change abruptly from their youthful drab to adult black, but pass through what is generally designated by the Dutch word, the "bont" (variegated) stage. Black, brown, and drab feathers are indiscriminately mingled all over the body, the plumes and tails being black-and-white. The same stage is gone through by the hens, but is not nearly so conspicuous, the difference in the colour of the feathers being less marked. At about four years all have their adult plumage; but both among cocks and hens there is a great diversity in colour in different individuals and in different parts of the country. In all cocks the plumes ("whites") are white, but in hens these feathers ("feminas") vary from white to drab. The "tails" correspond in colour with the "whites" and "feminas," respectively. In both sexes, variations in body-colour are most conspicuous. Some cocks are a glittering jet-black, while others are a rusty-brown; a few have odd white feathers clotted about the body; occasionally the secondary wing-feathers are white, or often fringed with white; and I knew of one which was thickly flecked with white over the whole body. In some cocks all the feathers, "whites" excepted, are beautifully curled, almost as though artificially; while in others they have not the slightest indication of curl. These individual variations are in some cases accentuated by differences of climate. Towards the coast the rusty-brown tint (more pronounced than up-country) is often found, while the glittering jet-black, so characteristic of Karroo birds, is comparatively uncommon. On the authority of an Ostrich farmer of great experience, who has hundreds of birds on both Karroo and coast farms, Karroo birds produce, on the whole, the best "blacks," coast birds the best "whites." The first essentiality of black feathers is that they shall be glittering and glossy, and this condition the dry air of the Karroo seems to favour; a white feather must, other characteristics being equal, be soft, with a limp