OCR Text |
Show 2 4 4 MR, J. T. CUNNINGHAM ON [Mar. 17, I believe there were 10 tail-coverts on each side in each cock, but the two outermost on each side were small and unimportant. It will be seen from the list given above that only eight of the coverts in Cock B had been pulled out, so that eight feathers were left, apart from the rectrices, which had completed their growth, and could not grow any longer till they were moulted ; while in Cock A all the feathers except one had completed their growth, and must necessarily have been moulted before they could have grown again. Aug. 11 th.-The longest feather in tail of Cock B now was the central rectrix of the left side, which I measured today and found to be 1 ft. 84 in. long. The old feather was pulled out on Feb. 15, so that its successor had been growing nearly six months, and had grown at the rate of little more than 3 inches per month. Aug. 16th.-One of the dark-headed hens had moulted all the rectrices as well as some of the tail-coverts, so that the rectrices were shed almost simultaneously. Aug. 24th.-Found that Cock A had shed another short tail-covert, one of the transition-feathers, and also three of the outer rectrices: the latter were the 6th and 7th on right side and 6th on left, counting from the centre. Cock B had shed none of the rectrices or old tail-coverts yet, but this morning when I was stroking the feathers the 1st anterior covert on the right side came out. The predecessor of this had been pulled out on March 11th, and it was in full growth. It was 13| inches in length, and this was the growth of five months. There was no reason to regard the loss of this feather as connected in any way with the moult, as growing feathers are not moulted. The feathers growing in Cock B in place of those which were pulled out in the spring were as follows:- Three anterior coverts on right side. One posterior ,, ,, One anterior covert on left side. Two central rectrices. Sept. ls£.-The outermost rectrix on each side in Cock B came out when I was stroking the tail: they were loose and just about to moult. This may be regarded as the beginning of the moult of the tail, although one of the saddle-hackles and of the intermediate feathers had been moulted occasionally for some time. Sept. 2nd.-The 2nd posterior covert on right side in Cock B, a full-grown feather, was moulted. It was 1 ft. 7J in. without the imbedded quill, 1 ft. 8| in. in extreme length. Sept. 3rd.-6tli rectrix on right side shed in Cock B ; it was 74 inches long without the quill. Sept. A:th.-1st (nearest centre) posterior covert in Cock B moulted; it was 1 ft. 7| in. long. Also one of the outer anterior coverts in Cock A moulted. Sept. hth.-In Cock B three rectrices and one covert on left side |