The Two
Middle Feathers Of The Tail Have No Webs, Except A Very Small One
At The Base And At The Extreme Tip, Forming Wire-Like Cirrhi,
Which Spread Out In An Elegant Double Curve, And Vary From
Twenty-Four To Thirty-Four Inches Long.
From each side of the
body, beneath the wings, springs a dense tuft of long and
delicate plumes, sometimes two feet in length, of the most
intense golden-orange colour and very glossy, but changing
towards the tips into a pale brown.
This tuft of plumage cam be
elevated and spread out at pleasure, so as almost to conceal the
body of the bird.
These splendid ornaments are entirely confined to the male sex,
while the female is really a very plain and ordinary-looking bird
of a uniform coffee-brown colour which never changes, neither
does she possess the long tail wires, nor a single yellow or
green feather about the dead. The young males of the first year
exactly resemble the females, so that they can only be
distinguished by dissection. The first change is the acquisition
of the yellow and green colour on the head and throat, and at the
same time the two middle tail feathers grow a few inches longer
than the rest, but remain webbed on both sides. At a later period
these feathers arc replaced by the long bare shafts of the full
length, as in the adult bird; but there is still no sign of the
magnificent orange side-plumes, which later still complete the
attire of the perfect male.
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