Our moulting season, like that of the fowls, must be a crisis in our lives.
In one of the most esteemed varieties, the wing and tail feathers are at first black - a peculiarity, however, which disappears after the first moulting.
The white ruff on the neck, and the similarly coloured feathers of the wing, do not appear until the completion of the first moulting.
In structure and some of its habits much resembling a bullfinch, but much exceeding that bird in size, it has the plumage of a crossbill and appears to undergo the same changes as do the members of the restricted genus Loxia - the young being of a dull greenish-grey streaked with brownish-black, the adult liens tinged with golden-green, and the cocks glowing with crimson-red on nearly all the body-feathers, this last colour being replaced after moulting in confinement by bright yellow.
As these moulting periods approach, the worms lose their appetite and cease eating, and at each period of change they are left undisturbed and free from noise.