1896.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA. 135 



At the end of the first summer the entire plumage of the young 

 bird is shed, including the wing and tail, and a black dress broadly- 

 edged with brown is then assumed.^® This becomes almost entirely 

 black by the breeding season through abrasion. Owing to the extent 

 of the abrasion, however, the plumage presents a somewhat worn . 

 appearance and there is always more or less trace of the brown edg- 

 ings present. The subsequent winter plumages show much less of 

 the brown borders and eventually this dress is nearly pure black ; 

 except, of course, the shoulders. This is well shown in a fall male 

 of A. phceniceus sonoriensis in the U. S. Nat. Mus. Coll. Whether the 

 brown edges are ever entirely lost at the second annual molt or whether 

 birds in such plumage are always several years of age I cannot say, but 

 incline to latter view. The less brown margins to the winter plum- 

 age, the less abrasion takes place and the nuptial plumage appears 

 relatively smoother. The depth of color of the red shoulder patch 

 is not necessarily an index of the age, as some birds in the first year 

 have deep red shoulders. 



Mr. Brewster describes (Z. c.) an occasional, though not unique 

 plumage, which has a " crescentic patch of pale yellow tinged with 

 rose-color ujiou the breast," Avhich he regards as an " exceedingly 

 high phase of ornamentation." 



Females. — Vary considerably in the tints on the throat ; the buff- 

 est ones I take to be birds in their first year and those with the 

 pinkest throats are probably the oldest. The red on the shoulder 

 of the females increases in proportion to that on the throat. The 

 molts are exactly the same as in the male, and the abrasion in 

 spring always well marked. 



Sturnella magna (Linn.). Meadow Lark. 



3Iale. — Plumages, first, winter and nuptial. 



The Meadow Lark, as in the preceding species, molts both wing 

 and tail at the end of the first summer. There is no spring molt, 

 the change to the breeding dress being produced entirely by abrasion. 

 All the under surface is veiled in winter with long brownish or buff 

 tips. The bright yellow and black tips are only brought out when 

 these are lost. On the upper surface the abrasion affects the light 

 margins to the body feathers and the light bands and indentations 

 on the tertials, which become worn in a most remarkable manner 

 (see Plate IV, figs. 8 and 9). There is some variation in the extent 



i«First described by Mr. Wm. Brewster, Bull. Nutt. Orn. Club, 1878, p. 175. 



