1896.] NATURAL SCIENCES OF PHILADELPHIA, 153 



Above and below scarlet, tail jet black, wings brown, edged with 

 olive, except greater median and lesser coverts and tertials which 

 are jet black. 



4. Plumage of Second Winter [No. 19,688, Coll. Wm. Brewster, 

 Buncombe Co., N. C. Sept. 15, 1886]. 



Above olive, below yellow-olive, wings and tail entirely jet black, 



5. Breeding Plumage of Second Year [No. 716, Coll. W, Stone. 

 Harvey's Lake, Pa, June 16, 1891], 



Above and below scarlet, wings and tail entirely jet black. 



From these descriptions it will be seen that the dull brownish 

 wing feathers of the first plumage are retained until the first annual 

 molt, except the tertials which are molted in the spring when the 

 red body plumage is first assumed. The jet black tail is also ac- 

 quired at this time in all the specimens that I have examined, ex- 

 cept one. In this the molt of the tail has been incomplete, only 

 three black feathers having been assumed. In many birds in the 

 first breeding plumage a few olive feathers persist on the sides of 

 the body and flanks and more rarely on the back. Specimens in 

 the plumage of the second winter also frequently show a few red 

 feathers on these parts. 



A peculiar plumage of the male which does not belong in the 

 regular cycle, but which is of more than casual occurrence, has the 

 scarlet of the normal plumage replaced by bright orange. Other 

 peculiarities, which are of rather frequent occurrence, are the pres- 

 ence of fed or orange feathers among the lesser wing coverts. Speci- 

 mens taken in August, showing the annual molt in progress, are 

 striking looking birds. One of these before me is about half molted ; 

 the crown, ear coverts, interscapiilum, throat, sides of the abdomen, 

 and spot on the breast are olive, while the hind neck, sides of head, 

 rump, breast, center of abdomen and crissum are scarlet. Speci- 

 mens showing the spring molt are, of course, exactly the reverse of 

 this, but the only one that I have seen was so far advanced that 

 nearly all the green plumage was lost. It was a bird entering upon 

 its first spring, and showed the jet black tail about half grown while 

 the brown remiges were retained and showed no signs of molt. 



Specimens examined : First plumage, 1 ; first winter, 5 ; spring 

 molt, 2 ; first breeding plumage, 14 ; annual molt 4 ; second winter 

 2 ; second spring molt, 1 ; second breeding plumage, 11. 



Female. — I have been unable to examine any specimens in the 

 winter, but from a comparison of spring and fall birds, I should 



11 



