370 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [1897. 



The possibility that some of the specimens described below which 

 show molt in the primaries were birds of the year was considered, 

 but all the evidence seemed to point to their being adults. 



I feel convinced that the black tips to the wing and tail coverts 

 will serve to distinguish birds of the year as pointed out by Mr. 

 Chapman, even after the black and white feathers of the back and 

 head have been entirely replaced, as they are still retained in birds 

 that have entirely finished the molt. 



The specimens illustrating the annual molt of the adults may be 

 arranged as follows : 



A specimen from Glacier Valley, North Greenland, taken June 

 14 (A. N. S. P., 30,197), shows the full nuptial plumage as do other 

 specimens from Cape May, N. J., May 21st to June 13th. 



One from Cape May, August, 14th is in worn nuptial plumage 

 with one or two gray feathers on the back, but no further sign of molt. 



Eighteen other specimens (Aug. 2d to Sept. 11th) show a varying 

 amount of gray feathers in the plumage of the upper surface, giving 

 them a mottled appearance. In all of these the spotting on the 

 breast is still perceptible, and in at least half of them scarcely any 

 molt has occurred in this part of the plumage. In none of them is 

 there any molt in progress in the wing or tail, even the wing cov- 

 erts being in every instance the worn nuptial plumage. 



The primaries show great diversity as to abrasion, some being 

 much worn and bleached to a dull brownish tint, while others are 

 much blacker and comparatively so fresh looking that Mr. Chap- 

 man considered them to be newly acquired feathers. 



As stated below, however, I am inclined to consider them as be- 

 longing to the old nuptial plumage. 3 



3 In this connection attention .should be called to the fact that in the Dunlin 

 ( Tringa alpina pacifica) the primaries are molted in June, (!) as is shown by 

 everv individual in a series of four collected in Alaska by Dr. Benj. Sharp, 

 June 28-29, 1895 (Coll. Acad. Nat. Sci., Phila.). There is no trace of such 

 a molt in the only breeding Sanderling that I have been able to examine, 

 while we have positive evidence that some Sanderlings molt the primaries in 

 August (see below). 



Therefore, if the comparatively fresh appearance of the primaries in some 

 of our mottled August birds indicates that they are newly acquired feathers, 

 we must admit that there are two styles of molting in this one species, which 

 seems unlikely — i. e., in some individuals a molt (in June or July) of the re- 

 miges, completed before the molt in the coverts or body plumage begins ; and 

 in others a molt (in August) of all the feathers, the remiges beginning when 

 the body plumage is about half renewed. 



A series of Knot taken in Greenland during June and July show no such 

 molt as is exhibited in the Dunlin. 



