6 THE SCOTTISH NATURALIST 



but three of the inner ones in each wing were coming in fresh 

 and were partly in quill. The secondaries were fresh, new 

 tertiaries were coming in, and the whole of the wing-coverts, 

 with the exception of the primary coverts, were in heavy 

 moult, new feathers in quill coming in everywhere. One new 

 centre tail feather was nearly full grown, the rest of the tail 

 feathers being old. The fact that Shrikes moult in their 

 winter quarters is well known, but it may be of interest to 

 place on record the actual state of moult and date of this 

 specimen. A Siberian Ch'x^chz.^ {P/iy//oscoptisco I lybita tristis) 

 from Muddapur, India, on loth November 1880, showed no 

 sign of moult, while of three Arctic Willow-warblers 

 {Phylloscopiis borealts), two had no sign of moult, though one 

 of these, a female, taken in the South Andamans on 23rd 

 October 1873, had the primaries very old and worn. The 

 third, from the Philippine Islands (no date), was moulting on 

 the back and underside, the primaries, secondaries, and tail 

 being new. Two Isabelline Wheatears {CEnanthe isabellind) 

 from India, one without a date and the other in October 1873, 

 showed signs of moult in the small feathers. 



Of two Swallows {Chclidon riistica rnstiax) from Zomba, 

 one, taken in February 1894, had the first primary almost 

 entirely in quill, the two outer pairs of tail feathers absent, 

 and the third still partly in quill. The other, taken in March 

 1894, had the first primary in each wing only about half- 

 grown, the old primary still remaining in one wing ; the 

 inner secondary but one was still partly in quill, and the rest 

 of the wing feathers were fresh ; the second outermost pair 

 of tail feathers were only two-thirds grown, and the long outer 

 pair were absent. In neither case was there any sign of 

 small feather moult. In the Dictionary of Birds, p. 599, 

 the Swallow is stated " to moult in our mid-winter or even 

 later," but the above dates suggest that the moult may be 

 continued even into spring. A male Swallow from Natal, 

 unfortunately without date, is heavily in moult. We examined 

 five Cuckoos {Cnaihis canortis canorus), but only one, a male 

 from Uganda, in January 1911 showed a little moult on the 

 throat; four immature inner secondaries still remained, but a 

 new grey feather was coming in to replace the innermost. 



