30 COLOR AND AGE. 



Color and Age. — All birds have a special nestling 

 plumage. With those that run or swim at birth, such 

 as Grouse, Snipe, and Ducks, this is a full suit of down, 

 which may be worn for several weeks. With those 

 birds which are helpless when hatched — for instance, 

 Robins, Sparrows, and Orioles — this downy covering is 

 so scanty that they are practically naked. This birth 

 dress is followed by a new growth, known as the " first 

 plumage." Down-covered birds do not acquire this for 

 some time, but with those birds that are bom nearly 

 naked it begins to grow soon after they are hatched, and 

 is almost complete w^hen they leave the nest. The first 

 plumage is often unlike that of either parent ; for ex- 

 ample, the spotted plumage of the Robin. It is worn for 

 several months by some species — certain Snipe and others 

 — but with most land birds it is soon exchanged for the 

 costume they ^vill wear through the winter, usually 

 termed the "immature plumage." This may resemble 

 that of either parent respectively — that is, immature 

 males may be like adult males and immature females like 

 adult females, as with the Bob-white and Cardinal Gros- 

 beak ; or the immature birds of both sexes may resemble 

 the adult female, as with the Hummingbird and BoboHnk. 

 Again, the immature birds of both sexes may be unlike 

 either of the adults, as with the Eagle r„nd most Hawks ; 

 or the immature female may resemble the adult female, 

 while the immature male is unlike cither parent, as in the 

 case of the Rose-breasted Grosbeak and Scarlet Tanager. 

 When both parents are alike, the young generally resem- 

 ble them, and this happens among most of our land birds ; 

 for example, the Flycatchers, Crows and Jays, many 

 Sparrows, Vireos, Wrens, and Thrushes. 



Immature birds, difi^ering from the adults, may ac- 

 quire the adult plumage the next spring, as with the 

 Bobohnk, or they may then don a second or transition 



