8 BULLETIN 2 03, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



Plumages. — [Author's Note: Dr. Dwight (1900) calls the natal 

 down mouse gray, and describes the juvenal plumage as follows: 

 "Above, wood-brown streaked with dull olive-brown, the upper tail 

 coverts dusky; median crown and superciliary stripe dingy white. 

 Wings and tail dull black, edged chiefly with ashy gray, the tertiaries 

 (except the proximal which is entirely black) broadly edged with 

 white, buff tinged on the middle one. Two huffy white wing bands 

 at tips of greater and median wing coverts. The outer two rectrices 

 with terminal white blotches of variable extent on the inner webs. 

 Below, dull white, washed on the throat and sides with wood-brown, 

 obscurely streaked on throat, breast, sides and crissum with dull gray- 

 ish black." 



A post] u venal molt begins early in July, involving everything but 

 the flight feathers; this produces in the young male a first winter 

 plumage which is similar to the juvenal, but whiter and more defi- 

 nitely streaked. "Above, striped in black and white, the upper tail 

 coverts black broadly edged with white; median crown and super- 

 ciliary stripe pure white. The wing bands white. Below, pure white 

 streaked with bluish black on sides of breast, flanks and crissum, the 

 black veiled by overlapping white edgings; the chin, throat, breast 

 and abdomen unmarked. Postocular stripe black ; the white feathers 

 of the sides of the head tipped with black." 



The first nuptial plumage is acquired by a partial prenuptial molt 

 in late winter, which involves a large part of the body plumage, but 

 not the wings or the tail. "The black streaks of the chin and throat 

 are acquired, veiled with white, and the loral, subocular and auricular 

 regions become jet-black. The brown primary coverts distinguish 

 young birds and the chin is less often solidly black than in adults." 



The adult winter plumage is acquired by a complete postnuptial 

 molt, beginning early in July. It differs from the first winter dress 

 "in having the chin and throat heavily streaked with irregular chains 

 of black spots veiled with white edgings, the wings and tail blacker 

 and the edgings a brighter gray. * * * The female has corre- 

 sponding plumages and moults, the first prenuptial moult often very 

 limited or suppressed. In juvenal dress the wings and tail are usually 

 browner with duller edgings and the streaking below obscure. In 

 first winter plumage the streakings are dull and obscure everywhere, 

 a brown wash conspicuous on the flanks and sides of the throat. The 

 first nuptial plumage is gained chiefly by wear through which the 

 brown tints are largely lost, the general color becoming whiter and 

 the streaks more distinct. The adult winter plumage is rather less 

 brown than the female first winter, the streaking less obscure and the 

 wings and tail darker. The adult nuptial plumage, acquired partly 



