GOLDEN-WmOED WARBLER 51 



quire their first winter plumage about a month after they leave the 

 nest, and hence to the eye are indistinguishable from their parents, 

 but as they still continue to use the call of their babyhood, they may be 

 recognized as immature birds even when they are feeding high up in 

 the trees. 



Plumages. — [Author's Note : I can find no description of the natal 

 down. Dr. Dwight (1900) describes the juvenal plumage, in which 

 the sexes are practically alike, as "above, grayish or brownish olive- 

 green. Wings and tail slate-black edged chiefly with bluish plumbeous 

 gray, the coverts and tertiaries with olive-green. Below, pale olive- 

 yellow, the throat dusky. Transocular streak dusky. * * * 



"First winter plumage acquired by a partial postjuvenal moult, be- 

 ginning early in July, which involves the body plumage and wing 

 coverts, but not the rest of the wings nor the tail, young and old 

 becoming practically indistinguishable." He describes the young 

 male in this plumage as — 



above, plumbeous gray veiled with olive-green edgings ; the crown bright lemon- 

 yellow veiled posteriorly only. Below, grayish white, with yellow edgings here 

 and there, the chin, jugulum, lores and auriculars jet-black veiled slightly with 

 pale buff. Broad submalar stripes joining at angle of the chin, and superciliary 

 lines white. Outer half of median and greater coverts bright lemon yellow 

 forming an almost continuous wing patch, lesser coverts plumbeous gray, edged 

 with olive-green. 



First nuptial plumage acquired by wear, through which the buff edgings of 

 the black areas, the olive edgings of the back and the yellow edgings below are 

 almost completely lost, the plumage becoming clear gray, white, yellow and 

 black. 



Of the female, he says : "In first winter and other plumages olive- 

 gray, dusky on the lores and auriculars, replaces the black areas of the 

 male, and olive-yellow marks the crown. Above, the plumage is 

 greenish; the submalar stripes are grayish." Subsequent plumages 

 are acquired by a complete postnuptial molt in late June and July 

 and by wear in early spring.] 



Food. — Little exact infonnation has been gathered regarding the 

 food of the goldenwing. The insects it feeds on are mainly so small 

 that it is generally impossible to identify them. Jacobs (1904) 

 states : "Once I saw a female carry a small brownish butterfly to her 

 young; and several times I have discovered the birds taking small 

 smooth green worms — such as strip the leaves of their green coat, 

 leaving the ribbed skeleton — to their nestlings. The legs of a spider 

 protruded from a bird's bill as she approached her nest." 



The little pale green larva which Jacobs mentions impresses us as 

 the chief article of food, as we watch the birds. It is I/2 to % inch 

 long and appears to have a smooth, hairless skin. These larvae are 

 obtained, I believe, chiefly in the large trees. 



