326 BULLETIN 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



and head plumage is well grown before the remiges and rectrices 

 have attained their full size. 



The Juvenal plumage is fairly similar to that of the adult except 

 in the color of the back and the upper wing coverts. The latter, 

 which are plain in the adult, are terminally edged with buffy brown 

 in the young, giving the overlapping rows of coverts a barred ap- 

 pearance. The back is bicolored — a ground color of buffy with two 

 broad, lengthwise bands of darker brown feathers, each of which is 

 barred with blackish, and tipped with yellowish buff. These two 

 bands are separated by a narrow light buffy mid-dorsal stripe. The 

 ground color (which is merely the mid-dorsal stripe, and the areas 

 lateral to the dark bands) varies greatly in color. In one specimen 

 it is tawny, in another very light buff, almost buffy white. As the 

 bird grows, the feathers comprising the two dorsal bands gi'ow 

 faster and larger than the lighter feathers and gradually dominate 

 the color scheme, producing a contrastingly barred effect on the 

 back. 



One of the males collected by Mearns at Escarpment is in an ad- 

 vanced stage of the postjuvenal molt. The head, cheeks, chin, 

 throat, nape, and mantle are newly feathered; the juvenal plumage 

 still remains on the back, rump, and upper tail coverts. A few 

 juvenal greater upper wing coverts remain, but the majority are 

 new (adult). The belly plumage is molting and the rectrices and 

 remiges are partly juvenal, partly adult. The wing molt begins at 

 the carpus and extends in both directions from it; the tail molt is 

 centripetal. 



It is difficult to say how long the juvenal plumage is worn. The 

 three nestlings already referred to were taken on the following 

 dates : April 4, and July 2. The full-grown bird in postjuvenal molt 

 was collected on September 9 (all taken within a distance of about 

 500 miles). But these dates do not necessarily mean anything, as 

 Van Someren ^^ writes that these birds — 



* * * apparently nest during every month of the year. Their nests 

 are constructed of twigs and rootlets and fibre, and lined with fine fibre and 

 leaves of the wild asparagus * * * -phe eggs are white, with a matt sur- 

 face * * *. Young nestlings are curious-looking creatures, flesh pink In 

 color, with greenish bills, bluish skin over the eyes, reddish feet, and orange- 

 colored mouths. 



The adults in the present series are mostly in molt, but some are 

 in full fresh plumage, others in worn plumage, indicating that birds 

 in all plumage conditions are to be found at all times. 



The measurements of the birds collected by ISIearns are as follows : 



s'Ibis, 1916, p. 241. 



