412 BULLETIN 179, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



region where his studies were made. Stoner (1936b), on the other 

 hand, presents concrete evidence that two broods are the usual thing 

 in the colonies studied intensively by him. Stoner found that four 

 or five eggs form the usual complement of the eggs of the first brood 

 clutch and three or four in the second. 



Plumages. — The following notes on the plumage of the young are 

 from Leonard K. Beyer's (1938) paper : 



The newly-hatched birds * * * were pink in color, with a scanty cover- 

 ing of gray down on the back of the head and neck, base of wings, and top 

 of back. The eyes were very large and showed black through the closed lids. 

 The inside of the mouth and the flanges on the bill were lemon-yellow, the 

 bill yellowish-gray, the feet pinkish-gray. The tiny nestlings appeared quite 

 weak and it seemed to be only with the greatest effort tliat they were able 

 to raise their immense wobbly heads for the food their parents brought 

 them. * * * 



At this age [5 days] the feather sheaths have appeared in the feather tracts 

 but as yet none of them have burst. The nestlings are much stronger and 

 noticeably larger, and their eyes are open though they keep them closed most 

 of the time. * * * 



At this age of the young [7 days] many feathers in the dorsal tract have 

 burst their sheaths, and also a few wing and tail feathers. * * * Now 

 nine days old, they had become rather well feathered, most of the body feathers 

 and many of the wing and tail feathers having burst their sheaths. How- 

 ever, their appearance was rough and unkempt, for the feathers were only 

 partly grown and the scanty natal down still clung to the tips of many of the 

 feathers. * * * 



The remaining nestlings were thirteen days old * * * They were quite 

 well feathered, with a considerable amount of natal down still clinging to 

 them. * * * 



On July 8 there was only one young bird in the nest. It was fifteen days old, 

 fully feathered, and practically all the natal down was gone. 



The natal down has disappeared by the sixteenth day and at this time 

 they are able to fly. The young remain in the nest until about the 

 eighteenth day but sometimes remain two or three days longer. 



The plumages and molts of the bank swallow have been described 

 by Dwight (1900), Brewster (1878), and Chapman (1917). I have 

 drawn freely from their papers in the descriptions that follow. 



The Juvenal plumage is acquired by a complete postnatal molt. 

 In this plumage the upper parts, including sides of the head, arc 

 brownish mouse gray, feathers edged with ferruginous, edging broad- 

 est on the rump and secondaries, narrowest on the crown and nape. 

 The under parts are similar to the plumage of the adult but with 

 the broad pectoral band strongly washed with clove brown, the 

 feathers edged with cinnamon. The chin and throat are tinged with 

 cinnamon and spotted with faint dusky dots. Lores dull black, feet 

 sepia becoming black. 



Some of the cinnamon edgings of the juvenal plumage are lost 

 before the young start the autumn migration. Some specimens taken 



