ORNITHOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS. 27 



the tip becomes nearly pure white, the middle scarlet, and the nasal 

 shield finally, when the birds, jnst before the breeding season, appear 

 at the rookeries, turns into a fine carmine, as shown by No. 92972 

 (PI. IV, Fig. 2), a female shot May G, 1883. But while in this speci- 

 men the bill shows its highest perfection, the plumage already bears 

 evidence to the commencing decay caused by the wear of the feathers 

 while inhabiting the deep nest holes in the crevices of the rocks, and 

 the abrasion is particularly visible on the wing-coverts, which were not 

 shed when the other feathers of the body were moulted, viz, late in winter, 

 the middle row being light brownish gray, as are also the exiDosed 

 parts of the inner primaries. Also the ornamental plumes are on the 

 decline, and the frontal crest is already thinned out considerably, con- 

 sisting in the specimen in question of only four plumes, while some 

 birds in "full dress" may be found having as many as a dozen. Dur- 

 ing the incubation the plumage becomes gradually more dilapidated, 

 and when the young are out, the parents — at other seasons so graceful 

 and beautiful — present a rather miserable aspect, the white plumes on 

 the head being soiled and glued together, and all the wing-feathers 

 faded into a dirty gray, with the vanes disconnected and the edges 

 ragged. All the birds taken on the nest, July 21, were in that deplora- 

 ble condition, only that the wings were spotted with slaty black as the 

 new coverts made their appearance now, the middle row being com- 

 plete already. Also the four or five inner primaries were shed, and the 

 new ones, in different stages of development — the three innermost full 

 grown — contrasted favorably against the fiided-out remnants of the old 

 ones. The tail-feathers are still unshed, but their condition plainly 

 shows that they will be moulted before long. The ornamental feathers 

 are worn down, the crests are thin, and many of the long plumes have 

 already disappeared. These specimens prove beyond a possibility of 

 doubt that the remiges and rectrices are moulted towards the end of 

 the breeding season, and that the process commences with the inner 

 primaries*. But not only are the wing-feathers shed now, but also the 

 contour-feathers ; all over the body protrude now the bluish sheaths 

 containing the new feathers, which in some i^laces have already burst 

 through the tips. The post-nuptial moult, therefore, is a complete one. 



*That the process is similar in the allied Ptychoramplius aleitticus (PAt,Xu.) is evi- 

 dent from a specimen (U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 100070) collected by Mr. Charles H. 

 Townsend at the Farallon Islands on September 11, 18c;4. It has just moulted all 

 the primaries which are full grown, except the first one, which is still partly in the 

 sheath. 



