Notes on the Plumage of North American Birds 217 



but the tail and most of the wing-feathers, and is like that of the breeding female 

 (Fig. 4) but is everywhere richer, more buffy yellow in tone. This is the 'Reed- 

 bird' plumage. It is worn until the following spring when, late in February 

 and early in March, before leaving its winter home in northern Argentina and 

 southwestern Brazil, the bird undergoes a complete molt, including the wings 

 and tail. This creates no change in the general appearance of the female, but 

 the male undergoes a striking transformation. So far as feathers are con- 

 cerned, he is the bird we know in early summer, but the body-feathers are all 

 so widely fringed with yellowish, those of the nape with brownish, and those 

 of the scapulars, rump, and upper tail-coverts with dusky grayish, that it is 

 difficult to believe the bird can pass into the shining black, buff, and white 

 breeding plumage (Fig. 3) without losing or gaining a single feather. But dur- 

 ing the northward migration in March and April, the yellow, brown, and gray 

 tips gradually wear away, the plumage of the nape, rump, upper tail-coverts, 

 and scapulars apparently fades, the bill turns from brownish to blue-black, 

 and by the time the bird reaches its nesting-ground few traces of what one 

 might call its traveling cloak remain. 



The post-nuptial or 'fall' molt begins the latter part of July, immediately 

 after the nesting season. Like the prenuptial or spring molt it is complete, 

 and the bird now acquires the Reedbird plumage and can be distinguished 

 from young of the year chiefly by the presence of a few black feathers on the 

 chin and breast. In this plumage male and female, young and old, look essen- 

 tially alike as they journey through the rice-fields, cross the Caribbean, and 

 travel over more than half the length of South America to their winter home. 



