Notes on the Plumage of North American Sparrows 367 



The nature of the si)rin<^ molt, if any occurs, is not revealed by the s])eci- 

 niens at my command, but the indications are that at the best it is limited, the 

 differences between summer and winter plumage being due to wearing off the 

 grayish tips of the winter plumage and a fading of those that remain. In 

 August, the birds become surprisingly worn, when one considers that at this 

 season they live chiefly in the open at the border of snow, and in September 

 the postnuptial molt occurs. This, as usual, is complete, and the bird acquires 

 a plumage which resembles that of the first winter but has a greater amount 

 of rose in the wings, the greater coverts as well as lesser, and the inner 

 feathers as well as outer, being bordered with this color. 



From adult summer plumage this winter plumage differs in grayish margins 

 of most of the underparts and brownish of the back. A change also occurs in 

 the color of the bill, which is black in summer but yellowish or brownish in 

 winter. 



Bird-Lore's Fourteenth Christmas Bird Census 



BIRD-LORE'S annual bird census will be taken as usual on Christmas 

 Day, or as near that date as circumstances will permit. Without wish- 

 ing to appear ungrateful to those contributors who have assisted in 

 making the census so remarkably successful, lack of space compels us to ask 

 each census-taker to send only one census. Much as we should like to print 

 all the records sent, the number received has grown so large that we shall have 

 to exclude those which do not appear to give a fair representation of the winter 

 bird-life of the locality in which they were made. 



Reference to the February, 1901-1913 numbers of Bird-Lore will acquaint 

 one with the nature of the report of the day's hunt which we desire; but to 

 those to whom none of these issues is available, we may explain that such 

 reports should be headed by a brief statement of the character of the weather, 

 whether clear, cloudy, rainy, etc. ; whether the ground is bare or snow-covered, 

 the direction and force of the wind, the temperature at the time of starting, 

 the hour of starting and of returning. Then should be given, in the order of 

 the A. O. U. 'Check-List' a list of the species seen, with exactly, or approxi- 

 imately, the number of individuals of each species recorded. A record should 

 read, therefore, somewhat as follows: 



Yonkers, N. Y. 8 a.m. to 12 m. Clear, ground bare; wind west, light; temp., 38°. 

 Herring Gull, 75. Total, — species. — individuals. — James Gates. 



These records will be published in the February issue of Bird-Lore, and 

 it is particularly requested that they be sent the editor (at the American 

 ]Museum of Natural History, New York City) not later than December 28. 

 // will save the editor much clerical labor if the model here given and the order 

 of the A. 0. U. 'Check-List" be closely followed. 



