Plumages of the Male Crossbill. 663 



of changes as Macgillivray tlioiiglit took place would in 

 a Palsearctic passerine bird be most reaiarkal)Ie, ii: not 

 unique. 



Wheelwright (A Spi'ing and Summer in Lapland, 1864, 

 pp. 302-304)^ who had excellent opportunities during his so- 

 journ in Sweden and Lapland, paid a good deal of attention to 

 this subject, and the summary of his ideas is as follows. The 

 males in the first winter assume the yellow-orange plumage, 

 and in no case had he ever shot a male which, retaining any 

 of the striped juvenile feathers, showed any sign that it 

 would become red before the next moult; during the next 

 summer he thought this plumage reddened without a moult; 

 at the next (/. e. 2nd) autumn moult the plumage became 

 the normal red, though perhaps some became orange-red. 

 Occasionally, but very rarely, very old birds assumed a 

 yellow-green dress. He felt convinced tliat the young never 

 become red in the first autumn: he significantly says, 

 however, that red birds are far the commonest, which would 

 be very remarkable if no birds became red in their first 

 year. He goes on to say that he has found males breeding 

 in the same woods (1) in the striped plumage of youth*, 

 (2) in the orange-red dress, (3) in the deep red dress. 



The late Prof. Collett (Mindre Medd. vedr. Norges 

 Fuglef. 1881-92, pp. 76-78) has some interesting remarks 

 on this subject. He says : ''An autumn nesting is found every 

 year but in no great quantities, some hatching as late as 

 October. In males of the autumn broods the plumage is, after 

 moulting from the nest-feathering, always yellow-green, never 

 red, and in such males traces of the striped juvenile plumage 

 may yet be seen in February. These males I have found 

 amongst the red ones the whole summer, and early in July 

 I have shot a young male in which new red feathers were 

 appearing amongst the yellow ones. 



" Young males in the first winter are partly dark red, partly 

 more or less yellow-red (confirmed also in this by Tschusi zu 

 Schmidhoffen, Monatsch. D. Ver. Sch. Vogelw. 1888, p. 368], 



* Surely an error.— C. B. T. 



