Plumages of the Mule Crossbill. 665 



character by which the males after the first autumn moult 

 was completed could be distinguished from males of at least 

 one year older. It Avill be fouud that the three or four (in 

 some individuals more) outer feathers of the greater coverts, 

 the whole of which series iu the juvenile plumage have paler 

 tips forming a slight wing-band, are not moulted with the 

 rest of the series and body-feathers. Here, then, one has 

 an absolute guide, which holds good until these pale tips are 

 worn oif some time iu the next summer, as to which biids 

 ai'e less than a year old and which are more, for the latter 

 have no pale tips to any of the greater coverts. Hence in 

 two ways, by this guide, and by the examination of juvenile 

 specimens in moult, I was able to arrive at what dress was 

 attained iu the first autumn. The conclusion that I came 

 to was that such birds cannot be differentiated by the 

 general coloration of the plumage from those of greater 

 age : that is^ it is possible to find among both first year and 

 older birdsj bright red individuals, dull red ones, others red 

 with a little yellow, red Avith a fair amount of yellow, 

 orange-red birds, yellow, and green-yellow ones. Of the two 

 brightest red birds in the series (of some 200) one was a bird 

 of the year, the other older. Almost every variety between 

 a red bird and a yellow one may be found ; and I may here 

 point out that a bird showing distinctly red and yellow in its 

 plumage is not necessarily moulting from red to yellow 

 or vice versa, but the feathers may be part of the one plumage, 

 and it is even possible to find feathers which are partly 

 yellow and partly red. In one extremely handsome variety 

 the whole plumage is bright lemon-yellow interspersed 

 with bright scarlet feathers ; two specimens only, neither 

 of them moulting, were of this variety, so it is probably 

 rare : one was a bird of the year, the other older. The 

 yellow or green-yellow birds are nearly invariably birds 

 of the year, though this plumage does very rarely occur in 

 birds of greater age. 



Since there are so many variations in dress in male Cross- 

 bills of the first autumn, one would not expect to find any 



