666 Mr. C. B. Ticelmrst on the 



remarkable differences at the second autumn. To solve this 

 question with certainty is a difficult matter, since our only 

 guide as to which birds are only a year old and which 

 are two years or more, is frequently lost: that is to say, that 

 by the time the one-year-old bird moults, the pale edges to 

 the juvenile coverts are often worn off. However^ I have 

 been able to examine four birds at the second autumn moult, 

 showing such traces of the juvenile wing-bar that there could 

 be no doubt that they had certainly only just completed the 

 first year. Of these, one is a yellow bird moulting into a 

 red plumage but mixed with new yellow and red feathers iu 

 the rump ; two are orange-yellow birds with here and there a 

 red tinge, both are moulting into a rich rose-red plumage; 

 the fourth is a dull red bird worn to coppery red and is 

 moulting on the flanks, chin, and cheeks to lemon-yellow. 



I have been able to examine about a dozen birds at the 

 post-nuptial moult in which there was no trace of the 

 juvenile coverts remaining ; however, of course some of these 

 may yet have been birds of the previous year in which the 

 pale edges had been worn off. Of these, two rather resemble 

 the last bird described : they are both red birds, one acquir- 

 ing new lemon-yellow feathers almost everywhere, the other 

 new yellow feathers on the neck and yellow-green feathers 

 on the back. Three others are moulting more or less from 

 red to red. As so many birds show when in full feather a 

 mixture of red and yellow feathers in their plumage, it is im- 

 possible to say that those which are in moult, and show some 

 yellow feathers coming through, will not also, when moult is 

 complete, show some red feathers ; and from an examina- 

 tion of a large series of fully adult birds, I find that it is very 

 rare to meet with any which do not show some red in the 

 plumage, the lemon-yellow or green-yellow birds being 

 nearly always birds of theiyear. Birds moulting from yellow 

 to } ellow so far I have not met with, though Dr. Hartert 

 implies (Vogel pal. Fauna, p. 118) that this occurs. That 

 these yellow birds are not always at any rate birds of the 

 year of autumn broods is, I think, certain, for I have seen two 



