348 Letters, Extracts, and Notes. [Ibis, 



The Nomenclature of Plumages. 



Sir, — In the January number Capt. CoUingwood Ingram 

 draws attention to an error in his paper (Ibis, 1920, p. 857), 

 and states tliat it is important " as it largely vitiates my 

 definition of Mesoptile/' Capt. Ingram was apparently 

 unaware of my remarks in the '^ Bulletin' (vol. xxvii. 

 p. 83), when I dealt with the four plumages of the young 

 Eagle-Owl and pointed out that the B;irn-Ovvl was excep- 

 tional and that the third plumage was suppressed in that 

 species. Further investigations have led to the conclusion 

 that in other groups of birds we may also have three 

 generations of plumage prior to the first adult dress. 

 jNIr. Pycraft, apparently being unaware of this fact, called 

 these plumages protoptiles, mesoptiles, and teleoptiles, and 

 I suggested that the generation immediately preceding the 

 adult dress should be known as heiniptiles. ]\Iy nomen- 

 clature therefore agrees with Capt. Ingram's in calling the 

 " second generation of feathers " mesoptiles, but these do 

 not immediately precede the adult feathers. Mesoptiles, 

 as I understand them, are the generation preceding the 

 hemiptiles, which in the Passeres are what is commonly 

 known as the juvenile plunuige. It is expedient in this, 

 as in other branches of Ornithology, to keep our nomen- 

 clature as uniform as possible. 



J. Lewis Bonhote. 

 CarslialtoD, 



8 January, 1921. 



Nestling Owls. 



Sir, — Captain Collingwood Ingram in his letter correcting 

 the mistake he had made between the Barn Owl and Tawny 

 Owl might have added the Scops {Scops giu) to the list 

 of Owls which do not have any intermediate down between 

 the first nestling down and the assumption of the complete 

 feather plumage. This is recorded in the 'Avicultural 

 Magazine," August 1899, page 160 : — 



" The white down in the nestling is replaced by a plumage 

 almost precisely resembling that of the adults, so they differ 



