Notes on the Plumage of North American Sparrows 269 



only during the mating- and nesting-season that the male wears his striking 

 black-and-white costume. 



The nestling male is buffy white, faintly streaked below; above the feathers 

 are blackish margined with buffy, producing a somewhat scaled appearance. 

 At the postjuvenal molt the tail and wing-quills are retained, the rest of the 

 plumage molted. The new plumage (first winter) resembles that of the female 

 but the wings and tail are blacker and there is more black on the underparts, 

 particularly on the throat. 



The breeding or nuptial plumage is gained by a spring or prenuptial molt, 

 in which, as in the postjuvenal or first fall molt, the tail and wing-quills are 

 retained. The body plumage, wing-coverts and tertials are shed and replaced 

 by the black- and-white breeding-dress. Birds in their first nuptial plumage 

 may now be distinguished from fully mature birds by their browner wings and 

 tail and, often, less intensely black body feathers. 



At the postnuptial or fall molt, which, as usual, is complete, the bird 

 assumes a costume somewhat like that of the first winter ; but the tail and wing- 

 quills are now fully black and there is more black on the underparts. 



WOOD PEWEE 

 Photographed by Guy A. Bailey, Geneseo, N. Y. 



