VOL. VI.] "BRITISH DIVING DUCKS." 369 



of colour occur which can only be brought about by actual 

 re-pigmentation or re-arrangement of pigment. In this 

 volume he does not bring forward many instances of this, 

 but we notice that he claims a " colour-change " in the 

 flanks of the immature male Scaup, apparently in the under 

 tail-coverts of the adult male Tufted Duck, and in the cheeks 

 and lores of the adult male Long-tailed Duck. In his opening 

 chapter, however, he invites criticism on the subject by his 

 remarks, and cites as a clear case the scapulars of the adult 

 male Wigeon, 



" which are new and come in half winter, grey and vermiculated, and 

 half ecHpse, rich black and chestnut. These feathers are not again 

 moulted, but change to all grey with vermiculations in a few weeks 

 by colour change." 



We have examined eleven specimens of adult male Wigeon 

 moulting from eclipse to winter plumage, and in these speci- 

 mens all the feathers which were growing or had sheaths 

 attached were normal winter-feathers, and we were unable 

 to find a single new feather as described by Mr. Millais. In 

 most eclipse specimens, however, some of the scapulars are 

 partially barred (or vermiculated), and these in our opinion 

 are so when newly grown and remain so until they are shed. 

 How does Mr. Millais prove that the feathers which he 

 describes as growing in the autumn with partial eclipse 

 colouring are not moulted again ? It seems to us that such 

 feathers might occur in individuals in which part of the pig- 

 ment developed was of the same nature as that producing 

 the previous plumage. 



Some years ago, in an article entitled " On the Change of 

 Birds to Spring Plumage without a Moult " {Ibis, 1896, 

 pp. 451-7, plate x.), Mr. Millais instanced the Sanderling as 

 a bird which changed " by a complete recoloration of the 

 feathers in new form throughout the whole plumage, only 

 a few being moulted and replaced by new summer ones." 

 In this bird Mr. Millais says there is no moult in April, May, 

 and June, and he gives illustrations of feathers taken from 

 different individuals in those months to prove that they change 

 colour. We happen to have examined a good series of spring- 

 Sanderlings and can assure Mr. Millais that he is entirely 

 wrong in supposing that they have no moult, on the contrary 

 the moult for a spring-moult is a fairly complete one. In 

 this case certainly and possibly also in others, Mr. Millais has 

 misinterpreted the evidence and appears to have overlooked 

 the following facts which apply not only to the Sanderling 

 but to many other birds which undergo a spring-moult : 

 (1) the moult is gradual; (2) different individuals moult 



