BULLETIN No. 32. 7 



September 21. October 15. 



56. Dusky Horned Lark. 60. Western Golden-crown- 

 September 24. ed Kinglet. 



57. MacFarlane's Screech November IS. 



Owl. 61. Northern Shrike. 



October 1. November 24. 



58. Rubj'-crowned Kinglet. 62. Redpoll. 

 October 4. February 16, 1900. 



59. Black-headed Jay. 63. Green-winged Teal. 



Rev. W. L. Dawson, Ahtamim, Wash. 



MOLTING OF TROCHILUS COLUBRIS. 



The molt as evidenced in a series of females of cohibris 

 offers quite a field for investigation. I have before me twenty 

 examples of Trochilus colubris. It has been claimed that no 

 molt is to be observed while the birds are here on their brief 

 summer sojourn with us, but this is only correct in a measure, 

 for certain it is that certain specimens taken in early spring 

 differ widely from those taken later on and into the fall. The 

 change is easily accounted for to an extent, when we remember 

 that these birds perhaps reared their offspring, and in sitting 

 upon their frail structures, protecting their young and their 

 frail homes from the summer storms, very naturally, they more 

 than ordinarily exposed their delicate plumage to wear. But 

 however this may be viewed and giving it its full weight, there 

 is something more than a change, due to these conditions, 

 noticeable in some of the lingering specimens that are taken in 

 the late fall, and attention of working ornithologists should 

 be drawn to it. In this I hope that we may soon have some 

 happy results. The study of the plumage of the juveniles is 

 also interesting, the various stages of it, from the young fellow 

 who is just discovering what his wings are intended for to the 

 final stage of the ruby-throated gallant who flirts around in 

 the sunshine amid the flowers, twittering and whirring his tiny 

 pinions in the balmy air. The extremely young nestlings are 



no less interesting. 



There is not much investigation done along these lines and 

 only a certain class of scientific ornithologists take enough 



