34 GRAY LADY AND THE BIRDS 
The Moulting 
“* After the nesting season is over, and a pair of birds have 
raised one, two, and, as with the Wrens, sometimes three 
broods, the feathers of the parents become worn and 
broken, and not fit for winter covering, nor are the wing 
quills strong enough for the fall flight. 
“‘ At this time, when the young birds are able to care for 
themselves, the pairs no longer keep alone together, but, 
leaving their nesting haunts, travel about either in a 
family party or in larger friendly flocks, and, although 
some birds, like the Song Sparrow and Meadowlark, sing 
throughout the season, the general morning chorus and 
the nesting season end together, in early or middle July. 
“Tt is quite difficult to name the birds when young and 
old travel in flocks, for when a male is bright-coloured 
and the female dull, the first coat of the young is often 
such a mixture of both that it is easily mistaken for a 
wholly different and strange bird. 
“In August or September almost all of our birds change 
their spring feathers. This is called moulting. And the 
brightly coloured birds often drop their wedding finery 
for dull-coloured travelling cloaks, so that they may not 
be seen when they fly southward through the falling 
leaves. 
“« After this season Father Tanager, of the scarlet wedding 
coat with black sleeves, appears in yellowish-green, like 
his wife, and the little Tanagers sometimes have mixed 
green, yellow, and red garments, for all the world like 
patchwork bedquilts pieced without regard to pattern. 
“The jolly Bobolink, also, who in May was the prize 
