Crea? TER. VET. 
A BIRD’S NEW SUIT. 
Attu birds get new suits at least once a year, 
changing in the fall. Some change in the spring 
also, either partially or wholly, while others have as 
many as three changes—perhaps, to a slight extent, a 
few more. 
The first class often have only one style of color 
the year through, though we shall see that this is not 
always the case; the second don a sort of wedding 
garment in the spring, or put bright patches of color 
or special trimmings or ornaments upon the old suit ; 
while the third dress rather to suit the surroundings, 
as the ptarmigans. This latter class also put on frills 
and stains by means of these changes, and all sorts of 
gradations are found between the classes. 
It seems now that the manner and frequency of 
changing the dress is something that has been easily 
modified in the past, since we find, as Mr. Darwin 
notes, that the number and manner of molts vary 
strikingly in birds that are near akin and apparently 
much alike in habits. Like colors, molt seems to have 
been readily influenced by external conditions. The 
spring molt is often only partial—a patch or a plume 
37 
