A* BIRD’S NEW SUIT. 39 
strength) there can be any number of molts, depend- 
ing upon demands. 
But why there should be such an intimate connec- 
tion between change of dress and change of color is 
a matter not so evident, as it is that certain of these 
molts now are for the purpose of changing either the 
shape or color of the feathers for certain ends, as 
ornament, safety, etc. 
In some birds (for instance, our red-headed wood- 
pecker) there are certain spots, or series of spots, form- 
ing bars that tend to cross the wing, say, in the first 
plumage, but extend more completely across it in the 
next. The spot in the first case may be upon one vane 
only of a wing quill in the young of the year, and extend 
over the other vane during the next season ; and until 
the molt occurs there may be no change in the size 
and outline of these spots. There are innumerable 
instances of this sort of thing with all degrees of gra- 
dation between the incomplete and the complete state, 
where rows of spots merge into lines, and where, 
working the other way, lines break up into spots. 
These are dependent, as seen in the last chapter, upon 
the past habits of the bird. These young water 
thrushes and song sparrows are less spotted below 
than the adults, but young snowbirds (junco) and 
robins are more marked than their parents. 
It is claimed by some that now all new colors 
are acquired by molt, and by others that in some 
instances (young hawks) an infusion or loss, as the 
case may be, of pigment takes place as the feather 
forms, and continues so long as it grows. The battle 
