66 BRITISH. ‘SEA BERDS: 
the summer plumage of the adult. At the beginning 
of autumn, however, these bright colours begin to 
be changed for a dress which resembles the winter 
plumage of their parents. This is not effected, 
however, by a moult, but by a change in colour of 
the feathers, only the very worn and abraded ones 
being actually replaced. In the spring following, 
these immature birds moult into summer plumage, 
similar to that of the adults, although the wing 
coverts retain their hue, characteristic of summer or 
the breeding season, until the next autumn, when 
for the first time these feathers are changed for 
the gray or brown ones of winter. It should here 
be remarked that the wing coverts of the adults 
seem only to be moulted in the autumn, so that this 
portion of their plumage is always the same colour 
after the bird reaches the adult ‘stage’ ofits 
existence. The phenomenon of the alteration of 
colour in the plumage of birds, and especially 
in Limicoline species, without moulting or an 
absolute change of the feathers, is a profoundly 
interesting one. One of the most remarkable 
facts in connection with this phenomenon is the 
restoration of the worn and ragged margins of 
the feathers in some Limicoline species to a 
perfect condition without a change or moult of 
the notched and damaged feather. Schlegel was 
the first naturalist, apparently, to discover that this 
wonderful renovation took place, but his statements 
seem to have been doubted by naturalists. FFortun- 
