30 COLOR AND AGE. 



Color and Age. — All birds have a special nestling 

 plumage. With those that run or swim at birth, such 

 as Grouse, Snipe, and Ducks, this is a full suit of down, 

 wdiich may be worn for several weeks. With those 

 birds which are helpless when hatched — for instance, 

 Kobins, Sparrows, and Orioles — this downy cohering is 

 so scanty that they are practically naked. This birth 

 dress is followed by a new groM'th, known as the " fii-st 

 plumage." Down-covered birds do not acquire this for 

 some time, but with those birds that ai-e born nearly 

 naked it begins to grow soon after they are hatched, and 

 is almost complete when they leave the nest. The first 

 plumage is often unlike that of either parent ; for ex- 

 ample, the spotted plnmage of the Robin. It is w^orn for 

 several months by some species — certain Snipe and others 

 — l)ut with most land birds it is soon exchanged for the 

 costume they will wear through the wiuter, usually 

 termed the " innnature plumage." This may resemble 

 that of either parent respectively — that is, immature 

 males may be like adult males and immature females like 

 adult females, as with the Bob-white and Cardinal Gros- 

 beak ; or the immature birds of both sexes may resemble 

 the adult female, as with the Hummingbird and Bobolink. 

 Again, the immature birds of both sexes may be unlike 

 either of the adults, as with the Eagle and most Hawks ; 

 or the immature female may resemble the adult female, 

 while the innnature male is unlike cither parent, as in the 

 case of the Rose-breasted Groslieak rnd Scarlet Tanager. 

 When both parents are alike, the young generally resem- 

 ble them, and this happens among most of our land birds ; 

 for example, the Flycatchers, Crows and Jays, many 

 Sparrows, Vireos, Wrens, and Thrushes. 



Immature birds, differing from the adults, may ac- 

 quire the adult plumage the next spring, as with the 

 Bobolink, or they may then don a second or transition 



