1002"'^! DwiGHT, Variations of the Ainerican Goldfinch. 1^-2 



buffs, the shade of these colors depends much upon the length of 

 time the plumage has been worn. In the vicinity of New York 

 birds are not on the wing before August or September, depending 

 upon the hatching of the individual, and this plumage is worn 

 until the end of October or the beginning of November. The 

 female is similar to the male, but the wings and tail are of a 

 duller black, the tail blotches brownish white and in no contrast 

 to the dark parts of the webs, and the yellow tinge of the lower 

 surface is less distinct, restricted to the chin or lacking. A few 

 deep-colored females cannot be distinguished from the duller 

 males. In matters of dimension, the tarsi and toes quickly reach 

 their full size, followed by the wings and tail, while the bill is of 

 slower growth. The average dimensions are somewhat smaller 

 than in adults a year or more older. 



I have seen no specimens oi pallidiis in this plumage. 



The young of both sexes of salicamans in this plumage are not 

 darker than eastern birds at a corresponding stage, but they are 

 usually more suffused with yellow, especially below. Specimens 

 from the end of May to the end of August, are comparable with 

 September to November tristis, on account of the difference in the 

 hatching season of eastern and western birds. The wing-edgings 

 of salicamans are scarcely, if any, broader on an average than are 

 those of tristis^ and their color is identical. Females of course 

 average duller than males. Individual variation and fading are, 

 however, responsible for greater differences than may be satisfac- 

 torily established between the two races, for when eastern and 

 western specimens are mixed together it is impossible to separate 

 even a majority of them without looking at their labels. 



3, First Winter Plumage. — -In trislis a partial postjuvenal 

 moult, confined to the body and the lesser (rarely the median) 

 wing-coverts, takes place during September or October. The 

 wings and tail are not renewed and their edgings, through rapid 

 fading, become a pale buff even before the moult is completed. 



In males the new brown of the upper parts is deeper than that 

 of the Juvenal plumage and strongly suffused with olive-yellow on 

 the head, often faintly tinged elsewhere, and there is a grayish 

 collar visible on the neck ; the upper tail-coverts are smoky gray 

 with wood-brown edgings ; sometimes the rump is tinged with 



