Vol. XIX 

 1902 



I DwiGHT, Variations of the Ameyican GoldjincJi. I Co 



the California bird wears this plumage for three or four months 

 before the second prenuptial moult begins. September, October 

 and November are unfortunately not represented in the series of 

 snlicamans except by one bird of November 27, already showing 

 evidences of the nuptial dress by a few black feathers on the crown 

 and yellow ones elsewhere. Just as in frisfis, the California bird of 

 the second winter has the wings and tail slightly longer and the 

 plumage somewhat richer than that of the first, and with the yellow 

 of the lesser wing-coverts in males the distinguishing character. 

 The bird of November 27 and two of December 5 have lost the 

 buff of the wing edgings, and have faded somewhat on the back 

 and sides, but the incoming of the yellow nuptial feathers already 

 obscures the winter colors and many black feathers of the crown 

 have appeared. I think that some of them have come in at the 

 postnuptial moult, as this sometimes occurs in eastern birds. Speci- 

 mens of February and March are, as a rule, so little paler than 

 those of December, that the winter fading must be less than in 

 t?-isfis, presumably comparable tristis of March and April being 

 nearly all of them grayer. A number of April tristis with new 

 yellow and black feathers mixed with the winter dress are, however, 

 absolutely indistinguishable from sa/ica7>iaiis at like stage of the 

 moult, and the variation between winter specimens of tristis is so 

 great that it is easier to sort out on like dates a light and a dark race 

 than to distinguish even a majority of salicamans as markedly 

 different. Similar conditions prevail among the females. Both 

 sexes do appear to be darker at the beginning of the prenuptial 

 moult than tristis, but apparently onl)' because they have faded 

 less and show a yellower tinge in their plumage. 



The male winter type of pallidus (Amer. Museum No. 52667, 

 January 20) is of course a faded bird, but it seems to be large 

 and pale with very broad edgings. A few December birds resem- 

 ble it and a bird of March 6 has begun the prenuptial moult. 

 Several females, apparently adults, are not so much paler than 

 tristis as might be expected, but the material available is alto- 

 gether too scanty to arrive at very satisfactory conclusions. 



6. Second Nuptial Plumage. — The second prenuptial moult 

 of tristis, like the first, is partial, affecting only the body plumage. 

 There seems to be little or no appreciable difference in the inten- 



