Il8 Recent Literature. \^^. 



One of the most interesting points in the paper is the explanation of 

 the brightening of the winter phimage of the Purple Finch, Crossbill, etc., 

 in which the winter feathers are shown to have red barbs and gray bar- 

 bules. The latter being very largely lost in spring leave only the red 

 elements of the feathers and the whole plumage is thereby brightened. 

 The author likewise claims that all Purple Finches assume the red 

 plumage at the first postnuptial moult, and that none remain always in 

 the brown state, as had been supposed by some. The former idea that 

 some male White-throated Sparrows never attained the brightest coloration 

 of the species is also disproven. On the contrary, there is a regular pre- 

 nuptial moult, and all old males are dull in winter, the highly plumaged 

 winter specimens being apparently precocious young which have antici- 

 pated the prenuptial moult at the postjuvenal. 



Mottled breeding Crossbills are shown to be birds of the previous year 

 that have undergone a postjuvenal moult of varying extent in different 

 individuals, and all males at the first prenuptial moult become uniform 

 red, which color is not again lost. 



The abrasion of the tips of the feathers in the Snowflake Dr. Dwight 

 regards as due to the more rapid chemical disintegration of the light 

 areas and not to their more delicate nature and looser construction, as 

 stated by Mr. Chapman and the writer. 



The case of the Orchard Oriole, the long-standing puzzle in the study 

 of moult, is still unsolved in all its details, but Dr. Dwight advances ex- 

 cellent arguments in support of his theory that the chestnut and black 

 plumage is acquired at the first postnuptial moult, the green mottled birds 

 being all in the first nuptial plumage, the difference being due to individual 

 precocity. In fact Dr. Dwight thinks that every one of our Passerine birds 

 can and in most cases probably does assume the adult plumage at the end 

 of the first nuptial season. 



The Flycatchers (except Myiarchus and Sayornis), like the Swallows, 

 still await more specimens from the tropics before their moults can be un- 

 derstood, owing to the fact that they migrate before the change takes place. 



The above are merely some of the most important discoveries made by 

 Dr. Dwight, but his whole paper teems with exact information, original 

 in many of its details, and it should be carefully studied b^' every one 

 interested in the subject. 



The time is about past when a collector was content to call breeding 

 birds 'adults' and all others 'immature.' The fact already outlined is 

 now clearly established that every species has a definite sequence of plum- 

 ages, each corresponding to a certain period of its life, and through which 

 each individual goes. 



By the aid of Dr. Dwight's work it is now possible to tell the exact 

 nature of the plumage of all our specimens, and systematic works of the 

 future must needs adopt the nomenclature of plumages herein set forth if 

 they would be up to date. 



The few points left unsettled will, we trust, be cleared up in the near 



