2l8 DwiGHT, Sequence of Plumages. . \ > \ V \ 



and soft at this stage, even the flight-feathers being less com- 

 pactly rounded out terminally and deficient in pigment as com- 

 pared with those of adults. 



Within a few weeks, the plumage of the third stage, commonly 

 known as the ' autumnal,' has replaced that of the second, which 

 is in most species quite evanescent. The flight-feathers, however, 

 are retained throughout the following winter and summer and are 

 not renewed until the first postnuptial molt occurs, about a year 

 after the birds have left the nest. The primaries, their upper 

 coverts, the secondaries (usually the tertiaries), the alulae, and the 

 rectrices are the only feathers retained of the ' first ' plumage. The 

 body feathers assumed resemble closely in structure and pattern 

 those of the adult at the same season, and are worn during the 

 winter until the end of March or April, when together with the 

 wing-coverts they are renewed by a prenuptial molt, young and 

 old becoming indistinguishable except by the worn, clingy wings 

 and tail of the young bird. 



The young bird has now reached a fourth stage, the plumage of 

 the first breeding season, which in the Myrtle Warbler is made up 

 of parts of three, — the flight-feathers, matured in the second 

 stage, a few of the third stage, retained chiefly on the posterior 

 parts of the body, and the new feathers assumed in spring. 



At the end of the breeding season, the first nuptial, a complete 

 postnuptial molt occurs which renders old and young indistinguish- 

 able, adults entering a fifth stage separable from the third chiefly 

 by the blacker wings and tail, and brighter wing edgings, a dif- 

 ference that holds good for a twelvemonth, although it is not 

 infallible and cannot always be made out. The fifth stage of 

 plumage is worn until the following spring when the prenuptial 

 molt occurs, involving only the body plumage and wing-coverts, 

 as in the young bird. 



A sixth stage, the adult breeding plumage, is the last one recog- 

 nizable in the Myrtle Warbler, although it is well to bear in mind 

 that a seventh, corresponding to winter plumage, and an eighth, 

 corresponding to summer plumage, occurs, and so on until the 

 death of the bird. Fortunately this species passes both winter 

 and summer mostly within the borders of the United States so 

 that I have been able to examine large numbers of specimens 



