VOl '8* VI ] Stone, Winter Plumages. 307 



beneath, and in the jet black instead of brown remiges and 

 rectrices. After the spring molt both adult and first year birds 

 appear in the familiar black, white and pink nuptial plumage, but, 

 as in the early spring Bobolink, the tips of the feathers are often 

 bordered with brown, which is lost through abrasion by the time 

 the bird reaches its nesting ground. Even in the nuptial plumage 

 the old and young birds can still be separated by the color of the 

 flight feathers, which remain just as before the molt. 1 



With this outline of the plumages of the Rose-breast, it is inter- 

 esting to see what our standard works have to say on the subject. 

 In not a single one is there anything to indicate that the adult 

 male has a winter plumage in any way different from the well- 

 known spring dress! In Ridgway's 'Manual' the adult winter 

 plumage is apparently described as the ' First Winter ' plumage, 

 as it is stated that " the wings and tail are as in the adult male. " 

 In Coues ' Key ' we are led to believe that the young male does 

 not acquire the rose color beneath the wings until the first full 

 plumage is acquired. 



In the British Museum Catalogue, 2 however, we find the most 

 remarkable statement. Dr. Sharpe evidently had winter birds of 

 various ages before him and in the absence of molting specimens 

 fell back upon the famous color change theory as a solution of 

 the question. 



The First Winter plumage is first described and then he adds: 

 "The slight tinge of rose-colour on the breast of the young male 

 greatly develops when the bird is in its winter-quarters, and the 

 streaks on the breast and throat gradually disappear as the red 

 colour spreads upwards, and the adult plumage appears to be 

 gained by a change of feather and not by any moult. As the 

 black spreads on the upper surface the streaks disappear, and at 

 last the ochreous-brown colour, which is characteristic of the 

 young bird, remains only in the shape of edgings to the mantle, 

 back and scapulars," etc. He further states that he has seen no 

 specimen which proves to his satisfaction that the old male has a 



'The first year bird, however, often molts his tail in spring along with the 

 body feathers so that in the 'First Nuptial' plumage, the tail is often black 

 while the wings are brown. 



2 Vol. VII, p. 60. 



