eee | Dwicut, Moult of North American Shore Birds. aon 
fully developed before the southward migration is attempted; but 
the occurrence of many specimens of many species far from their 
breeding grounds shows the serviceable nature of these feathers, 
which are only slightly less resistant to wear than those of adults. 
Here are two birds of the first class which illustrate the far 
southern range in juvenal dress, viz., Z7inga maculata, Am. Mus. 
Nat. Hist., No. 30861, October, Brazil, and Actitis macularia, Am. 
Mus. No. 71427, September 14 Colombia; and there isa goodly 
number of other specimens and other species too numerous to 
specify from localities this side of the equator. 
Birds of the second class also press far south in many cases be- 
fore the postjuvenal moult sets in, as proved by a number of 
species, among them the following, viz., Macrorhamphus griseus, 
Am. Mus. No. 50148, July 5, Florida; Z7zmga canutus, Am. Mus. 
No. 26968, August 8, England; Zringa fuscicollis, Am. Mus. 
No. 34858, October 21, Brazil; 7Zotanus melanoleucus, Am. 
Mus. No. 30859, October, Brazil: Charadrius dominicus, Am. Mus. 
No. 30856, August, Bolivia, and No. 58677, November 14, Brazil ; 
Charadrius squatarola, Am. Mus. No. 61634, October 25, France 
and Caldris arenaria, Am. Mus. No. 30860, August, Bolivia, these 
specimens showing only the beginning of the postjuvenal moult. 
Usually, however, young birds of these and other species gradually 
assume new feathers of the winter dress as they travel towards 
their winter quarters. It is hardly necessary to specify them by 
number, for they are to be found in every collection. Some spe- 
cies are earlier than others, and there is considerable individual 
variation, but the first winter plumage is generally assumed dur- 
ing August and September, so that October or, at most, November 
specimens have completed the moult, which apparently never 
includes the flight-feathers nor the tail. 
Adults, easily recognizable in the early autumn, at least until 
the postnuptial moult is completed, by the worn and scalloped- 
out feathers of the nuptial dress, probably leave their breeding 
grounds before beginning to moult and gradually assume their 
winter dress as they loiter here and there on their southward 
journey. They move southward much earlier than is generally 
supposed, and probably make long flights without stopping. I 
have examined specimens of various species taken in Cuba, Texas, 
