[Auk 

 April 



Limicola:, and especially in the Sanderling and Golden Plover, is 

 equally absurd and erroneous, although the changes are described 

 with a minuteness of detail that would seem to imply a careful 

 examination of specimens. In fact, he seems to have made such 

 examinations, as he says his observations are based " on fresh 

 examples, in which, by examination of the inner cutaneous sur- 

 face, it was possible to determine with certainty whether moulting 

 actually took place or not. . . . Where the change of colour 

 proceeds by gradational stages in this manner, the bird under 

 examination completely gives one the impression of being fully in 

 the moulting state, and, in fact, examples of this kind have been 

 sent me by ornithologists of repute in proof of a moulting process. 

 A close and exact examination, however, at once reveals the fact 

 that all these' scattered and newly coloured feathers are of per- 

 fectly normal size ; nor do we find among them any others of half 

 or more than half their full growth, still within the dermal quill 

 [sheath], as would be the case if one were dealing with a moulting 

 individual" (p. 163). On this point it must be said that Giitke 

 was very unfortunate in selecting his material, or very careless in 

 his observations ; as ordinarily it is by no means difficult to find 

 in such specimens as he describes plenty of feathers in all stages 

 of growth. How he could have failed to discover them is hard 

 to conceive. His interpretation of the markings and changes he 

 so minutely describes must be due to so strong a preconceived 

 notion of what ought to occur that he was blinded to the real facts 

 in the case. Indeed, according to Giitke, in speaking of the 

 Sanderling, not only does the color of the feathers change but 

 " at the same time the serrated indentations [due to wear] of the 

 worn posterior flight feathers, the abraded tips of the barbs which 

 formed the light lateral markings" are restored. "When this 

 [transformation] is complete, the feathers are of a dusky black 

 colour, the large triangular spots at their margins nearly white, 

 the serrated indentations of the edges of the feathers are filled 

 out, and the whole plumage has the appearance as if it had 

 just been renewed by moulting," — which, in fact, is just what 

 has happened ! l 



1 In this connection see 'The Changes of Plumage in the Dunlin and Sander- 

 ling,' by Frank M. Chapman (Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist., VIII, 1896, pp. 1-8), 

 written with special reference to Gatke's remarkable statements. 



