° i5r4 J DwiGHT, Plumages of the Scoters. 303 



nal white spots on the side of the head are completely obliterated 

 by black feathers as the postjuvenal moult progresses and the fresh 

 white nuchal patch becomes more or less prominent varying indi- 

 vidually greatly in extent and purity of color. 



1st Nuptial Plumage. Practically the same as the first winter 

 with wear added which creates greater havoc among the brown 

 juyenal, than among the black first winter feathers. In some 

 birds, perhaps many, there is a prenuptial moult which adds black 

 feathers to those already grown or replaces them. Yearling birds 

 do not breed and are late in beginning the postnuptial moult. A 

 specimen (J. D., Jr., No. 4367) taken September 4 well illustrates 

 wear as well as the delayed postnuptial moult in immature birds, 

 for the brown feathers of wings, tail, lower parts and back are the 

 worn and faded juvenal feathers, the black ones of head, neck, 

 breast, and sides are of first winter (or perhaps first nuptial) while 

 here and there a few black feathers of the second winter plumage are 

 just beginning to appear. It might well be November before such 

 a bird as this would complete his moult. 



I find no evidence of an " eclipse " plumage as is claimed but can 

 understand how retained brown and worn feathers of an earlier 

 plumage could be mistaken for an " eclipse" growth. 



2d Winter Pluviage, acquired by a complete first postnuptial 

 moult, at which the adult plumage is assumed. The male now has 

 two white triangles on the head and the colored bulging bill, and 

 the female assumes a plumage much darker than in the first winter. 

 She loses to a large extent the two juvenal white spots on the side 

 of the head for which are substituted an obscure anterior and a 

 more conspicuous posterior whitish spot, both of them obscured by 

 the dusky feather tips which later are worn off. The female too 

 has an indistinct cap which is blacker than in deglandi and she may 

 or may not have an indistinct white nuchal patch similar to the 

 male, — the individual variation is considerable. 



2d Nuptial Plumage (and all later nuptial plumages) acquired 

 partly by wear, mostly by a partial prenuptial moult confined 

 chiefly to the head and sides. Many birds examined in March and 

 April show the growth of new black feathers among the old. A 

 specimen (Amer. Mus. No. 102082) of May 19 still shows new 

 growth giving the abdomen a mottled look and the sides a blacker 

 tint. 



