^"Is^^^l Chadboukne, spring Plnmai^T of the Bobolink. \ A\ 



half inch wire netting, some of the smaller specimens were doubt- 

 less blown away and lost, which could not have occurred in the 

 case of the Bobolink. I was curious to know how closely the 

 number of feathers of the ' Scops ' agreed with that of the Bobo- 

 link, and therefore counted the corresponding pterylai of the Owl 

 in the way already described. The agreement was unexpected : 

 — the Owl having 501 feathers on the sheets, and an estimated 

 total of 3006 as needed for a complete 'moult' ; contrasted with 

 439, and 2634 of the Bobolink. 



Even Dr. Allen's note itself furnishes additional proof that a 

 spring ' moult ' would not escape detection. He says : " the 

 molt was in all stages from birds showing only here and there 

 the tip of a black feather on the breast to those that were in 

 nearly full breeding plumage. A large number of these were in 

 the highest stage of molt, pin feathers being distinctly visible 

 . . . even when the birds were several feet distant." 



Again in the Corumba bird 'moulting' was so apparent that in 

 the illustration for 'The Auk,' it was decided to assist Nature by 

 having the ' moult ' of the wings and tail completed by the artist. 

 A convincing proof that a ' moult ' could not have been over- 

 looked, though hardly so of scientific accuracy ; especially as it 

 was also intended to change such of the under parts as were 

 white to black or brown, had a slight mistake not prevented ! ! 



All the evidence at hand is therefore against the possibility of 

 error of observation in regard to the spring ' moult ' of the Bobo- 

 link ; and there seems to be no reasonable doubt that the 

 apparently contradictory statements of Allen,^ Chapman," Ord,-^ 

 Skillen,* and others are correct, though perhaps not yet satisfac- 

 torily explained. It follows that Bobolinks differ as to ' moulting ' 

 in springs — one bird attaining the full plumage by a ' true color- 

 change,^ another perhaps passes through a complete ' moult^ ivhile in 

 a third both processes are cotnbined. 



It is however generally taken for granted, that because a certain 

 bird has been found ' moulting ' in spring, all individuals of the 



' L. c, p. 44. 



- Z. c, antea. 



^ Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. Ill (1830), pp. 292-299. 



•* L- c, antca. 



