Natural History 0/ Q u i sea 1 ii s n i aj u r . 371 



rapidly change^ especially on the males, in which the brown 

 gives way to blackish upon the back, wings, and tail, and the 

 grey underneath to brown like that of the head. During the 

 progress of the moult (more particularly on the face) some cu- 

 rious stages may be found. Besides having new glossy black 

 feathers interspersed among the old faded brown ones, these 

 latter may, upon the head and underparts especially, turn 

 white ; then the birds are black and brown, with a whitish head 

 and a well-detined white stripe contmued from the throat along 

 the middle line of the breast and belly. This singular condi- 

 tion has apparently not been noticed"'^. By the end of October 

 the moult is finished ; the old birds are in full winter plumage, 

 and the young have gained their first complete dress. 



In the spring, as soon as those birds which went south re- 

 turn, the sexes, no longer discrete, come together in flocks to 

 roam at large for a while over the marshes in company with 

 great numbers of the Redwings [Agelaus phceniceus). Their 

 hoarse voices resound from every reed-patch, where the flocks 

 are feeding half concealed, and are borne upon the air from every 

 quarter as the dusky troops wheel overhead in solid phalanx, 

 executing sudden and unaccountable evolutions as if guided by 

 some single commanding spirit. Now hovering uncertain, then 

 dashing impulsive, now veering in an instant, then taking a 

 long steady flight towards some distant point, more unstable, 

 vacillating birds cannot be found. This is after a certain time in 

 April, varying with the advancement or retardation of the sea- 

 son, before which they had been comparatively quiet; the sexual 

 impulse is daily growing stronger, and is manifested by increased 

 restlessness and impatience. The flocks break up into loose 

 straggling companies, which rapidly become indifferent to each 

 other's society, and at length the pairing is accomplished. 

 During this transition state (this periodic recurrence of puberty 

 that with birds is perennial) the Daws' voices crack like any 

 youth's, and they utter a curious medley of notes from bass to 

 falsetto, notes that are certainly unmusical to any ears but those 

 for which they are intended. The jingling jargon is iudescri- 



* I have seen much the same tiling in the case of Xanthocephalus icte- 

 rocephalus in New Mexico in August and September. 



