Vol. XI"| Allen on First Plumages. Q 3 



(Vol. Ill, 1S78, pp. 15-23, 56-64, 1 15-123, 175-182, and Vol. 

 IV, pp. 39-46), entitled 'Descriptions of the First Plumage in 

 Various Species of North American Birds,' in which the first or 

 nestling plumage of 119 species was for the first time described. 

 Casual descriptions of the first plumage in various other species 

 have since appeared, as well as a formal paper by Mr. George B. 

 Sennett (Auk, IV, 1S87, pp. 24-28), treating of ten additional 

 species. The first plumage in very few North American birds, 

 however, has thus far been figured, and the capabilities of the 

 subject in other respects have as yet been by no means exhausted. 



While in some species the young in first plumage bear a close 

 resemblance in color to the adults, as in some of the Flycatchers, 

 Jays, Chickadees, Vireos, etc., in other cases they are so totally 

 unlike the adults as to be sometimes identifiable with difficulty 

 even by experts, and only by structural characters rather than 

 by plumage, as in various Warblers and Sparrows, as is well 

 shown bv the subject of the present illustration. The first 

 plumage is thus often exceedingly characteristic, closely allied 

 subspecies sometimes differing more at this early stage than at 

 any later period. Its real significance, however, has as yet been 

 little studied. 



Although the Ovenbird is so common and well-known a 

 species, probably few ornithologists even have seen it in first 

 plumage. As shown in the illustration, it lacks all of the 

 characteristic tints and markings of the adult, the quills of the 

 wings and tail being the only portions of the plumage that 

 resemble corresponding parts in the adult. There is no trace in 

 the young bird of the prominent black and dull orange head- 

 stripes of the mature bird. The back is deep brown with narrow 

 streaks of blackish instead of uniform bright olive-green as in 

 the adult. The lower parts, instead of being nearly clear white 

 heavily streaked with dusky, are strong buffy, darkest across the 

 breast, with very narrow lines of blackish. From this plumage 

 the young bird moults directly into that of the adult, the young in 

 autumnal dress being quite indistinguishable from the older birds. 

 The quills, however, are not moulted till the following year. 

 The young bird represented in the plate was drawn from 

 specimen No. 27,246, in the collection of the American Museum 

 of Natural History, and was collected at Hartsdale, N. Y., by Mr. 

 J. Richardson. 



