1 80 General Notes. [£$* 



The Change from Winter to Spring Plumage in the Male Bobolink 

 (Dolichonyx oryzivorus). — I have been much interested in Mr. Chap- 

 man's articles on the "spring moult" of the Bobolink (Auk, VII, 1893, 

 p. 120; and X, 1S93, p. 311), hut after reading them I could not help asking 

 myself two questions: Does the adult male Bobolink always have a 

 spring moult except when caged? If so, how can we explain the fact 

 that in captivity the same change in plumage may take place absolutely 

 without any sign of moulting? 



As I must leave these questions unanswered, let me add a few words 

 ahout a pet Bobolink I once owned. 



The bird was in the usual black breeding plumage when I first had 

 him, but during the fall there tuas a complete moult, and he became the 

 well known Reed-bird of the South. Always having had the impression 

 that the Bobolink must also moult when changing from the winter to the 

 summer dress, I was very much surprised in this case to find no feathers 

 in the cage at any time during the spring, though I looked carefully for 

 them myself day after day. The change in color, however, went steadily 

 on, beginning with the appearance of a black feather here and there, 

 until, basing passed through a kind of intermediate 'pie-bald' stage, my 

 bird looked once more as he did when I first had him the previous 

 summer; except that the black was not quite as deep, though very nearly 

 so, nor was the yellowish white so clear as at first. All at once, before 

 the change was complete, he burst into full song, and kept it up until 

 fall, when he moulted, and was again the yellowish brown bird of the 

 preceding autumn. 



There was no doubt about the autumnal change being a true moult 

 during this or the preceding fall, as the feathers about the cage and the 

 'pin-feathers' on the bird fully proved, and the absence of any true moult 

 in spring was shown with equal certainty by the absence of these same 

 proofs. 



In the autumn I gave my Bobolink to a friend, who only succeeded in 

 keeping him a few weeks; so this was the last of one of the happiest birds 

 it was ever my good fortune to possess. — James Skillen, Harvard 

 Medical School, Boston, Mass. 



Calcarius lapponicus in Winter at Palmer, Marquette Co., Mich. — On 

 January 22, 1S94, I obtained a male Lapland Longspur. When secured 

 it was feeding on grass seed and oats left by some horses, which had been 

 t\:d at the south ami protected side of a building at the mine. The day 

 was cold and stormy, as had been the day previous. The bird had doubt- 

 less been lured north by the preceding week of warm weather, January 

 14-21. It was alone, no others being seen at the time; nor have I the 

 knowledge of another authentic record of its occurrence in Upper Penin- 

 sula, although I have made many inquiries. — Oscar B. Warren, 

 Palmer. Mich. 



