The Birds and Poets 161 



The molting process of the birds after the nest- 

 ing season is most interesting. Of course if the 

 bird suddenly lost all its feathers, and then was 

 required to await the slow growth of new plumage, 

 it would not only suffer great inconvenience and 

 hardship on account of weather conditions, but its 

 power of flight would be entirely lost, and it would 

 fall an easy prey to its enemies. Among the flyers, 

 therefore, nature has wisely provided that the 

 molting shall proceed slowly and with regularity. 

 One feather in each wing is dropped at about the 

 same time, so that the bird's equilibrium may not 

 be disturbed, and when these two feathers are par- 

 tially replaced by new ones another feather in each 

 wing, in exactly the same relative position, is 

 dropped, and these again replaced, and so on until 

 the whole process is completed, with the result that 

 at no time is the bird lacking more than two full 

 wing feathers, and there is no impairment in flying 

 ability. The most remarkable transformation 

 wrought in the plumage of any of our common 

 birds by molting is in the case of the male scarlet 

 tanager, who, after rearing his young, changes his 

 beautiful scarlet coat for one of olive green, with 

 only his black wings and tail to distinguish him 

 from his mate. 



Among the shore birds, the golden plover has 

 a different migration route for fall and spring, 

 travelling up the Mississippi Valley in the Spring, 

 and in the fall going south from Labrador and 

 Nova Scotia, across the Atlantic to South America. 



