THE MOULTING OF BIRDS. 159 



in first plumage do not differ very strikingly from their 

 parents in winter plumage, the adult dress not being 

 assumed until their second autumn moult. The young 

 of the Cranes progress to maturity in a very similar 

 manner, the first plumage being like the winter dress of 

 adults, and the nuptial ornaments are very slightly 

 indicated. In the Plovers and Sandpipers the law which 

 prevails in the plumage of the young birds is exactly 

 the reverse of what we find in the Crakes and Cranes, 

 and instead of the first plumage resembling the winter 

 plumage of adults, it approaches more or less closely in 

 colour that of the summer plumage. These young birds 

 however do not retain the bright colours of their first 

 plumage long, but begin to change at the beginning of 

 autumn into a dress which closely resembles the winter 

 plumage of their parents. Singularly enough this 

 difference of colour is not obtained by a moult, but by 

 an actual change in the colour of the feathers, only the 

 very worn and abraded ones being replaced. In the 

 following spring these immature birds moult into sum- 

 mer plumage, which is very similar to that of the adults, 

 only the wing coverts retain their rich summer hue until 

 the next autumn moult, when these feathers are changed 

 for the gray ones of winter. It is a curious fact that the 

 wing coverts of the adults seem to be only moulted once 

 in the year, in autumn, and this portion of their plumage 

 is consequently always the same colour after the bird 



