170 STRA Y FEA THERS FROM MANY BIRDS. 



barred above and below, and the black cheeks are 

 spotted with scarlet in the male and with brown in the 

 female. After the autumn moult the lower breast and 

 the belly only are barred. Young Rails, Coots, and 

 Moorhens are hatched covered with down, and able to 

 swim and dive : their first plumage is not very different 

 from that of the adults, but is more suffused with brown, 

 and after the first moult, in both sexes, closely resembles 

 that of the adult female. In the Petrels the young are 

 hatched covered with down, and their first plumage does 

 not differ in any important respect from that of the 

 adults. In the Geese (hatched with down and able to 

 swim) the young do not differ very remarkably from 

 their parents in colour, the absence of white at the base 

 of the bill in some species, and of the black marks on 

 the under parts in others, brown taking the place of 

 black, and white being suffused with buff, are among 

 the characteristics of this stage of plumage. In the 

 Ducks the young are hatched covered with down, and 

 able to swim ; in their first plumage they very closely 

 resemble the old female, and acquire the adult plumage 

 after their first autumn moult. In the Swans the young 

 are also hatched covered with down and able to swim. 

 In first plumage they are uniform greyish brown ; and 

 unlike the Geese they undergo no moult during the first 

 autumn of their lives, but after the moult which takes 

 place in their second autumn, they acquire the pure 



