PASSERINE BIRDS OF NEW YORK 113 



as well as any feathers retained elsewhere, but all other plum- 

 age characters are unreliable. I can only suspect that freak 

 plumages and albinism occur most often in young birds judging 

 by a few that I have examined. 



When no prenuptial moult occurs the first nuptial plumage 

 is the first winter plumage plus wear, and perhaps no more de- 

 serves a new name than does the continuation of a street. 

 There are, however, some advantages in changing the name in 

 either case. Wear in many species effects striking color changes 

 by loss of feather edgings or feather barbules, when concealed 

 colors are brought into view or modified in intensity by con- 

 trast. As these changes are varied and fully discussed under 

 the species in which they occur they need not be particularized 

 here. It must not be forgotten that wear is a constantly acting 

 force, its effects being perhaps most noticeable in those species 

 in which black areas are veiled by buff feather tips. 



The importance of understanding the first nuptial plumage 

 has been I hope, sufficiently demonstrated and with full knowl- 

 edge of its intricacies, there remains no peg on which to hang 

 silly theories which are disproved by every established fact. 



5. Second or Adult Winter Plumage (plate VII, figs. 1 and 3). 

 This fifth stage known usually as the " adult autumnal" plumage 

 is always the result of a complete first postnuptial moult, usually 

 directly at the close of the breeding season and before migra- 

 tion begins, except among the Swallows, Flycatchers and pos- 

 sibly a few others that press south first. This plumage is often 

 quite different from the first winter dress and even when practi- 

 cally indistinguishable to superficial observation, the wings and 

 tail are of a deeper color and the edgings richer and darker. 

 Streakings will average broader and spots larger in the adult 

 while veiling seems to diminish according to age, as shown by 

 specimens in moult or retaining tell-tale feathers of the ojd plu- 

 mage, but unfortunately age can seldom be determined after a 

 bird is one year old. It is contrary to popular belief that birds 

 acquire adult plumage within so brief a time, but all the evi- 

 dence points that way. In many species young- and old are in- 

 distinguishable in winter dress, as may be demonstrated beyond 



ANNALS N. Y. ACAD. Sci., XIII, Aug. 4, 1900 8. 



