44 Beewster's Descriptions of the First Plumage 



and most conspicuous on tlie scapulars, ■where they restrict the ground- 

 color to a narrow central lining along the shaft of the feathers, and a few 

 irregular outlying spots. Primaries and secondaries edged and tipped 

 with pale fulvous. Tail crossed by eight distinct, continuous black bars, 

 Auriculars spotted -with dusky black. Throat and a broad superciliary line 

 pale buff. (It should be stated that these parts are covered with what seems 

 to be the still unchanged feathering of the chick.) Breast and sides bright 

 rufous-orange, each feather with a pair of black spots on the outer webs. 

 Upon the breast these spots are small and nearly round, but along the sides 

 they become broader until about the anal region they form transverse 

 bars. Central, abdominal, and anal regions immaculate buffy-white. 

 From a specimen in my collection obtained at Upton, Me., July 28, 1874. 

 Among the series of young males before me there are none in strictly first 

 plumage. The moult begins early in August and proceeds very gradually, 

 a few of the feathers dropping out at a time, as they are replaced by the 

 more permanent fall plumage. The wing and tail feathers are invariably 

 moulted ; thus through the last half of August and nearly the whole of 

 September the plumage presents a curiously patched appearance. In this 

 condition the young male may be distinguished from the female by the 

 black feathers which begin to appear in patches on the breast. The sexes 

 are otherwise quite similar at this age. In both, the throat, cheeks, and 

 sides of the neck are profusely but rather finely spotted with black upon 

 a yellowish — in some examples ashy — -white ground. This is unquestion- 

 ably a remnant of the first plumage, which in the young female previously 

 described had not replaced the down. The feathers upon the throat and 

 crown are apparently the last to go, as they are not replaced in any of the 

 specimens before me until the succeeding plumage is neai'ly complete. 

 Both sexes acquire their full plumage during October, and by the latter 

 part of that month, adults of either- sex can only be distinguished with 

 the greatest difficulty from birds of the year. 



116. .Sjgialitis meloda. 



Autumnal plumage : female. Differs from the adult in having the black 

 frontal crescent entii-ely wanting, the feathers upon the crown and back 

 with ashy-brown centres, a broad white collar around the neck behind, 

 and the band across the breast brownish or ashy-plumbeous, instead of 

 black. From a specimen in my collection obtained at Nantucket, Mass., 

 September 22, 1875. Mr. Ridgway's western variety of this species cannot 

 possibly be maintained. A large proportion of our New England Coast 

 speciTiiens have the breast band continuous, and in several that I have 

 examined it is as broadly so as in the supposed variety circumcincta. 



117. Philohela minor. 



Downy slacje : chick a few days old. Genernl ground-color warm buff, 

 tinged above with ashy. Large areas of rich seal-brown occur upon the 



