Moult of Stonechat 279 



brood ; when these are ready to fly, their parents may 

 accompany them to lower ground for a time ; but before 

 the approach of winter, the old birds will be back, alone, at 

 their old haunts. What becomes of the young ones is an 

 open question ; they may migrate, but at all events they 

 do not return to the hill. The adults, meantime, have 

 moulted into a very dingy plumage, the males often hardly 

 to be distinguished from the females at a little distance ; 

 and this, I take it, is their only real moult in the course of 

 the year. As the season advances, the colours of the males 

 become gradually brighter, perhaps by the wearing away of 

 the margins of some of the feathers ; but they are hardly 

 ever in anything approaching what we are accustomed to 

 look upon as " full summer plumage," when they begin to 

 breed, and are, perhaps, at their best just before the 

 autumnal moult, back to winter dress, takes place. The 

 only full moult of resident Stonechats is, thus, from the 

 faded plumage of the previous winter, back to a winter 

 plumage. Whether a few body feathers may not be shed, 

 in spring, I am not prepared to say ; but while I think it 

 not unlikely, I am convinced that any moult that may 

 occur at that season, is only an extremely limited one. 



Our immigrant Stonechats, on the other hand, arrive in 

 spring in a much brighter plumage than is ever assumed by 

 the stay-at-home birds ; and it is worthy of consideration 

 whether this may not be owing to their assuming their 

 new coats in much warmer climates than ours ; where, in 

 fact, their yearly moult takes the form of a change from a 

 sort of " summer plumage " back to a very similar state, 

 and that they, therefore, never go into the dull "winter 

 plumage " of our resident birds at all. These immigrants 

 seem to be in full plumage when they arrive here in March, 

 or April ; and, I fancy, generally choose to nest on lower 

 ground than that frequented by their resident relations. It is 

 proper to add that these suggestions upon moult are entirely 

 based upon observations made in this country ; and although 

 they are the result of a good deal of careful study of the 

 question, it must remain for others to determine how far 

 they can be borne out by an examination of skins from 



