472 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



plumage of birds of the year is assumed, which is intermediate between 

 that of young in first plumage and that of the adult, which is completed 

 by the second spring that is to say, when the bird is nearly two years 

 old*. 



* Dresser's description of the changes of plumage of this bird is extremely misleading, 

 owing to a mistranslation of Naumann's remarks on this subject. After having described 

 the young in first plumage, Dresser proceeds to describe the bird of the year, prefacing his 

 remarks by saying that " after the first moult (that is, when the bird is two years old)." 

 This ought, no doubt to read, when the bird is scarcely one year old. Naumann dis- 

 tinctly states that the young commence their first moult early in November, and have 

 scarcely finished it by spring. 



HERONRY NEAR EPPING FOREST. 



