WINTER DRESS 



MOST birds and animals are duller in colour in winter than 

 in summer ; and in some the change is very marked. There 

 is a remarkable difference between the fantastic breeding 

 plumage of the ruff, or the brilliantly contrasted colours of 

 the dotterel, and the modest greyish dress assumed after 

 the summer moult. Though this change is on the whole 

 most conspicuous in these and other members of the wader 

 tribe, it is very noticeable in some of the most familiar birds. 

 Cock house-sparrows lose their smart black bib, which 

 becomes blurred and almost obliterated. The dull spotted 

 plumage of the starling in autumn is so different from the 

 metallic gloss of its spring plumage 

 that birds in this phase are often 

 not recognised by eyes that know 

 them when they are busy with their 

 young. The brilliance of the cock 

 chaffinch's varied colours as spring- 

 approaches makes it a far finer bird 

 than in autumn ; and there is an 

 increase of freshness and bright- 

 ness in the markings even of such modestly dressed 

 species as the hedge-sparrow and coot. The change 

 extends in some cases from the feathers to the hornier 

 and fleshier parts ; the grotesque striped sheath which 



179 



SPARROW WITH BLACK BIB 



