(5 (^roftm 5eat^ct 



black and white bobolink appears. Specimens taken 

 after their arrival here still show traces of the yellow 

 veil. 



Many birds do not have this spring moult at all, 

 and with most of those that do, the great wing 

 feathers are not then renewed as are bobolink's, but 

 only at the annual moult after the nesting is done. 

 In fact, the moulting of the remiges, or wing feathers, 

 seems to be 2. family affair, the process differing with 

 different families ; for these are the bird's most impor- 

 tant feathers, and their loss is so serious a matter 

 that Nature has come to make the change according 

 to the habits and needs of the birds. 



With all birds the order is for the body feathers 

 to begin to go first, then the wings, and last the 

 tail. But the shedding of the wing feathers is a very 

 slow and carefully regulated process. In the wild 

 geese and other water birds the wing feathers drop 

 out with the feathers of the body, and all go so simul- 

 taneously that the birds cannot fly. On land you could 

 catch them with your hands, but they keep near or 

 on the water and thus escape, though times have 

 been when it was necessary to protect them from 

 their human enemies at this season by special laws. 



143 



