38 lewis' ameeican sportsman. 



The moulting of Birds is very gradual, and few of them are 

 ever so bare of feathers as to prevent them from taking wing, 

 and even flying long distances. 



The time of shedding the feathers varies in the different 

 species, and in different climes ; some moult late in the summer, 

 some in the early autumn, and some in the early spring. 



The summer or autumnal moult is always the most complete, 

 the perennial is generally only a change of color of some por- 

 tions of the plumage, and not a thorough shedding of the 

 feathers. 



Those Birds, as well as water-fowl, that extend their migra- 

 tions far to the North, for the purposes of procreation, receive 

 their fresh plumage after the period of incubation has entirely 

 passed by, so that they come out fresh and entirely freed from 

 all the filth and vermin that their previous sedentary occupa- 

 tions may have entailed on them. 



