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THE MOULTS AND SEQUENCE OF PLUMAGES 
OF THE BRITISH WADERS. 
BY 
ANNIE C. JACKSON, Hon. MEM., B.O.U. 
I. IntTRoDUcTORY. 
THE object of these notes is to give a brief account of the 
sequence of plumage and moults of the waders on the British 
List, which at the moment of writing number sixty-four 
species. I have endeavoured to interpret the facts correctly 
from the material at my disposal, but in some cases my 
notes are unfortunately incomplete owing to want of material, 
while in other cases the examination of larger series of skins 
may reveal new facts. I wish to express my gratitude 
to Lord Rothschild and Dr. Hartert for permitting me to 
utilize the Tring collection, also to the authorities of the 
Natural History Museum, South Kensington, for kind 
permission to work there, and to Mr. H. F. Witherby for 
the loan of his collection and for much valuable help. I 
should also like to thank Mr. W. Berry, Col. E. W. Horne 
and others who have assisted me in obtaining material I 
required. 
Before detailing the result of my investigations, brief 
references to the literature already published on the moult 
of the waders will be of interest. The most important 
papers I am aware of are as follows: ‘‘ On the Change of 
Colour in Birds through and irrespective of Moulting,”’ 
from the Swedish of W. Meves, translated by H. E. Dresser 
(Zoologist, March, 1879). In this paper birds are divided 
into four groups according to the number and completeness 
of their moults. To the first group belong those which 
have a single and complete moult in autumn, and in this 
are included the following genera of waders: viz., Scolopax, 
Numenius and fKecurvirostra. The second group deals 
with birds which have a double or spring moult and is further 
subdivided into those which in spring have: (a) entire, 
involving all or most of the body-feathers and sometimes 
also the two middle tail-feathers and three inner wing-quills 
as, for instance, Hematopus, Charadrius, Strepsilas, Tringa, 
Totanus, Phalaropus, Limosa among the waders ; (b) partial, 
involving only some feathers of the head and neck as, for 
instance, Vanellus cristatus among the waders. The third 
and fourth groups do not concern us, 
