voL. x1.) MOULTS OF BRITISH WADERS. 57 
plumages in some waders as instances. Beyond saying that 
all the different plumages assumed by the waders are acquired 
by a moult and do not require the hypothesis of colour 
change without moult to account for them, I do not intend 
to enter into a discussion of this vexed theory, which the 
accumulation of facts I am confident will ultimately entirely 
disprove. I only wish here to emphasize the fact that colour 
change without moult, excepting of course effects due to 
abrasion and fading, plays no part in the sequence of plumages 
of the Limicole. I would refer those interested in the 
literature of this subject to Mr. J. A. Allen’s paper on 
** Alleged Changes of Color in the Feathers of Birds without 
Molting,”’ Bull. Amer. Nat. Hist., 1896, Vol. VIII., pp. 13-44, 
which gives a most interesting summary and criticism of 
the papers written on this subject. 
Before proceeding to a detailed discussion of each species, 
it may be well to give the following summary of the moults 
which I have found to occur in the British waders :— 
Mout FROM JUVENILE TO First WINTER PLUMAGE. 
In apparently all the species of waders in the British List, 
the first winter plumage is acquired by a post-juvenile moult, 
but no first winter birds, and few or no juveniles in moult have 
been examined of the Stone-Curlew, American Pectoral 
Sandpiper, Buff-breasted Sandpiper, Red-necked Phalarope 
and Eskimo Curlew. In the Common and Black-winged 
Pratincoles, this moult involves the remiges, in the Cream- 
coloured Courser it would appear that in some individuals the 
remiges and their coverts are also renewed ; in the rest of the 
waders the remiges are only exceptionally renewed, the moult 
being confined to the body-feathers, usually some or all of the 
tail-feathers, some innermost secondaries and coverts, and 
usually some median and lesser coverts. The moult of 
the tail-feathers, innermost secondaries and coverts, and 
median and lesser coverts varies individually in many species. 
In the following species, however, the tail does not appear 
to be renewed, viz. Semi-palmated Plover (not many 
Specimens examined), Golden Plover, American Golden 
Plover, Asiatic Golden Plover, Lapwing (an odd tail-feather 
is exceptionally renewed), Bartram’s Sandpiper, Dunlin, 
_Baird’s Sandpiper, Bonaparte’s Sandpiper, Purple Sandpiper, 
Solitary Sandpiper, and Grey Phalarope. In the Purple 
Sandpiper and Grey Phalarope the innermost secondaries 
and coverts and median and lesser coverts are also not 
-moulted, while in the Yellowshank the median and _ lesser 
coverts do not appear to be renewed. 
F 
