60 BRITISH BIRDS. [Vons xi. 
September to May. Those with wings in quill in January 
and February may be adults completing a late winter wing- 
moult and beginning to acquire at the same time the breeding 
plumage, or they may be birds of the previous year. Similarly, 
birds in April—May, with their outer primaries in quill, may 
be adults or first winter birds indulging in a spring moult. 
Dr. Dwight states (Auk, 1900, p. 373) that there is abundant 
evidence that adults and young both undergo a spring 
moult in which the body-plumage is renewed, while in many 
species, in the case of the young birds, he believes the moult 
to be complete—namely, involving rectrices and remiges, 
except in some females, while in the adults he does not 
think the rectrices or remiges are involved. He believes 
this to be the case in the Spotted Sandpiper, Sanderling, 
Dunlin, American Golden Plover and Grey Plover, but the 
only definite instance given is one specimen of a Grey Plover 
(February 27th, Florida) which had renewed all but the two 
distal primaries. This is probably an instance of abnormal 
moult. Mr. Seebohm, in his paper, ‘ Notes on the Birds of 
Natal and adjoining parts of South Africa,” states that the 
Charadriide moult their primaries in spring as well as in 
autumn,and says he found the Bay of Durban in March swarm- 
ing with British species—Curlew, Whimbrel, Greenshank, Grey 
Plover, Ring Dotterel, Wood Sandpiper, Common Sandpiper, 
Sanderling—and that half the birds shot had evidently 
just finished moulting, judging by the bloom upon their 
remiges, while the other half consisted of birds in every 
intermediate stage between a partial and a complete moult, 
the new quills being rich in colour, the rest faded and worn ; 
unfortunately no mention is made of the species with remiges 
in quill. 
Except in the species mentioned in Class III. I have not 
found any evidence of a normal spring moult of the remiges, 
but it must be remarked that, in many waders, spring 
specimens are not so numerous as could be wished. 
Exceptional Moult of the Remiges in Spring in the Adult. 
Occasionally spring specimens occur showing moult of the 
remiges in a species which normally does not appear to 
moult them at this season: I have found such instances in 
the following species: Common Pratincole, Turnstone, 
Terek Sandpiper, Grey and Red-necked Phalaropes and 
Whimbrel. 
Movtt From AputT SumMEeR PLumacE to ApuLT WINTER 
PLUMAGE. 
This moult, which is complete, involving all the feathers, 
usually commences in July or August, though in some 
