8?'4 Mr. C. Ingram ov the [Ibis, 



in tills case tlie dark areas are confined to facial markings, 

 there being a distinct greyisli-brown patch on cither side of 

 the head (c/. the blackisli facial markings in the adult). As 

 in the Osprey, Vultures, Owls, etc., the neossoptile plumage 

 of the newly-hatched Lammergeyer is short and dense. 



In the Kites, on the other hand, the first downy covering- 

 is quite silky and filamentous in appearance, this being due 

 to the prolongation of the goldeu-bufi" barbs and the fact 

 that the barbules are more or less restricted to the bases of 

 the feathers. Later on, this buff-tinted neossoptile plumage 

 is superseded and almost entirely eclipsed by a profuse 

 growth of white })lumules, through which the dark teleoptiles 

 ultimately sprout. 



This precocious appearance of the plumules is not confined 

 to the Falcons and Hawks. Plumules are developed con- 

 temporaneously with the teleoptiles in nestling Sand-Martins, 

 Rooks, Shrikes (Laniidse), and many other species. In these 

 latter birds they are fairly conspicuous owing to their being 

 white or whitish, but of course they are never so pronounced 

 as in the Hawks, nor are they so generally distributed over 

 the body (fig. 16). 



The most profuse neossoptile plumage is probably found 

 in the Shearwaters, Petrels, and allied families. In these 

 birds the nestlings are completely covered (wath the exception 

 of the face and throat) with a dense mass of long, loose, and 

 very soft down. This covering appeais to be composed 

 chiefly of pre-pennae, but I have detected smaller pre- 

 plumulae in half-grown specimens of some of the Shear- 

 waters. On the forehead, sides of the face, and throat the 

 down is either reduced to a few filamentous feathers or else 

 is very short and velvety in texture. A similar reduction of 

 down on the facial areas may be noticed, I l)elieve, in all 

 birds that feed their young by regurgitation, i. e., Phala- 

 crocorax, Sulci, Phcenicoptei^as, Columba, Turtur, etc. — the 

 reason for this being obvious. 



In contradistinction to the Passeres, with the nestling 

 Petrels aud Shearwaters the down is retained longest on the 

 under surface, and it is a common thing to find specimens 



