H. F. WITHERBY: PLUMAGES. 211 



while it is also not easy to obtain examples of these and 

 other birds in their juvenile and summer-plumages in 

 this country owing to the close season. These are some 

 of the difficulties which make it a lengthy task to 

 examine sufficient material to enable one to detail all 

 the plumages through which a bird passes, and this must 

 be our excuse for proceeding with the descriptions by 

 instalments as we are able to gather together the 

 necessary material. 



To those who have not studied the subject the sequence 

 of plumages in various birds may seem to follow a fairly 

 general rule, whereas in fact the way in which different 

 birds change their plumage and the numbers of times 

 they change it are extremely varied. 



The plan upon which we propose to proceed in 

 describing these changes is an adaptation of the excellent 

 model which Dr. D wight, in the paper mentioned 

 above, has provided. Firstly, when the bird is hatched, 

 it is either entirely naked or has a 



Down-Plumage. — A beginning has already been made 

 in our pages by Dr. C. B. Ticehurst, Mr. W. P. 

 Py craft and others, to describe some of these plumages, 

 and we hope that these contributions will continue. 

 This plumage is succeeded by what we shall term the 

 Juvenile Plumage.* — This is acquired by a complete 

 moult. Possibly in a very few cases this plumage is 

 not to be distinguished from that of the adult, but if 

 there are such cases they must be very rare and the 

 Juvenile plumage is generally possible and often easy 

 to distinguish from that of the adult. In some cases 

 when the adult male and female differ the Juvenile 

 more nearly resembles the female, while in some cases 

 where the sexes of the adult are the same the 

 Juvenile resembles somewhat nearly the adult plumage. 

 But more often the Juvenile differs markedly from the 

 adult. It may be spotted or streaked, it may have 



*Dr. Dwight has coined the word " Juvenal " to describe this plumage, 

 but this is an " Americanism" which we feel it our duty to resist. 



