Vol. XIV 
1897 | CHADBOURNE, Spring Plumage of the Bobolink. 14I 
half inch wire netting, some of the smaller specimens were doubt- 
less blown away and lost, which could not have occurred in the 
case of the Bobolink. I was curious to know how closely the 
number of feathers of the ‘Scops’ agreed with that of the Bobo- 
link, and therefore counted the corresponding pteryla of the Owl 
in the way already described. The agreement was unexpected : 
— the Owl having 501 feathers on the sheets, and an estimated 
total of 3006 as needed for a complete ‘moult’; contrasted with 
439, and 2634 of the Bobolink. 
Even Dr. Allen’s note itself furnishes additional proof that a 
spring ‘moult’ would not escape detection. He says: “the 
molt was in all stages from birds showing only here and there 
the tip of a black feather on the breast to those that were in 
nearly full breeding plumage. A large number of these were in 
the highest stage of molt, pin feathers being distinctly visible 
. . even when the birds were several feet distant.” 
Again in the Corumba bird ‘moulting’ was so apparent that in 
the illustration for ‘The Auk,’ it was decided to assist Nature by 
having the ‘ moult’ of the wings and tail completed by the artist. 
A convincing proof that a ‘moult’ could not have been over- 
looked, though hardly so of scientific accuracy ; especially as it 
was also intended to change such of the under parts as were 
white to black or brown, had a slight mistake not prevented !! 
All the evidence at hand is therefore against the possibility of 
error of observation in regard to the spring ‘moult’ of the Bobo- 
link; and there seems to be no reasonable doubt that the 
apparently contradictory statements of Allen,* Chapman,’ Ord,° 
Skillen,* and others are correct, though perhaps not yet satisfac- 
torily explained. It follows ‘hat Bobolinks differ as to ‘ moulting’ 
in spring, —one bird attaining the full plumage by a ‘ true color- 
change, another perhaps passes through a complete ‘moult, while im 
a third both processes are combined. 
It is however generally taken for granted, that because a certain 
bird has been found ‘ moulting’ in spring, all individuals of the 
LGR GDA A. 
2 he (Cy CU GAR Le 
3 Trans. Amer. Philos. Soc. III (1830), pp. 292-299. 
= Thy ey CHAD 
