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Bird- Lore 



Plover, the Herons and Bitterns, and sometimes the Rails and even the Ducks 

 present t)pportunities for class study such as one enjoys with most birds in 

 the spring. Those who have no shores to visit, however, must content them- 

 selves with isolated observations and make intensive studies of such birds as 

 can be found. Perhaps it is just as well for us that nature takes this way of 

 directing our attention to some of her less striking phenomena, for were we 

 forever surrounded by pleasing songs and brilliant plumages, we might over- 

 look entirely the changes that are so imperative in renewing the worn, frayed 

 plumage. But when our attention is called to it, we find in the molting of 



birds a lesson that is as interest- 

 ing as it is vital. It is a lesson 

 well suited to this period during 

 the fall, for it can be demon- 

 strated as beautifully with the 

 Sparrow in the street as it can 

 B be by the rarest and most secre- 

 tive Warbler. — A. A. A. 



HOW BIRDS CHANGE 

 c THEIR PLUMAGE 



August is the month of 

 molting, the season when birds 

 change their faded worn plumage 

 for fresh feathers often of a 

 different color. Some birds do 

 not complete molting until Sep- 

 tember is far advanced while 

 others, particularly among the 

 Waterfowl, begin molting in 

 June and by September have 

 passed through two molts, hav- 

 ing taken on a dull plumage 

 and discarded it again. With 

 most birds, however, September 

 finds them in their full winter 

 plumage. The change has been 

 such a gradual one that, although 

 every feather has been shed and 

 replaced, it has scarcely been 

 noticed unless there has been a 

 change of color as well. Begin- 

 ning always at a definite feather. 



SPARROW'S WINGS IN MOLT TO SHOW THE 



WAY IN WHICH THE FEATHERS ARE SHED 



AND REPLACED 



The molt begins with the innermost primary (IX) and 

 progresses gradually inwardly and outwardly. Roman 

 numerals indicate primaries; Arabic, secondaries. Arrows 

 show the advance of the molt. In the uppermost wing the 

 molt has not begun, in the lowest it is almost complete 



