Notes on the Plumage of North American Sparrows 



TWENTY-FIFTH PAPER 

 By FRANK M. CHAPMAN 



(See Frontispiece) 



Redpoll (Acanthis linaria linaria, Figs, i and 2). In juvenal plumage the 

 young male Redpoll resembles the adult female in general color, but the crown 

 is without red and is streaked like the nape; the throat lacks a black spot 

 and the breast is streaked. 



At the post- juvenal (first fall) molt, in which the wing-quills and tail-feathers 

 are retained, the bird acquires its first winter plumage, which is much like that 

 of the female (Fig. 2), but in some cases the breast and sides of the neck are 

 tinged with rosy. 



As Dwight has shown, there is no spring molt, and the difference between 

 winter and summer plumage is due to the effects of fading and wear which make 

 the crown-patch seem brighter, the body plumage more sharply streaked and 

 less brownish. 



At the post-nuptial (second fall) molt, this plumage, as usual, is completely 

 lost, and the rosy-breasted, adult plumage (Fig. i) acquired. There is more or 

 less individual variation, which is probably also in part due to age, in the extent 

 of the rosy color of the breast and rump, but this color, once gained, is not lost. 

 As in the immature bird, the differences between winter and summer plumage 

 are occasioned by fading and by wear. 



Holboell's Redpoll {Acanthis linaria holboelli). This is a more northern 

 species, which rarely reaches the United States. It differs from A . I. linaria in 

 being larger, while the Greater Redpoll (Acanthis linaria rostrata) of Greenland 

 which visits the United States more frequently, is of approximately the same 

 size as holhcelli, but is darker. These differences, however, while appreciable 

 in specimens, are too slight to render identification in life certain. 



Hoary Redpoll {Acanthis hornemanni exilipes, Figs. 3 and 4). The 

 plumage changes in this species appear to be the same as those which take 

 place with Acanthis linaria, from which it may be known by its unstreaked 

 rump and other characters. 



This species rarely comes so far south as the United States, while the Green- 

 land Redpoll {Acanthis hornemanni hornemanni), a larger, whiter species, has 

 been found in the United States but once. 



Purple Finch {Carpodacus purpureus. Figs. 5 and 6). The nesting or 

 juvenal plumage of the male Purple Finch, both in color and pattern, is much 

 like its succeeding or first winter plumage. At this age the bird resembles the 

 adult breeding female (Fig. 6) but, like winter females, from which it cannot 

 be distinguished, the plumage is tinged with buff. There is no spring molt, and 

 the first breeding plumage is acquired by wear and fading, when the bird 

 resembles the female in summer (Fig. 6). 



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