i6o 



Bird- Lore 



the nest. The Ptarmigan also have a 

 similar protective plumage, but their wing- 

 quills are molted in regular succession. 



Owing to the great variation in the 

 time at which different species molt, there 

 is no time in the year when molting birds 

 may not be found. The postjuvenal molt 

 of some birds will overlap the prenuptial 

 of others, and the prenuptial of others 

 seems to overlap even the postnuptial. 

 Partial molts produce mixed plumages and 

 the feathers that, not so long ago, were' 

 supposed to change color without molt. 

 Keeping in mind that each species has a 

 definite sequence of molts and plumages, 

 we shall the more readily understand vari- 

 ations and mixed plumages. In birds like 

 the Purple Finch which molt but once in 

 the year, we find no mixed plumages. 

 Young Purple Finches remain a year in 

 brown, and then molt into the pink plu- 

 mage. Many other species, however, like 

 the Rose-breasted Grosbeak or the San- 

 derling, molt twice a year, and the partial 

 prenuptial molt gives the confusing mix- 

 ture of old and new feathers so often 

 found, especially in young birds and females that vary between wide limits 

 in the extent of the renewal. The adult Baltimore Oriole molts once in 

 the year, while the young bird undergoes a prenuptial molt of all the body- 

 feathers. And so there is a particular sequence of molts and plumages 

 peculiar to each species. 



Those who care to turn to the fascinating study of molt will find the 

 following table a simple and useful guide: 



1. Natal plumage followed by postnatal molt. 



2. Juvenal plumage followed by postjuvenal molt. 



3. First winter plumage followed by first prenuptial molt. 



4. First nuptial plumage followed by first postnuptial molt. 

 [First protective plumage followed by first postprotective molt.] 



5. Second winter plumage followed by second prenuptial molt, etc. 

 Not every species may have all of these molts and plumages, but this is 



the order in which they would naturally follow. 



Upper figures, interscapular feathers of Mead- 

 owlark, at left. Am. Mus. No. 49229, d', Mor- 

 ristown, N. J., Oct. 3, 1886, E. C. Thurber; at 

 right. Am. Mus. No. 69696, cf , Trenton, N. J., 

 May 29, 1886, M. M. Green. Lower figures, 

 interscapular feathers of Western Meadowlark, 

 at left. Am. Mus. No. 52416, cf. Ft. Verde, 

 Ariz., Nov. 23, 1884, E. A. Mearns; at right, 

 No. 52413, cf, Yavapai Co., Arizona, March 18, 

 1884, E. A. Mearns. To show seasonal abra- 

 sion. From Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 



