VOL. VII.] PLUMAGES OF THE ROOK. 135 



Part II. — The Sequence of Plumages. 



Male and Female. 



Down-plumage. — ^Dusky grey ; skin of body black. 

 Distribution — Humeral, spinal, ulnar and femoral {fde 

 A. G. Leigh, Vol. IV., p. 73). 



Juvenile-plumage. — ^Acquired while in the nest, the 

 down-plumage being completely moulted. 



Nasal bristles black, slightly glossy ; fore-head, crown and nape 

 black with a slight greenish gloss ; hind-neck dull sooty-black ; 

 mantle and scapulars sooty-black with a slight purple gloss ; back, 

 rump, and dipper tail-coverts sooty-black with a slight greenish gloss ; 

 ear-coverts and cheeks black, with a slight greenish gloss; whole 

 of the under-parts sooty-black with a very slight greenish gloss ; 

 tail black underneath, greenish-purple above ; under wing-coverts 

 and axillaries brownish-black with a purplish gloss ; primaries 

 underneath brownish-black, above black with a purplish-green gloss 

 especially on the outer webs and on the tips ; secondaries underneath 

 brownish-black, above outer webs purple, inner webs brownish-black 

 with a faint purplish-green gloss, which is most marked on the two 

 innermost feathers ; bastard-wing and primary-coverts like the 

 primaries but with more gloss on the outer webs ; greater coverts 

 like the secondaries ; median and lesser coverts purple. 



N.B. — All the body-feathers including those on the chin and the 

 nasal bristles are of a much looser texture than in first winter. The 

 feathers of the chin and upper-throat down to about fifty millimetres 

 from the angle of the lower mandible have their shafts elongated 

 and thickened at the tip, this portion being without rami, and the 

 rami near the distal ends of the feathers are similar in structure and 

 bear no radii at their tips. These feathers are also looser in general 

 structtire than those lower down on the throat, the radii being wide 

 apart and not closely held together. The feathers of the chin, and 

 especially those nearest the angle of the bill, are frequently white. The 

 bases of the body-feathers and the underdown are brown-grey. 



First Winter-plumage. — ^Acquired by a complete moult, 

 with the exception of the remiges, bastard-wing, primary- 

 coverts, majority of greater coverts (the two innermost 

 only are moulted), and rectrices. The moult commences 

 on the back and flanks, and the whole body and wing- 

 coverts are soon involved, the head being the last 

 to moult. 



Nasal bristles glossy black ; fore-head, crown, and nape glossy 

 purplish-green ; hind-neck, mantle, scapulars, back, rump, and upper 

 tail-coverts glossy purple ; ear-coverts, cheeks, chin, and upper-throat 

 glossy purplish-green (the chin and especially its upper-part has very 

 little gloss) ; lower-throat, sides of neck, breast, belly, flanks and under 



