106 DWIGHT 



usually brown or gray, is found at only a few points on the 

 upper surface of the bird, fades rapidly and begins to be lost by 

 a complete postnatal moult before the nest is abandoned. It 

 persists but a few weeks at most and is last seen as waving fila- 

 ments at the apices of the feathers which succeed it. 



2. Juvenal Plumage (plate IV, fig. 1, and plate V). This 

 second stage has also been explained earlier. It has gone by 

 a number of names, and the succeeding plumage is very often 

 confused with it. ** Nestling " and ''fledgling" are names that 

 have currency, but the most generally accepted term in this 

 country has been '' first plumage." If it were not that a much 

 better and more exact use of the numeral adjective " first " re- 

 quires its use elsewhere, the term might stand, misnomer that it 

 is, but I feel that it should be displaced by "juvenal " to which 

 the chief objection must be its novelty. 



The Juvenal plumage has been a good deal neglected and 

 comparatively few specimens have found their w^ay into collec- 

 tions until of late years. The most valuable contribution to 

 the subject was made twenty years ago (Brewster, '78-'79) 

 and only here and there since then we have heard more about 

 it. Much of the juvenal plumage is acquired in Passerine 

 species before the bird leaves the nest, not only directly dis- 

 placing the natal down, but growing from an increased area of 

 the skin. It is completely assumed in about three weeks at 

 most. Males and females of most species are indistinguishable 

 in this plumage unless the wing quills and tail are different in 

 the two sexes. The body plumage of the male may be brighter 

 or darker in a few cases, but as a rule the only difference is in 

 the wings and tail. The body plumage is softer and the feathers 

 less distinctly pennaceous than those of the adult while the rem- 

 iges and rectrices although frequently appearing identical with 

 adult feathers are regularly less pigmented and suffer more from 

 wear probably because of their less compact margins. This 

 plumage may resemble somewhat that of the adult although 

 usually it is quite different in pattern and color. Young birds 

 in this dress are frequently spotted or streaked below while the 

 adults are immaculate and less often the reverse is the case. 



