126 DWIGHT 



vember. Belated broods of young birds may delay the moult 

 of their parents far beyond the usual limits. As for the mi- 

 grants which reach us from the north their moult is usually 

 completed almost entirely before they reach us. 



December and January are generally the only months in the 

 whole year when most evidences of moult are lacking in the 

 specimens obtained here. In February some of the birds that 

 have wintered with us begin to shows signs of the prenuptial 

 moult. The Ipswich Sparrow (yAininodroniiis pidnceps) from the 

 end of this month to the end of March acquires new feathers 

 about the head and throat and the last of March marks the 

 beginning of a nearly or quite complete renewal of body feathers 

 in the Myrtle Warbler (Dendroica coronatd). April marks a 

 partial prenuptial moult in several local species, among them 

 the Goldfinch {Spiims tristis) and the White -throated Sparrow 

 (ZonotricJna albicollis). During April and May the young of 

 early hatched species begin to appear and among a host of 

 migrants on their way north a few birds are found showing stray 

 "pin feathers" which tell of a moult accomplished perhaps far 

 away in the south. I have roughly indicated what each month 

 in the year may teach us regarding the moult and I turn now to 

 another subject which has been a matter of some controversy. 



Migration After Moult 



It is, perhaps, not generally believed that birds depart from 

 their breeding grounds immediately after the moult, but there 

 are two cogent reasons in favor of this view. One is the fact 

 that many species in the vicinity of New York city do disap- 

 pear directly after and sometimes before assuming winter plum- 

 age, and the other is the fact that none of the species which 

 breed farther north arrive here before the last traces of the 

 moult are nearly if not quite obliterated. I have never seen a 

 passing migrant, except possibly the White-bellied Swallow 

 {Tachycincta bicolor^, showing signs of immaturity in the flight- 

 feathers. In the spiiiig too for that matter very few of the ar- 

 rivals from the south show anv sip-ns of the moult, through 



