PASSERINE BIRDS OF NEW YORK 1G3 



3. First Winter Plumage acquired by a partial postjuvenal 

 moult, beginning the end of July, which^ inxolvcs the body 

 plumage and wing cov^erts, but not usually the rest of the wings 

 nor the tail. 



Dififers little from the previous plumage, a brighter olive-green above and canary - 

 yellow below, the edgings of the wing coverts paler. 



An unfortunate dearth of specimens in this greenish plumage 

 makes it impossible for me to say whether any precocious indi- 

 viduals, perhaps of the first brood, acquire tails mottled with 

 black or assume black or chestnut feathers about the wings or 

 body. It is almost certain, judging by analogy of moult and 

 by plumage that some do, as is the case apparently in other 

 species. Observations made on caged birds by Dr. Bach man 

 ('39) also point to this probability, for he states that a young 

 bird of a first brood assumed the black throat b}' moult in 

 November, and the full black and chestnut plumage the fol- 

 lowing August, while a bird of a second brood assumed a 

 new green plumage in January, the black throat the follow- 

 ing August and the chestnut and black plumage in January, 

 wholly by moult. This evidence, although the unreliable testi- 

 mony of caged birds, is at least in confirmation of the sequence 

 of the plumages and indicates that a year is sufficient for the 

 acquisition of the adult dress. 



The only bird I have seen showing prenuptial moult is one 

 taken in Nicaragua, February 23d (U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 91034), 

 which has new black feathers coming in on the throat and sides 

 of the head and green ones on the forehead and crown, as 

 already referred to by Stone ('96, p. 137). There are a few old 

 black feathers on the throat, but it seems likely that these, the 

 worn mottled tail and a few chestnut feathers on the throat and 

 under tail coverts may represent individual precocity in a pre- 

 viously acquired first winter plumage, for the brown juvenal 

 primar}^ coverts indicate a young bird. I have seen several 

 autumnal birds in first winter dress with a few black feathers on 

 the throat, although they had plain greenish tails. Without a 

 better series of birds in first winter dress than is now available 

 the relation of moults and plumages cannot be fully solv^ed, but 



