And then, too, there are difficulties due to seasonal changes 
of plumage—often striking—sex, and age; since immature 
birds often differ totally from the adults in appearance. The 
young robin and the starling afford instances in point. 
The adult starling, as everybody knows, is “ black,” with 
a yellow beak and reddish legs. But seen close at hand his 
feathers gleam with a wonderful metallic sheen reflecting 
changing hues of violet, green, and purple. The young bird, 
in the early summer, is of a pale brown colour. Inthe autumn 
the plumage is changed for a “ black dress,’’ like that of the 
adult, but heavily spotted with white. As the winter wears 
on the white spots become abraded, and disappear. The 
robin needs no description. But the young bird, in its first 
plumage, is commonly mistaken for the female, which, of 
course, is practically indistinguishable from the male. It is 
‘ 
certainly unlike one’s notion of a “ cock-robin,” being of a 
yellowish-brown colour, with pale spots, a type of plumage 
characteristic of the young of the “ thrush tribe.” 
In some nearly related species, again, the males are 
strikingly different, the females barely distinguishable. 
But nevertheless, a very considerable number of our 
British birds can be more or less easily distinguished during 
flight—sometimes by the manner of that flight, sometimes 
by characteristic markings, sometimes by the notes they 
utter ; and these are briefly summarized in this chapter. 
208 
