BIRDS 303 



Most of the immature yemale specimens taken in January at Tagus 

 Cove are moulting. Of the adult females only one is moulting — it 

 has a few new feathers coming in on the back. Of the females taken 

 in March only two (there are eighteen in all) are moulting — each of 

 these having a few new feathers growing in on the dorsum. These 

 two moulting adults were breeding since they were taken mated with 

 adult males. 



None of the Elizabeth Bay females, taken during the second half of 

 February, is moulting, and only one Iguana Cove female, taken the 

 last of December, is moulting. This latter is an adult, and, appar- 

 ently, a breeding bird, and has a few new wing quills coming in. 



The breeding (March) females from Tagus Cove have a different 

 appearance from the immature females taken in January. They are 

 much darker below, the brown color predominating, while in the 

 January specimens the pale color predominates and the brown is 

 almost restricted to the sides of the body and the fore-parts. of the 

 breast. In many cases it appears doubtful that the March phase could 

 have been derived from the January phase simply by an abrasion of 

 the feathers, for there is not enough brown on the feathers of the latter 

 especially on those of the belly and lower breast, to produce so dark a 

 tone as characterizes the March birds, even if the pale edgings were all 

 worn off. This difference would, hence, indicate a slight change of 

 color during the January moult which terminates during February. 



The foregoing facts may be summarized as follows : during the 

 time from December to February the males go through Stages III, 

 IV and V, arriving at Stage VI by the first of March. In Stage VI 

 they are at first, however, brownish-black instead of pure black. The 

 females during the same time become slightly darker and acquire a 

 larger proportion of brown on the plumage. Both males and females 

 show all gradations of color from one phase of plumage to another, 

 I. e., there is no jump from one stage to the next as would be the case 

 if one phase were due to a rapid loss of one set of feathers and a 

 simultaneous acquisition of a new set. Corresponding with the 

 gradual change in the appearance, which slowly leads from one stage 

 to that following, is the fact that none of the birds that are moulting 

 shows any extensive indications of doing so. In all cases the moulting 

 process appears to be a gradual loss of old feathers and a correspond- 

 ing ingrowth of new ones, for in no case are there more than compar- 

 atively a few new feathers to be seen growing in. The birds never 

 appear denuded, and the total number of feathers appears to be al- 

 ways the same. (This does not apply to birds in Stage II.) 



