312 A SPBING AND SUMMEtt IN LAPLAND. 



plumage of the grosbeak ? and can a bird be called 

 adult as soon as lie is able to breed ? I can prove 

 three distinct dresses in the male of this bird at 

 different ages, in all of which they can breed; first, 

 olive-green tinged with yellowish-red ; second, true 

 carmine-red (I think we can hardly call the purple- 

 red a distinct dress, as most probably it changes 

 with age, and I cannot prove that the birds wear 

 it for a year) ; and lastly, a bright yellow-green 

 dress, which is only observed in the very old males, 

 and which, when once assumed, never changes. 

 Now, are we to wait till they have assumed this 

 last yellow-green dress before we consider them 

 mature, and must we contend that no man has 

 arrived at maturity till his hair becomes grey ? I 

 can prove that the grosbeak can breed in both of 

 the first two dresses ; and as I shot the old bright 

 green parrot crossbill breeding, it is reasonable to 

 suppose that the grosbeak does the same. I am 

 not at all surprised at these young ash-green males 

 breeding, for I believe, although I never myself 

 could prove it, that some of the parrots hi 

 Australia (of which bird the grosbeak and cross- 

 bill are the European type), breed in this inter- 

 mediate yellow-green dress; but what I am 

 surprised at is this, that no naturalist, as far as I 

 can see, has noticed this first ash-green plumage 

 in the male grosbeak. Nilsson leads us to suppose 



