44 Brewster’s Descriptions of the First Plumage 
and most conspicuous on the scapulars, where they restrict the ground- 
color to a narrow central lining along the shaft of the feathers, and a few 
irregular outlying spots. Primaries and secondaries edged and tipped 
with pale fulvous. Tail crossed by eight distinct, continuous black bars. 
Auriculars spotted with dusky black. Throat and abroad superciliary line 
pale buff. (It should be stated that these parts are covered with what seems 
to be the still unchanged feathering of the chick.) Breast and sides bright 
rufous-orange, each feather with a pair of black spots on the outer webs. 
Upon the breast these spots are small and nearly round, but along the sides 
they become broader until about the anal region they form transverse 
bars. Central, abdominal, and anal regions immaculate buffy-white. 
From a specimen in my collection obtained at Upton, Me., July 28, 1874. 
Among the series of young males before me there are none in strictly first 
plumage. The moult begins early in August and proceeds very gradually, 
a few of the feathers dropping out at a time, as they are replaced by the 
more permanent fall plumage. The wing and tail feathers are invariably 
moulted ; thus through the last half of August and nearly the whole of 
September the plumage presents a curiously patched appearance. In this 
condition the young male may be distinguished from the female by the 
black feathers which begin to appear in patches on the breast. The sexes 
are otherwise quite similar at this age. In both, the throat, cheeks, and 
sides of the neck are profusely but rather finely spotted with black upon 
a yellowish — in some examples ashy — white ground. This is unquestion- 
ably a remnant of the first plumage, which in the young female previously 
described had not replaced the down. The feathers upon the throat and 
crown are apparently the last to go, as they are not replaced in any of the 
specimens before me until the succeeding plumage is nearly complete. 
Both sexes acquire their full plumage during October, and by the latter 
part of that month, adults of either sex can only be distinguished with 
the greatest difficulty from birds of the year. 
116. JElgialitis meloda. 
Autumnal plumage : female. Differs from the adult in having the black 
frontal crescent entirely wanting, the feathers upon the crown and back 
with ashy-brown centres, a broad white collar around the neck behind, 
and the band across the breast brownish or ashy-plumbeous, instead of 
black. From a specimen in my collection obtained at Nantucket, Mass., 
September 22, 1875. Mr. Ridgway’s western variety of this species cannot 
possibly be maintained. A large proportion of our New England Coast 
specimens have the breast band continuous, and in several that I have 
examined it is as broadly so as in the supposed variety circumcincta. 
117. Philohela minor. 
Downy stage : chick a few days old. General ground-color warm buff, 
tinged above with ashy. Large areas of rich seal-brown occur upon the 
