RED GROUSE. 
269 
graduall)' extend laterally toward.s the margins of the webs, 
forming wide irregular buff bands (fig. 8). Meanwhile the 
interspaces become black, and the rufous of autumn dies out. 
“When the summer feathers are supplied by moult, they 
usually begin to make their appearance about the beginning of 
March, and even when fully grown, they may generally be recog- 
nised from those produced by change of pattern by their more 
regular black and buff barring (pi. iii. fig. 9). The change of 
pattern without a moult api)ears to take a long time to become 
complete, for we find, as already shown, that though autumn 
feathers, altered in this way, begin to show traces of the coming 
metamorphosis as early as the beginning of November, the 
colours are often imperfectly arranged by the end of April. 
When the summer feathers are supplied entirely by moult, no 
change whatever is visible in the autumn plumage of the flank- 
feathers till about the end of February, when the first new 
feathers begin to appear, though we ^ have noted a single 
instance of one summer feather making its appearance as early 
as the middle of December. 
“ There can be no doubt that the male completes his autumn 
moult very much more quickly than the female does, many 
males being in full autumn plumage by the beginning of Sep- 
tember. Possibly this may be accounted for by the resources 
of the female being more severely taxed than those of the male 
during the breeding season. It may very naturally be asked 
why some females should change their summer flank-feathers 
by moult, while others are enabled to arrive at the same result 
by going through the much less exhaustive process of re- 
decorating their old autumn feathers, and making them serve 
the purpose of new breeding plumage. This is a difficult 
question to answer, but it seems natural to suppose that the 
more vigorous birds gain their summer flank-feathers by moult, 
while nature has enabled the weaker individuals to obtain the 
necessary protective nesting plumage by a more gradual and 
less e-xhaustive process. 
“ C. Feathers of the Chest. 
“The summer change of the feathers of the fore-neck and 
chest in the female Red Grouse is similar to that which takes 
place on the sides and flanks, but is very much more complete. 
