rHE AUK: 
A QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF 
ORNITHOLOGY. 
vol. xvi. July, 1899. No. 3. 
SEQUENCE OF PLUMAGES; ILLUSTRATED BY THE 
MYRTLE WARBLER (. DENDROICA CORONATA) 
AND THE YELLOW-BREASTED CHAT 
{ICTERIA VIRENS ) . 
BY JONATHAN DWIGHT JR., M. D. 
Plate III. 
The young birds figured on the accompanying plate illustrate a 
plumage that is common, not only to all North American War- 
blers, but to many other species of birds at the time of leaving the 
nest. It is but one stage in a series, and by tracing the develop- 
ment of successive plumages in the two species before us, we 
shall be able to grasp the idea of sequence, which underlies a 
true understanding of the relation plumages bear to each other. ' 
There is a downy stage antecedent to the one figured. The 
young of the Myrtle Warbler (Dendroica coronata ) while in the 
nest are scantily clothed with downy filaments, the fore-runners 
of true feathers, which grow from definite parts of the feather 
tracts. These are rapidly displaced by new feathers, to the tips of 
which they adhere for some time. This second stage, generally 
known as the 1 first ’ or ‘ nestling ’ plumage, in the case of the 
Myrtle Warbler, happens to bear a strong superficial resemblance 
to that of the adult Pine Finch (Spinas pinui), which is height- 
ened by the spray of evergreen on which the artist has posed the 
bird. The plumage of all young birds is, however, always weak 
