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Mr. Stone and I do not quite agree about the Barn Swallow ( Hirundo 
e ryt h rogaste r ) , for he speaks of an “apparent prenuptial moult,” basing 
his opinion on a bird (Phila. Acad. Nat. Sci. No. 28576, September 1, 
Pennsylvania), which he considers an adult after the postnuptial moult, 
and therefore requiring a prenuptial moult to produce the attenuated 
lateral rectrices of the breeding bird. The specimen in question has been 
kindly loaned to me, and I am satisfied it is a young bird in fresh juvenal 
plumage, for the slight forking of the tail and the green tinge of the back 
with reddish-brown edgings on the rump, nape and wing-coverts are char- 
acteristic of a dozen other young birds in my own collection. The green 
tinge, by the way, is peculiar to the young of all our Swallows, and of 
other birds with iridescent feathers, like Crows and Blackbirds, in which 
adults are usually bluer or purpler than young birds. Here is a case 
where immaturity might be shown by softening the skin and examining 
the ossification of the skull. 
Three other interesting Barn Swallows have been sent to me by Mr. 
Stone. Two of them have already been noticed in his valuable paper on 
moult, and I agree with him that two of them (Phila. Acad. Nat, Sci., No. 
28574, August 7, Pennsylvania, and No. 28577, September 1, Pennsyl- 
vania), are adults just beginning the postnuptial moult, which, doubtless, 
would have been completed after they had reached winter quarters, or 
perhaps while on the journey thither. The same sort of feather renewal 
takes place among some of the Tyrannidse, Laridze, Limicolze and others 
of strong flight, and the body feathers are very apt to precede in their 
growth the remiges and rectrices, although in the two specimens cited, 
the rectrices are already partly renewed. The third specimen (Phila. 
Acad. Nat. Sci., No. 15661, French Guiana), is unfortunately undated, but 
it is evidently passing from the juvenal plumage by what must be called 
a postjuvenal moult. The worn first primary, inner secondaries and a 
few of the rectrices, together with a green-tinged back, indicate a young 
bird. The crown now worn brown also indicates juvenal plumage, while 
new feathers are breaking from their sheaths, both on the head and 
throat. These birds all bear out my conclusion that adult Swallows 
moult earlier than young birds which undergo a complete postjuvenal 
moult, often in midwinter. It is, on the whole, expedient to speak of a 
postjuvenal moult and not of a prenuptial, even in those species which 
are late in assuming a first winter dress, which then becomes that of the 
first summer simply through wear. This sequence of plumages obtains 
largely both among the North American Hirundinidse and Tyrannidse, 
and I am glad of this opportunity of calling attention to it. 
I would also correct here a slip of Mr. Stone’s pen at page 118 of his 
review in ‘ The Auk,’ where he has inadvertently credited the Cross 
bills with a “ prenuptial ” moult, meaning of course, the postnuptial. — 
Jonathan Dwight, Jr., Nezv York City. non 
Auk, XVIII, April., 1901, pp.X^-V. 
Hirundo erythrogastra. An albino Barn Swallow was shot 
by the writer at Centre Moriches, L. I., Aug. 19, 1904. Hun- 
dreds of this species and Tachycineta bicolor were at this season 
passing westerly on their day-time migration and this white bird 
was seen approaching over the salt meadows, conspicuous from its 
color. It was supposed to be an albino before it came to bag 
but the species was not determined until then. The chin and 
throat and portions of the remiges margining the usual white spots 
on the tail are washed with buffy ; elsewhere the bird is pure 
creamy white. Alik, XXII, A r., 190 C, p ./ °(. 
15 ? 
