Rhoads, Notes on Western Pennsylvania Birds . 
| Auk 
LOct. 
distinct winter plumage, and that in young birds at least, the 
wing quills are apparently molted in spring ! 
I need only say that the lower figure of our plate, which repre- 
sents the adult winter plumage, and which is evidently the condition 
described by Dr. Sharpe as showing the expansion of the pink, 
was drawn from a bird secured in Illinois, Sept. 1871, far north 
of its winter quarters, while another in Mr. Brewster’s collection, 
taken in Oxford Co., Maine, Aug. 20, is actually in the midst of 
the molt from the brown-winged pink and white ‘ First Nuptial ’ 
plumage to the adult winter plumage here figured. 
This clearly illustrates the lack of accuracy with which seasonal 
plumages are described in our works of reference, and I may say 
that the Rose-breasted Grosbeak is not alone in this treatment. 
The moral seems to be that in the present advanced condition 
of American ornithology, when we are splitting hairs in the matter 
of geographical subspecies, it is high time that each plumage that 
a bird assumes should be properly understood and described, and 
more attention given to one of the most interesting branches of 
ornithological science. ^ ^ ^ 189Q> pp 3oS _ s 
