I 9 2I.] 
Letters, Extracts, and Notes. 
7 55 
Nestling Plumages of Owls. 
Sir, —Mr. Witlierby's letter re the above (‘ Ibis/ p. 567) 
has caused me to go into the matter again. 
Mr. Witherby writes : “ I cannot agree with Mr. Bonhote 
that the Eagle-Owl has three generations of plumage before 
acquiring feathers like those of the adult. ... I find . . . 
that the first down is immediately succeeded by the juvenile 
plumage. The specimens in the British Museum 
clearly show the shortish white down attached to the tips of 
these downy feathers.” 
I have examined these same specimens in the Museum, 
and find that “downy feathers” of the juvenile plumage 
and the down of the second plumage both carry the shortish 
white down at their tips. 
The second down plumage has also been noted by two 
other observers—(1) Mr. Gurney, f Zoologist/ 1849, p. 2567 ; 
(2) M. Lavauden, ‘Bevue Frai^aise d’Ornithologie/ May 
1920, p. 60. 
The first point to be considered is the chronological 
sequence and age at which these plumages show. Mr. 
Gurney's notes and mine exactly coincide. Mr. Gurney 
writes that the young were hatched on 19 May and covered 
with a whitish down; at three weeks old they assume a 
second down, and the first feathers (? quills, J. L. B.) began 
to appear at five weeks ; on 23 July they could fly to the 
perches. 
My birds were hatched on 25 May ; on 21 June (three 
weeks and five days) they were covered with a huffish 
down ; on 3 July (five weeks) the quills were just showing; 
on 8 August they could fly, and they were in adult dress 
by 6 September. 
There can therefore be no doubt whatever that the Eagle- 
Owl has three distinct plumages before assuming its first 
winter plumage. The point, then, is how can these plumages 
be morphologically interpreted, in view of the fact that, as 
Mr. Witherby points out and in which I concur, the juvenile 
(third) plumage bears the first white down on its tips, as 
does also the second down plumage. 
