( 314 ) THE MOULTS OF THE BRITISH PASSERES, WITH NOTES ON THE SEQUENCE OF THEIR PLUMAGES. BY H. F. WITHERBY. PAKT IV. (Continued from page 248.)

BLACK-HEADED BUNTING (Emberiza melanocephala) supra p. 241. Correction. The juvenile plumage is completely moulted, including the wing- and tail-feathers, at the first autumn moult. Dr. C. B. Ticehurst has very kindly pointed out to me that a specimen in the British Museum collection, which has still some juvenile feathers upon it, is moulting its wings and tail. I have examined this specimen, as well as a female which is certainly in first winter plumage and has still remains of sheaths on the primaries, so that specimens in moult in other collections which I had examined were probably not in a sufficiently advanced stage to show the wing and tail moult which certainly occurs. I am much indebted to Dr. Ticehurst for enabling me to make this correction.

FAMILY ALAUDIDS:. Although the British species in this family belong to six genera they all have the same moults. The adults have a complete autumn moult, and the young also all have a complete moult in their first autumn. There is no spring moult at any age. Tt is not therefore necessary to describe the moults of each species separately, but the sequences of plumage may be briefly referred to. Before proceeding to do so, I should like to mention an interesting point which concerns all the species. This is that in the juvenile plumage the first (bastard) primary is considerably larger, i.e. longer and usually broader and less pointed, than in the first winter and subsequent plumages. The only other species of the British Passeres which, so far as I know, moult their juvenile wing- and tail-feathers in 1stPrimaiyofSkylark the first autumn are: Stumus vulqaris, Left-hand juvenile, , . . ,. » ' right hand adult Pastor roseus, Montijringiua nivalis, Passer (nat.size). domesticus, P. montanus, Emberiza calandra, E. melanocephala, E. cioides, Mgiihalos caudatus, Panurus VOL. ix j MOULTS OF BRITISH PASSERES. 315 biarmicus. In these the first primary is markedly larger in the juvenile of Panurus biarmicus than in the adult, as Dr. Hartert has already pointed out (Vog. pal. Fauna, Vol. I., pp. 403-4). I find a similar but less marked difference in Passer domesticus, P. montanus and Mgiihalos caudatus ; there is a slight difference in Stumus vulgaris and Montijringilla nivalis, but I can find none in Pastor roseus and the three species of Emberiza.

WHITE-WINGED LARK (Melanocoryplia sibirica). ADULTS.—The female has the fore-head and crown much browner and less chestnut than the male, the chestnut of the wing-coverts is paler, the spots and streaks on the throat and breast are heavier than in the male, and the outer pair of tail-feathers have a dark streak at their tips. Abrasion in this species, especially in the male, has a noticeable, though not very marked, effect, the chestnut of the crown and lesser wing-coverts becoming more uniform and brighter and the chestnut on the sides of the breast more prominent. JUVENILE.—Differs markedly from the adult, the feathers of the upper-parts being darkish brown with creamy-white margins, the tail- and wing-feathers and wing-coverts are brown with even margins of pale cream with an inner line of black-brown, the upper-breast and flanks are spotted with dark brown, the bases of the feathers of the crown and lesser wing-coverts have a pale rufous tinge.

BLACK LARK (M. yeltoniensis). ADULTS.—The difference in the sexes and the effect of abrasion is very marked. Briefly, the male in winter is black, which is almost obscured on the upper-parts and flanks and partially on the throat and breast by huffish-white fringes to the feathers. These fringes gradually wear off until in summer the bird is almost entirely black. In the female the feathers have dark brown centres and buffish fringes and the lower breast and belly are white instead of black. By the summer abrasion of the fringes has made the brown centres of the feathers show through to a varying extent according to the amount of wear. JUVENILE.—Much resembles that of M. sibirica, but is darker on the upper-parts, and the wings and tail are like the adult female M. yeltoniensis, but more evenly margined with buffish-white, the feathers of the flanks instead of being spotted are dark brown with creamy-white tips, the feathers of the belly have pale brown bases. 316 BRITISH BIRDS. [VOL. IX. SHORT-TOED LABK (Calandrella b. brachydactyla), CRESTED LARK (Oalerida c. cristata), WOOD-LARK (Lullula a. arborea), SKY-LARK (Alauda a. arvensis and cinerascens). ADULTS.— In all these species the sexes are alike and the effect of abrasion is very slight. JTTVENILES.—In all the species the juveniles differ from the adults in their spotted appearance, the feathers of the upper-parts having buffish-white tips, and those of the wings and wing-coverts and tail having even margins of buffish-white. The dark streaks on the throat and breast in the adults of the Sky-Lark, Wood-Lark and Crested Lark, and the dark patches on the sides of the breast of the Short- toed Lark are in the juvenile more broken up and spot-like, this being especially noticeable in the Short-toed Lark. SHORE-LARK (Eremophila a. flam). ADULTS.—The female has less yellow on the fore-head than the male and the yellow of the chin and throat is duller, the black on the crown and throat is more restricted, the feathers of the " horns " are shorter, the nape and hind- neck are less pink and the rest of the upper-parts are more prominently streaked. The difference in the sexes becomes more marked in summer when abrasion of the tips and fringes of the feathers has made the yellow and black in the male purer and more uniform, while the crown of the female becomes only spotted with black, the nape of the male becomes a purer pink, while that of the female is much browner as well as being streaked. JUVENILE.—Differs markedly from adults, whole upper- parts being blackish-brown, each feather with a buffish- or yellowish-white spot at the tip, the wing-coverts are the same with a broader margin of buffish-white, the wing and tail are evenly margined with buffish-white, the chin and throat are pale yellow somewhat faintly spotted with dusky, the breast and flanks are dusky black-brown, the feathers being fringed and tipped with yellowish- or buffish-white. (To be continued.)