Still More Responses of the Poor-Will to Low Temperatures

latest date I found an adult Verdin still molting was 9 October.Amadeo Rea (pers.comm.)collected an adult female (AMR # 870) at Gila Bend, Maricopa County, Arizona, on 9 October, that was beginning her postnuptial molt.The postnuptial molt of the adult Verdin is complete.This molt begins with the loss of the first (innermost) primary (table 4).Secondary replacement does not begin until several primaries have molted.Secondarv 8 is molted first.followed shortlv by loss of 9 and 7.About the' same time that secondary 7 is being replaced, secondary 1 (innermost) is lost.Subsequently, the remaining secondaries are replaced in the following order: 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.Molt of the rectrices typically begins after the secondaries and the primaries have begun their replacement.The sequence of replacement is from the innermost (first) to the outermost (sixth) feather.Replacement of the upper greater primary coverts progresses with the corresponding remiges.However, the upper greater secondary coverts appear to be replaced, in sequence proceeding distally to proximal, prior to the loss of their respective remiges.During the breeding season the yellow on the head of adult Verdins, especially males, becomes more intense.This does not appear to result from a prenuptial molt as I never found sheathed feathers during this time.Sennett ( 1879) implied that the perfection and increase in the yellow on the Verdin' s head probably occur with subsequent annual molts.He may be correct in making this assumption since many older Verdins, especially the males, possess much more yellow on their heads than do first-year Verdins.Additional investigation is required to clarify this point.The deep orange spot on the Verdin' s forehead is present in both sexes and in first-year birds.Recent data obtained on the postjuvenal molt of the genus Parus, along with the data presented herein on the Verdin, further strengthen the current idea that the Verdin is not a parid.Keith Dixon (pers.comm.), in his studies (unpubl.) on the Mountain Chickadee (Parus gambeli) and the Black-capped Chickadee (I' .at&x~piUus), found that not more than the four proximal secondaries are replaced, and in most individuals no remiges are dropped.Juvenal rectrices are invariably retained.In an earlier study on the Plain Titmouse (P.i-us), Dixon (1962) found that rarely the outermost primaries and their coverts may be renewed.