BLACK-THROATED toON. 299 



to the south of Europe. In North America it extends as far 

 south as the Gulf of Mexico. " One of the most remarkable 

 circumstances relative to this beautiful bird," says Mr. Audu- 

 bon, " is the extraordinary extent to which the wanderings 

 of the young are carried in autumn and Avinter. It breeds in 

 the remote regions of the north, from which many of the old 

 birds, it would seem, do not remove far, while the young, as 

 soon as they are able to travel, take to wing and disperse, 

 spreading not only over the greater part of the United States, 

 but beyond their south-western limits." 



The eggs, of which there are only two, sometimes three, 

 are of a very elongated oval form, three inches in length, 

 two inches in their greatest breadth, brownish-olive, sprinkled 

 all over with black and dark brown, with larger spots of the 

 same at the broader end. The young are said by Mr. Audu- 

 bon to be of a uniform brownish-black colour, when in their 

 first downy plumage ; by Sir W. Jardine to be greyish-black, 

 paler beneath. 



YoTJNG. — In October, the young have the bill light grey- 

 ish-blue, dusky along the ridge, whitish at the base of the 

 lower mandible ; the iris brown ; the feet dusky-grey, paler 

 on the inner side. The upper part of the head and the hind 

 neck are dark greyish-brown ; the cheeks greyish-white, mi- 

 nutely streaked with dusky ; the fore part of the neck also 

 greyish-white, faintly dotted, its sides below streaked with 

 brown. The upper parts of the body are brownish-black, 

 the feathers all broadly margined with light grey ; the hind 

 part of the back dull brownish-grey. The quills are brown- 

 ish-black, the secondaries of a lighter tint, and margined with 

 grey ; the tail-feathers dusky, similarly margined. The lower 

 parts of the body are pure white, the feathers on the sides, 

 and some of the lower tail-coverts dusky, edged with bluish- 

 grey. 



Progress toward Maturity. — According to M. Tem- 

 minck, " the young, when a year old, have the head and hind 

 neck pale grey ; the throat and fore part of the neck white ; 

 but on the throat, and sometimes on the fore part of the 



