168G.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 371 



(No. 98003; 'Nov. 20) these margins are uot half as broad as in the adult 

 summer male of T. olpestris. 



S jun. ( U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 56308 ; Galicia ; TV. SchlUter). — The entire upper surface 

 olive gray, of a tinge quite similar to that of the corresponding plumage of T. musicus, 

 ouly that the feathers of the upper back show dusky centers ; top of head and ear- 

 coverts suffused with hrowu ; chin, throat, aud iipper fore neck of a buffisli white 

 streaked with dusky aloug the shafts of the feathers, much after the fashion of T. 

 pilaris; the prepectoral semilune of a light smoky gray, each feather terminated by a 

 snbapical brownish band and a huffish white margin; rest of under surface w.hite, 

 slightly suffused with buff' on the sides aud flanks, each feather with a submargiual, V- 

 ehaped, blackish brown mark, the feathers on the side of the breast having, in addition, 

 a snbapical blackish spot between the j)oiut of the V and the tip of the feather ; on the 

 under tail-coverts the dusky mark is more U-shaped: wings much as in the adults, 

 but more suffused with buff, except the tips of the median coverts and the edges of 

 the inner great coverts, which are nearly pure white. Bill horny blackish brown; 

 feet light horn brown. 



The differences between the specimen described above and a young 

 male of T. torquatiis, from Silesia (No. 56307), in a plumage exactly cor- 

 responding, are even greater than between the quite adult specimens 

 of the two species. The specimen in question agrees very closely with 

 Naumaun's pi. 70, fig. 2, only that it is somewhat blacker and the mar- 

 gins on the back less distinct. The appearance of the smoky gray 

 jiectoral semilune is very curious ; it is of exactly the same color in both 

 specimens, though slightly lighter in T. alpestris, on account of the 

 buffy margins being broader ; but while in this bird it appears as a dark 

 collar on the light under surface, it forms a similar, but light, patch 

 on the dark under side of T. torquatus. It is unnecessary to carry the 

 comparison any further, as anybody will understanil who takes the 

 trouble of placing Naumann's figure, quoted above, alongside the left- 

 hand figure of Dresser's work (vol. II, pi. 15). 



J" jiiv. ( U. S. Naf. Mus. No. 91)61; "Europe," July 3, 1836; Baron v. MUUer). — Upper 

 surface dull brownish black, with brownish buff margins to the feathers, aud sharp 

 creamy white shaft-streaks, terminally edged with blackish on the scapulars, aud 

 on the small aud median upper wing-coverts, while on top and sides of head similar, 

 but darker, smaller, aud less sharply defined streaks are found ; chin and throat bnffy 

 white with only a few indistinct dusky spots; rest of under surface dusky with 

 irregular whitish cross-bars, on breast and sides tinged with buff, each feather whitish 

 with a terminal dusky margin and a U-shaped dusky mark, or dusky with a sub- 

 apical whitish U-shaped spot and a subbasal whitish shaft-streak, the white gradu- 

 ally predommating backwards ; the wings essentially as in the adults, except as re- 

 gards the coverts already referred to, and the stronger tinge of buff to the outer webs ; 

 tail uniform brownish black slightly margined with buffy gray at the tips. Bill horn 

 brown ; feet of the same color, but lighter. 



Notwithstanding the uncertainty as to the true locality of this speci- 

 men and the want of a tjpical T. torquatus in the corresponding 

 plumage for actual comparison, I have but little doubt that it is a 

 T. alpestris just out of the downy stage. If Keulemann's representa- 

 tion of a "young on leaving the nest" (Dresser, B. of Eur., vol. II, 

 pi. 14) is only approximately correct, these birds are separable already 

 in the first plumage by the much greater extent of the white on tlie 



