250 ACCENTOR. CHANTER. 



nearly equal diameter vertically and laterally ; the neck short ; 

 the head rather small, ovate, anteriorly narrow, the legs of 

 ordinary length, rather slender ; tarsus compressed, covered 

 anteriorly w^itli seven scutella, posteriorly with two long plates 

 united at a very acute angle. Toes of moderate size, much 

 compressed ; the first large, the two lateral about equal, the 

 third much longer, and united to the fourth as far as the se- 

 cond joint of the latter. Claws rather long, arcuate, greatly 

 compressed, laterally grooved. 



Plumage soft, indistinct, slightly glossed ; the feathers ob- 

 long, with a plumule consisting of a few long barbs. There 

 are no distinct bristle-feathers along the base of the upper 

 mandible ; but the feathers on the fore part of the face are 

 terminated by bristly points. Wings rather short, broad, 

 much rounded ; of eighteen quills, the first very small, being 

 about a fourth of the length of the longest, the second consi- 

 derably shorter than the third, the fourth and fifth longest ; 

 the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth slightly cut out towards the 

 end. Tail rather long, slightly arcuate, rounded, of twelve 

 rather narrow, rounded feathers. 



The genus Accentor is intimately allied to Sylvia, differing 

 chiefly in the involution of the edges of the lower mandible, 

 and the greater muscularity of the stomach, in consequence of 

 which the species become partly granivorous. They move on 

 the ground with a kind of gait intermediate between leaping 

 and walking, and search for insects, worms, pupae, and seeds 

 near the shelter of bushes, to which they retreat on being dis- 

 turbed. Our common species, Motacilla modularis of Lin- 

 naeus, has been with propriety referred to the genus ; but, 

 although it has received that name, it is not so remarkable 

 for melody as many other species of the Linnaean Motacilla. 

 However, it is not altogether inaptly named, and Accentor is 

 just as applicable to the genus as Sylvia, Saxicola, and Fruti- 

 cicola, are to their respective groups. 



Besides the common and generally distributed Accentor 

 modularis, one or two individuals of another species have oc- 

 curred in England. 



