466 MOTACILLID^. 



Key to the Plumages of M. alba. 



a. Throat wliite or yellowish white. 

 a'. Forehead like the crown. 



u". Throat dingy white tinp-ed with yellow; 

 tore neck and chest dull ashy, with a 

 ' dusky patch in the centre of the former . Yoimy : Ist plumage. 

 h". Throat white washed with yellow, sepa- 

 rated from the white breast by a crescent , j-^^^^^^ . ^^^ autumn 

 of black on the fore neck S plumage. 



h'. Forehead white. , , , i Young : 1st winter 



c". Crown grey like the back i plumage. 



d'\ Crown black, contrasting with the grey ^ ^^,^^^ . ^-^^g^. pj^^_ 



o^ck ^ mage. 



/.. Throat black, as well as the fore neck. , ^^^^^ ^^^^^^ _. ^^^^^_ 



c'. Head and nape black < iuo-plumao-e. 



, . , , Adult female : breed- 

 er'. Nape mixed with ashy -j iiio--phunage. 



Younrj in first j)liima(je. General colour above uniform ashy grey, 

 ■washed with olive, the upper tail-coverts blackish, the lateral ones 

 externally white ; least wiug-coverts like the back ; median and 

 •••reater series dusky ashy, washed with brown exteriiaUy and white 

 at the ends ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills blackish, 

 externally edged with ashy, the secondaries with white, subter- 

 minally shaded with brown ; tail-feathers black, the two centre 

 ones edo'ed with white, the two outer ones white, with a blackish 

 edo-iuo- to the inner web, the base of the penultimate feather also 

 black; forehead and crown like the back; lores ashy; above the 

 ear-coverts a streak of yellowish white ; ear-coverts pale yellowish ; 

 cheeks and throat dingy white, Avith a slight yellowish tinge ; fore 

 neck, chest, and sides of body ashy grey, with a patch of blackish on 

 the fore neck; remainder of uuderparts white; thighs dull ashy, 

 with dusky bases ; asiUaries and under wiug-coverts white ; quills 

 dusky below, ashy whitish along the edge of the inner web. 



From this first plumage a complete moult brings the bii'd into its 

 full winter plumage ; the quiUs, however, are apparently not shed. 

 The upper surface is uniform grey, and there is generally a strong 

 suffusion of yellow on the face ; but this is not always the case, 

 and may be peculiar to one sex or to the birds of the second brood. 



In the following spring the fuU plumage is reached, not by a 

 moult, but by a change of feather, the black on the head generally 

 appearing first, and afterwards that on the throat. In the case of 

 the female birds, at least in their first spring, the head never seems 

 to become entirely black, the nape still retaining some ashy plumes. 



Young male in first tvinter plumage. General colour above light 

 ashy grey, washed with yellowish olive on the head and back, the 

 rump purer grey and becoming dusky towards the upper tail- 

 coverts, which are black, washed externally with ashy, the lateral 

 ooverts white on their outer webs ; lesser wing-coverts ashy 



