484 



MOTACILLID^. 



throat and flanks, and more dingy on the fore neck ; thighs brown ; 

 under tail-corerts purer white, like the abdomen ; axillaries and 

 under wing-coverts white ; quills dusky below, ashy whitish along 

 the edge of the inner web. 



The bird described is in Mr. Seebohm's coUeetion from Amoy, 

 procured on the 16th of April, 1858 (Swinhoe coll.). By Junfe, as 

 is proved by another specimen in the same collection (Amoy, June 

 1866 : R. Swinhoe : s. n. M. felicc), the young birds have com- 

 menced their moult. On the head appear a few black feathers, as 

 weU as on the rump and upper tail-coverts ; the wii:g-coverts are 

 moulted, the lesser ones being ashy with black centres, and the 

 median ones white ; on the fore neck some black spots are appear- 

 ing. The back, however, is becoming grey, and there are no signs 

 of black in this stage at first, but it soon begins to develop. 



Young in first tuintcr ^^^uinctge. General colour above dull ashy 

 grey with a slight wash of brown ; upper tail-coverts black, the 

 lateral ones externaUj' white ; least wing-coverts like the back, 

 with blackish bases ; median coverts pure white, with blackish 

 shaft-lines ; greater coverts white, with blackish bases to the outer 

 webs and blackish inner webs ; bastard- wing, primary- coverts, and 

 quills blackish, edged with ashy, the secondaries broadly edged with 

 white, the innermost browner externally ; tail-feathers black, the 

 centre ones narrowly edged with whitish, the two outer ones 

 white, with blackish edges along the inner web, broader on the 

 penultimate feather ; crown of the head like the back, blacker 

 on the top and sides of the crown ; frontal band white, the posterior 

 feathers tipped with blackish : eyebrow, feathers round the eye, 

 lores, cheeks, and ear-coverts white, with a slight tinge of yellow ; 

 the sides of the neck white ; throat and entire under surface of 

 body white, with a tinge of yellow on the throat and breast ; sides 

 of the body and flanks ashy ; thighs white ; across the fore neck a 

 band of black ; axillaries and under wing-coverts pure white ; 

 quUls dusky below, white along the inner web. Total length 

 7'25 inches, culmen 0-65, wing 3'2, tail 3*2, tarsus 0'9. 



By the following spring the fuU plumage is attained, and the 

 back becomes black, uniform with the crown, and the lesser wing- 

 coverts are also black : the quills are those of the preceding 

 autumn, and are not moulted. The black back is speedily assumed ; 

 one specimen fi'om Amoy, obtained in November (Swinhoe coU.), has 

 nearly gained a perfect black back, but still has a black band on 

 the fore neck. As spring advances the black extends higher up the 

 throat, and becomes a large black patch, instead of being only a 

 black bar on the fore neck. 



Adult in full plumage (Amoy, July 1866; E. Swinhoe). General 

 colour above black, excepting the white frontal band, the lateral 

 upper taU-coverts externally white ; lesser wing-coverts like the 

 back ; median and greater series pure white, the latter with con- 

 cealed black bases ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and qi;ills black, 

 edged T\ith ashy white, purer and broader on the secondaries, the 

 innermost of which are submarginaUy shaded with brown ; taU- 



