566 MOTACILLID^. 



Lark-like appearance ; lower back aud rump more uniform and ashy 

 brown, with dusky centres to the feathers ; lesser wing-coverts dull 

 sandy rufous ; median and gi eater coverts edged with sandy rufous ; 

 bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills dusky blackish, edged 

 with sandy rufous, paler and broader on the inner secondaries, the 

 first primary externally ashy whitish ; tail-feathers dark brown 

 with ashy-fulvous margins, the penultimate feather dark brown with 

 a shaft of the same, the outer web white aud the inner web with a 

 long wedge-shaped white mark reaching down two thirds of the 

 feather ; lores and a distinct eyebrow sandy white ; ear-coverts 

 sandy rufous, with pale shaft-lines ; cheeks sandy white, with a 

 distinct line of blackish brown along' the upper and lower margins ; 

 under surface of body pale sandy buff, isabelline on the throat aud 

 abdomen ; lower throat and fore neck with numerous triangidar 

 spots of dusky blackish ; axillaries and under wing-coverts sandy 

 rufous, with dusky bases; quills dusky below, fulvescent along the 

 inner web : " iipper mandible black, the lower mandible fleshy, its 

 base and gape yellow ; feet reddish fleshy ; claws horny brown ; iris 

 dark brown " (ScuU)/). Total length 7 inches, culmen U'6, wing 3'5, 

 tail 2-S, tarsus 1-1. 



A pair killed in winter, when the plumage is somewhat fuller, 

 measure as follows : — 



Total length. Culmeu. Wing. Tail. Tarsus, 

 in. in. in. in. in. 



a. S . Jaffna district 7-7 0-6 3-95 3-3 1-3 



b. 2 ■ I'egu 7-2 0-6 3-55 28 1-1 



The female, it will be seen, is much smaller than the male ; aud I 



strongly suspect that the specimen from Irkutsk is a female, not- 

 withstanding that it is marked a male. 



The description is taken from a specimen obtained near Irkutsk on 

 the 19th of July. It is already beginning to moult into the winter 

 plumage. The latter is very much more rufous than the breediug- 

 dress, all the feathers being broadly edged with sandy buff, especi- 

 ally those of the wing-coverts and quills ; the feathers of the mantle 

 rather mottled with pale sandy-buff edges ; the eyebrow is tawny 

 buff, and the breast and flanks rich tawny, the spots on the fore 

 neck very indistinct and obscured. This species goes through a 

 double moult, that to the spring plumage commenciug in February, 

 before the bird leaves its winter-quarters. 



Hah. Breeds in Central and Eastern Asia, migrating in winter 

 into Southern China, the Moluccas, Burmese countries, India, and 

 Ceylon, and occurring also at that season in Western and Southern 

 Europe, occasionally visiting the British Islands. 



a. Ad. st. Bermondsej', near London. 



b. Ad. sk. Europe. 



c. cJad.sk. Irkutsk, July 19. R. B. Sharpe, Esq. [P.]. 

 J. (S ad. sk. Jaffna district, Ceylon, Mar. 6 R. B. Sharpe, Esq. [P.]. 



(W. V. Ler/c/c). 

 e. $ ad. sk. Batticaloa, Cevlon, Oct. 8 Pt. B. Shai-pe, Esq. [P.]. 

 (IF. V.Leycj'e). 



