572 M0TACILLID.15. 



tail-feathers sandy brown, darker brown in the middle of the 

 feathers ; remainder of the tail blackish brown, with narrow, 

 almost obsolete, edgings of sandy buff; penultimate feather blackish 

 brown along the inner web, the enter web entirely light fiilvons, 

 this colonr extending obliquely along the inner web to the tip, the 

 shaft brown ; enter feather nearly entirely white, excepting a brown 

 edging to the inner web, the shaft pure white ; lores and a very 

 broad eyebrow bufFy white ; in front of the eye a small dusky spot ; 

 round the eye a ring of buffy-whitc feathers ; sides of face whitish, 

 with a slight indication of a dusky streak along the upper edge of 

 the cheeks, below the eye ; ear-coverts sandy brown, rather darker 

 on the upper margin ; cheeks, throat, and under surface of body 

 whitish, the breast and sides of the body washed with fulvous, the 

 sides of the neck and sides of breast slightly streaked with brown ; 

 under wing-coverts whitish, with light ash-coloured bases to the 

 feathers ; quills light brown below, ashy whitish along the inner 

 webs. Total length 7 inches, culmen 0'G5, wing 3"6, tail 2*8, 

 tarsus 1. 



Young. Much more mottled above than the adult, the feathers 

 being all dark brown, with narrow margins of sandy brown; wings 

 and tail very much as in the adults, the brown colour on the inner 

 web of the penultimate feather rather darker ; a slight moustache, 

 composed of little triangular spots ; fore neck and chest also marked 

 with triangular spots of brown. 



The adult female does not differ from the adult male in plumage, 

 excepting that the mj'stacal stripe is not so strongly pronounced, 

 and the sides of the breast are somewhat streaked with dusky brown. 

 Total length 6-5 inches, culmen 0-7, wing 3-3, tail 2-6, tarsus 1. 



The winter plumage of the adults only differs from the summer 

 plumage in being paler ; the mystacal stripe is obsolete, and all 

 the feathers of the upper surface, and especially the quills, are edged, 

 rather broadly, with sandy buff. 



Young birds of the year after tlieir first moult are distinguished by 

 having spots on the fore neck and chest ; these spots are generally 

 blackish and of a triangular form, and vary both in size and intensity 

 of colour. A pair measure as fallows : — 



Total length. Wing. Tail. Tarsus. 



in. in. in. in. 



a. 6 ■ Haskeuy, Sept. 15 6-75 37 3-0 1-05 



b. $ . Haskeuy, Sept. 15 6-5 3-5 2-75 1-05 



The mystacal streaks and the spotting on the breast vary with 

 individuals. The latter seems to be characteristic of the young 

 bird, for it is most distinct in the specimen described above, which 

 cannot long have left the nest. In the adults it is almost or entirely 

 absent, and in a moulting specimen (Sept. 15, 1876) it is disap- 

 pearing, the new feathers being much less spotted.^ 



The double moustache is a character less easily accounted for. 

 In most specimens the streak of blackish below the eye is tolerably 



