68 FRINGILLID-E. 



chestnut tips to the greater coverts never seem to become entirely 

 lost. Great variation takes place in the size of the bill, the 

 older birds appearing to have larger bills than the more immature 

 ones. 



Adult male in winter plumage. Ochreous brown above, entirely 

 concealing the blue plumage, excepting on the lower back, rump, 

 and upper tail-coverts, where the blue is apparent, but all the fea- 

 thers are tipped with ochreous brown ; scapulars and lesser wing- 

 coverts like the back ; median coverts chestnut, with paler fulvescent 

 margins ; greater coverts and inner secondaries broadly edged with 

 ochreous buff; quills externally margined with ashy ochreous, the 

 tail-feathers with blue, the white tips to the outer feathers being 

 very distinct ; sides of face and under surface of body ochreous 

 brown, concealing the underlying blue plumage ; the abdomen, vent, 

 under tail-coverts, axillaries, and under wing-coverts broadly 

 margined with ashy white ; bill pale horn-colour in skin, browner 

 along the crest of the upper mandible. 



The adult male gains the summer plumage by the wearing off of 

 the pale tips to the feathers, and not by a spring moult. Tims 

 many full-plum aged birds show traces of the winter dress in the 

 shape of light edges to the feathers, especially on the under surface 

 of the body. 



Adult female in breeding-plumage. Different from the male. 

 Brown above, slightly mottled with darker brown bases on the 

 mantle and upper back ; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts 

 ashy brown, contrasting slightly with the mantle; lesser wing- 

 coverts bluish grey ; median and greater coverts dark brown, tipped 

 with ochreous buff, forming a double wing-bar ; bastard-wing, 

 primary-coverts, and quills dark brown, edged externally with ashy, 

 the inner secondaries with ochreous buff : tail-feathers brown, 

 shaded with greyish blue on the edges, and with small fringes of white 

 at the ends of the inner webs of the outer feathers ; head and neck 

 clearer ochreous brown, as well as the sides of the face, cheeks, and 

 ear-coverts ; feathers round the eye lighter ochreous brown, the 

 lores whitish ; under surface of body pale ochreous buff , a little 

 deeper on the fore neck and chest, and whiter on the throat and 

 on the under tail-coverts, the latter slightly mottled with dark- brown 

 bases ; under wing-coverts and axillaries pale ochreous buff; quills 

 dusky below, ashy along the inner webs. Total length 6-2 inches, 

 culmen 07, wing 2*3, tail 2-4, tarsus 075. 



Young males after the first moult resemble the adult female, but 

 have the head and back of a uniform dark ochreous brown ; the 

 lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts dull blue, more or less 

 obscured by sandy-buff edges to the feathers : the wings, tail, and 

 under surface of the body resemble the same parts in the old female, 

 and the lores are white. 



The young female after the first moult is similar to the young 

 male, but is browner on the lower back and rump, which show no 

 trace of blue, while the upper tail-coverts are broadly margined 

 with ashy whitish. The young male may generally be distinguished 



