53. KilBERIZA. 511 



yellow, followed by a band of maroon across the fore neck ; re- 

 mainder of under surface of body yellow, the vent and under tail- 

 coverts white ; sides of body and flanks distinctly streaked with 

 brown, the sides of the upper breast with chestnut ; axillaries pale 

 yellow ; under wing-coverts dull white ; quills dusky below, ashy 

 whitish along the inner web : " upper mandible dark horny brown, 

 lower one fleshy pink or very pale brown ; legs and feet pale pinkish 

 or horny brown ; iris wood-brown " (Davison). Total length inches, 

 culmen 05, wing 2-85, tail 2-2, tarsus 0-75. 



The adult male in winter plumage differs from the summer plumage 

 in having the upper surface obscured by ashy margins to the feathers, 

 in having an ashy-brown eyebrow, the ear-coverts ashy brown, with 

 a black streak above and below, and more particularly in the colour 

 of the under surface. The yellow is duller than in summer, and 

 obscured by ashy margins to the feathers, which almost completely 

 hide the maroon collar on the fore neck. The throat is likewise 

 yellow instead of black, and this black throat is renewed in the 

 spring by a complete moult, as is shown by two specimens in the 

 Museum series. The remainder of the summer plumage appears to 

 be gained by the wearing-off of the tips of the feathers instead of 

 by a moult. 



Adult female in breeding-plumage. Differs from the male in being 

 brown above streaked with black, narrowly on the head and broadly 

 on the mantle and back ; the lower back, rump, and upper tail- 

 coverts pale chestnut, centred with black ; the head paler brown in 

 the centre, like the hind neck, the sides of the crown darker brown ; 

 lesser wing-coverts ashy; median wing-coverts blackish, tipped 

 with white, forming a wing-bar; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, 

 and quills dark brown, edged with ashy brown, whiter on the pri- 

 maries ; the greater coverts and secondaries dark brown, externally 

 rufous-brown, the coverts whitish at their ends ; tail as in the male, 

 but the white on the two outer feathers not so extended ; lores, 

 eyebrow, and feathers round the eye isabelline, the ear-coverts pale 

 brown, with a distinct streak of black along their lower margin ; 

 cheeks and throat ashy white, with a dull brown malar streak ; 

 lower throat and breast yellow, clearer on the lower breast and 

 abdomen ; lower abdomen and under tail-coverts dull white, the 

 latter with longitudinal central streaks of dark brown ; sides of body 

 and flanks pale brownish, broadly streaked with blackish brown ; 

 axillaries pale brown ; under wing-coverts whitish ; quills dusky 

 below, ashy grey along the inner web. Total length 5-5 inches, 

 culmen - 45, wing 2-85, tail 1*15, tarsus 0*8. 



Dr. Finsch procured a specimen near Barnaul on the 21st of 

 July, which he has marked as a female, and which only differs from 

 the male in being brown streaked with black above, and in the 

 paler colour of the underparts. It has a chestnut head and prae- 

 pectoral collar, as in the male, and even shows the black throat, the 

 latter, however, much obscured by ashy feathers. If this is indeed 

 a female and not a male of the previous year in its first breeding- 

 dress, then it must be a case of assumption of male plumage, or else 



