146 THE NATURALIST. 



Blackbied — (Turdus meritla.) — The piebald variety of Tiirdus merula 

 is not of very unusual occurrence here. A few specimens are generally 

 obtained every year. A male variety I noticed last year was marked with 

 a ridge of white feathers, extending across the shoulders in the shape of a 

 horseshoe ; other specimens are variegated in a variety of ways, such 

 as white heads, wings, tails, &c., the remaining part of their plumage being 

 of its usual colour ; the plumage of others is sometimes speckled all over 

 with small patches of white. A curious variety, a male, the whole surface 

 of its plumage being of a reddish brown, was shot at Foulsham, September 

 SOth, 1869. Another variety, a male, having the upper surface of its 

 plumage of a light buff, and the under surface of a cream-colour, was shot 

 at Westwick, February 8th, 1862. A second occurred about the middle of 

 December in the same year. A splendid pure white specimen was taken at 

 Shottisham, near Norwich, in November last. In the summer of 1861, a 

 friend shewed me a nest of young blackbirds, five in number, the plumage 

 of two were w^hite, (having just moulted their first feathers,) the remaining 

 three were of the usual colour, as were also the parent birds. He had 

 had opportunities of watching them very often. 



Hedgesparrow — [Accentor modidaris.) — A male was shot at Eaton, 

 near Norwich, December 31st, 1862, mottled with white, chiefly about the 

 head and upper parts of its plumage. A second variety was taken at 

 Saxlingham, December lOth, 1863, the plumage being of a yellowish 

 brown on the upper parts, the uuder surface of a pale slate colour, in- 

 clining to greyish under the throat. 



Robin — [Sjlvia ruhecula.) — Two varieties were obtained in this 

 neighbourhood in the Avinter of 1859. One of them was of a bluish 

 slate colour, lighter on the breast and abdomen ; the other was white, 

 mottled. with small patches of its usual i^lumage. 



Wheatear — [Sylvia oenanthe.) — Towards the latter part of last sum- 

 mer I noticed a specimen of this bird of a very pale ash grey on the upper 

 surface, and of a dull white on the under parts of its plumage. 



Willow Wren — [Sylvia trochilus.) — An immature male was shot 

 in the neighbourhood of Gunton, in August, 1861, of a uniform pale yel- 

 low, inclining to a straw yellow on the under parts of its plumage, bill and 

 legs straw yellow. 



Sky Lark — [Alauda arvensis.) — I have seen an individual whose plum- 

 age (through being confined for several years) had become quite a brown- 

 ish black. I have noticed pale buff, and also variegated varieties. An 



