72 BRITISH BIRDS. 
autumn by migrants from the extreme north. In confirmation of this 
may be mentioned that a flock of these birds, in November 1860, accord- 
ing to Mr. Rodd, alighted on a Norwegian vessel when near the English 
coast. It is said that this flock consisted of many hundreds. Mr. Gray 
also remarks that in some seasons the eastern counties of Scotland are 
visited by migratory flocks from Scandinavia. Another flock, in October 
1833, settled on a ship as it passed the Norfolk and Suffolk coast, and 
remained on board until it was almost in the Thames. The Tree-Sparrow 
is regularly observed in October and November on our east coast, some- 
times coming in with Greenfinches, and passes Heligoland in some numbers 
on migration. 
The Tree-Sparrow is smaller than the House-Sparrow, and may readily 
be distinguished from that bird by its chestnut head and nape, buffish- 
brown rump and upper tail-coverts, black ear-coverts surrounded with 
white, and by the double bar on the wing. Another very interesting 
distinction between the two birds is that the male and female Tree- 
Sparrows are almost precisely alike. The colours of the bill, legs, claws, 
and irides are similar. In the young in first plumage the black parts are 
brown. 
The White-throated Sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis, has been recorded 
as a British bird on the strength of a female specimen shot near the 
Broadhill, on Aberdeen Links, on the 17th of August, 1867. The parti- 
culars were communicated in March 1868 to the Natural History Society 
of Glasgow, who subsequently published in their ‘ Proceedings’ a full 
description of the bird, with other details. Without wishing to cast any 
doubt upon the specimen in question, it is, however, extremely probable 
that the bird had escaped from confinement; and to admit it into the 
present work seems scarcely advisable. It has not the remotest claim to 
be considered a “ British bird,” as the term is generally understood. 
The White-throated Sparrow is found commonly in North America, where 
it is a migrant, wintering in the southern portions of that country. 
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