398 BIRDS OP NOEPOLE. 



portions of the plumage soon faded in tlie stuffed 

 specimens), tlie reddish, orange of the head and neck, 

 the delicate pencil markings across the breast, the rich 

 buffj colouring of the wing coverts, bordered by a 

 reddish bar above the secondary quills, and the broad 

 abdominal band of blackish brown, mingled with buff, 

 were all extremely vivid ; as also the bars and spots on 

 the back and wings. But I did not find that such 

 specimens had in all cases the longest tail or wing 

 feathers, which are, doubtless, much subject to accident. 

 Amongst the females, the same degree of difference 

 exists, the young birds having a more mottled appear- 

 ance on the upper parts, the kestrel-like bars on the 

 back and wings being less clear. In old females the 

 black ring round the throat and the yellow tints of the 

 neck were extremely bright. In two only, as before 

 observed, was there the slightest trace of the pencilled 

 lines across the breast, so marked a feature in all males. 

 These, probably, wqj-e very old hens, though not more 

 brilliant in plumage than others ; and the one with the 

 pectoral band most distinct, had the gular ring very 

 faint, the yellow tints less vivid, and the first quill 

 feather of the wings scarcely elongated at all. In some 

 examples the quill feathers had been recently moulted, 

 as in the four females from Blakeney (June 26th), 

 and Mr. Dix informs me that in two he received from 

 Horsey, he found the secondaries and tail feathers full 

 of blood and about three parts developed, and some of 

 the back feathers were brighter and evidently new. 

 The following are the variations in length, of the tail 

 and wing feathers in both sexes, as far as I was able to 

 take them ; but the difference in length of the first 

 primary quill is owing more to the size of the bird (the 

 wing itself being larger or smaller), than to the elonga- 

 tion of the filaments. Thus, in one female, the wing 

 from the carpal joint measured nine inches, yet the 



