54 EMBERIZID^. 



regard England alone we find that one should be acquainted 

 with nearly each parish in the southern and the western-mid- 

 land counties in order to define with accuracy the localities it 

 frequents, and doubtless the same extraordinary eclecticism 

 is exhibited by the species abroad. 



The adult male in summer has the bill bluish lead-colour, 

 the palatal knob being well developed : the irides hazel : 

 the top of the head, the lores and a stripe behind each eye 

 dark olive, streaked with black ; two more stripes, of bright 

 lemon-yellow, run on each side of the head, the one from 

 the nostril over the eye, and the other from the gape under 

 the eye to the middle of the ear-coverts, the rest of which 

 with the nape and sides of the neck are dark olive ; back and 

 scapulars rich chestnut-brown, some of the feathers having 

 a median patch of dark brown, primaries and secondaries 

 dusky black, with very narrow yellowish edges ; upper and 

 smaller wing-coverts dull brown tipped with lighter brown, 

 the larger wing-coverts, with the tertials, dusky black, 

 each feather being broadly margined with chestnut ; upper 

 tail-coverts yellowish-olive, streaked with dusky grey; tail 

 blackish-brown, the middle pair of quills tinged with rufous, 

 the two outer pairs with a large oblique patch of white 

 on the inner web and the outermost pair with the basal 

 two-thirds of the inner web yellowish- white ; chin and throat 

 black ; below the black a crescentic patch of bright lemon- 

 yellow, the ends of which reach to the lower side of the 

 dark ear-coverts ; upper part of the breast dull olive, 

 bounded below by an almost continuous chestnut band, 

 which is narrowest in the middle ; belly and lower 

 tail-coverts dull yellow, flanks pale dingy olive, streaked 

 with dark brown ; lower surface of the quills grey, slightly 

 tinged with yellow : legs, toes and claws, light brown. 



In winter the colours are less bright generally, and the 

 black feathers of the head and throat have light margins. 



The whole length of the male is six inches and a half. 

 From the carpal joint to the end of the wing, three inches 

 and a half : the second, third, fourth and fifth primaries are 

 nearly equal in length, but the third is usually the longest 



