236 SYLVIAD.E. 



tribe are silent. These birds are caugbt in autumn by snares 

 baited with berries." 



The beak and irides dark brown ; over the eye a pale 

 streak : the top of the head, all the upper surface of the body 

 and wings, uniform clove -brown ; outer edges of the wing- 

 feathers lighter brown : the two middle tail-feathers clove- 

 brown throughout their whole length ; all the other tail-fea- 

 thers have the basal half bright chestnut, the distal half 

 nearly black : chin, throat, and fore part of the neck and 

 upper part of the breast, ultra-marine blue, with a spot in 

 the centre, which in some specimens is pure white, but in 

 very old males is red ; below the blue colour is a black bar, 

 then a line of white, and still lower down a broad band of 

 bright chestnut : belly dirty white ; flanks and under tail- 

 coverts light reddish brown ; legs, toes, and claws, brown. 



The whole length of the bird six inches. From the carpus 

 to the end of the longest quill- feather, two inches and seven- 

 eighths : the first feather very short ; the second equal to the 

 sixth ; the third, fourth, and fifth nearly equal in length, but 

 the fourth the longest in the wing. 



Females resemble the males in the uniform colour of the 

 upper parts ; the tail-feathers not so bright : the chin and 

 upper part of the throat white, bounded below by a crescent- 

 shaped patch of blue mixed with some black, the horns of 

 which are directed upwards, encircling the white ; below the 

 blue colour the breast is pale reddish brown : belly and flanks 

 dull white. Some old females have the blue and white al- 

 most equal in colour to that of the males. 



The young in their first feathers resemble the young of the 

 Redbreast. 



Young males after their first moult resemble adult fe- 

 males ; the blue colour increasing by degrees on the chin, 

 sides of the neck, and throat, till the white is reduced to a 

 central patch. 



