EED-THROATED DITER. 143 



specimens occurring in the winter without than with the red 

 throat, would seem to militate against this supposition, inas- 

 much as not all of them can he supposed to be young birds, 

 at all events not of the year, only two eggs being laid in 

 the year. 



The female is not so large as the male, and the spots on 

 her plumage are not so distinctly defined. Length, one foot 

 nine inches; in the young bird the bill is grey, with a tinge 

 of yellowish red; iris, reddish brown; head, crown, neck on 

 the back, and nape, grey, finely streaked with greyish white; 

 throat and breast, white, the flanks marked with grey spots 

 of an angular shape; back, dark brownish, or blackish grey, 

 the edges of the feathers paler at the tips. Primaries, deep 

 dusky brown; legs, greyish green in front, the inner sides 

 paler. 



Selby observes, 'after the second moult, the grey upon the 

 head, cheeks, etc., acquires the tint of the adult; and a few 

 red feathers are often found mixed with the white upon the 

 fore part of the neck. The upper parts assume a deeper 

 tint; the spots of white grow less, frequently changing to a 

 yellowish white; and as the bird advances to maturity entirely 

 disappear.' 



In the above paragraph he is speaking of the young bird. 



This species, as well as the allied one, has given rise, in 

 the different stages of its plumage, to erroneous opinions, 

 several kinds being made by authors out of two; but I trust 

 that the descriptions I have given of each will be found 

 sufficiently clear to identify the several birds, not only in 

 their more or less advanced states of plumage, but also in 

 the variations which occur in each at the earlier or later 

 periods of the year. 



