MEADOW PIPIT. 185 
side is dark brown, with a small patch of white at the tip 
of the inner web; the other six feathers are blackish brown, 
with olive-coloured edges in the season; the upper tail coverts, 
brown or olive, are long, covermg more than half of the tail. 
Legs and toes, light brownish yellow; claws, dusky, darker in 
age; the hind toe is slender, slightly curved, and is as long 
as the toe: its tip is lght- coloured, and almost transparent. 
The female closely resembles the male, but is rather smaller. 
Length, from five inches and three quarters to six inches. 
The wings expand to the width of from nine inches and a 
half to ten inches. 
The young birds of the first year have the olive and yellow 
tint assumed in autumn by their parents. 
There is, at all events in some individuals, a partial moult 
in the spring, in March or April, owing possibly to their 
accidental loss of feathers, or the state of their health. 
Mr. W. Thompson, of Belfast, deseribes a beautiful variety 
of this species as follows:—The crown of the head, beautiful 
rich primrose yellow, which colour also broadly edged the 
white feathers of the back, and those of the upper surface of 
the wings and tail. The throat and under side of the neck 
were pure white. One wing was very handsome, the four 
first quills being pure white, the next four of the usual dark 
colour, and the “remainder pure white. One half of the tail 
feathers were wholly white, excepting the margins, which were 
broadly edged with primrose yellow. The lower part of the 
breast, and a few odd feathers here and there were of the 
ordinary colour. The bill and legs were paler in hue than 
usual. 
