IN THE SHETLANDS 17 
dun, the two shades seeming to struggle for supre- 
macy. The cream prevails on the neck, the dun on 
the other parts; but even the neck is of a much 
duller shade than in the bird just described (No. 1). 
There are parts of the breast where the original 
sombre hue, a little softened, encroaches, cloudily, 
upon the lighter surface. These two birds cannot, 
certainly, be described as more or less handsome, 
merely, in the same colouring. The lighter surface, at 
any rate, is plainly different in shade, also its amount 
and distribution, though in a less degree. 
(3) Another bird is much like this last one (No. 2), 
but there is, here, a distinct, broad, dunnish space, 
dividing the throat and breast parts, making, of course, 
a very palpable difference. 
(4) Another bird—one of two standing together— 
is the common uniformly dark form, except that the 
neck and throat just below the head is, for about an 
inch, very much lighter, making a considerable approach 
to cream without quite attaining it. This light partis 
conspicuous in the one bird—this that I have been 
describing (No. 4)—but not in the other (No. 5) that 
it is standing by. 
(5) This other one might pass for the ordinary 
dark form, but on examining it through the glasses a 
lighter, though less salient, collar is distinctly visible. 
(6) In a third bird, not far off these two (Nos. 4 
and 5) the whole colouring, from immediately below 
the crown of the head—which seems always to be 
black or very dark—is of a uniform brown-drab or 
c 
