Ill ACCIDENTAL VARIETIES. 



iag to bluish-grey ; while in the south it is more brown. 

 The male is rather larger than the female ; but with that 

 exception, the only material difference between the sexes 

 is that the male has a black mark under the throat, and 

 a white one on the cheek, extending from the base of the 

 bill to a little beyond the eye ; whereas the throat of the 

 female is whitish with grey-brown and smaller black spots, 

 and the angular mark between the bill and the eve is 

 reddish-brown. 



Accidental varieties are occasionally met with. Nilsson 

 speaks of an individual of a faded colour, in w^iich the 

 portion of the plumage that is usually black was brown ; 

 and M. Wilhelm von Wright of others as being " almost 

 white, though more commonly greyish-white, with faint 

 approximation to the usual colour;" such a one, he tells 

 us, he himself shot when residing in Finland, on the 

 12th September, 1824. 



The flight of the Hazel-Hen is very noisy, but short 

 withal, seldom extending beyond a couple of hundred 

 yards. During both summer and winter it is mostly on 

 the ground, but when flushed invai'iably takes refuge in 

 a tree, rarely on its top, however, as some tell us, but 

 generally about halfway up, and amongst the most leafy 

 of the branches. 



Where these birds roost during summer and autumn I 

 know not, but in the winter time there is reason to believe 

 they often pass the night in the snow. 



In Finland, M. Wilhelm von Wright tells us, the 

 Hazel-Hen is found in larger or smaller packs, according 

 to their greater or less abundance in the district. It 

 is not for me, of course, to question the accuracy of so 

 good an observer ; but, singularly enough, I myself never 

 saw or heard of more than a single family in company. 

 Sweden, however, is not Finland, and the habits of birds 

 may vary in different countries. 



