THE BRITISH STONECHAT. 455 



Adult female. Winter. — Upper-parts much like male but black 

 not so intense ; upper tail-coverts with no white ; lores, ear -coverts 

 and cheeks bro\vn with blackish bases ; chin buflf ; throat same 

 but with black of proximal portion of feathers not entirely con- 

 cealed ; sides of neck whitish-buflf tipped brownish and spotted 

 and streaked black ; breast and belly as male but not so bright ; 

 under wing-coverts and axillaries with buff to whitish-buff tips and 

 fringes ; tail- and wing-feathers as in male but innermost secondary 

 with much less white and next two with only a spot of pale buff 

 at bases of outer webs ; wing-coverts as in male but with much less 

 white on inner ones. Moult as in male. Summer. — Effect of abra- 

 sion less marked than in male ; upper -parts become blacker but 

 brown edgings to feathers, though narrower, remain ; lower part 

 of throat becomes partially black and neck patches larger and more 

 whitish and white wing-patch more distinct ; breast becomes rather 

 brighter. 



Nestling. — Down brownish -grey, fairly long not very plentiful. 

 Distribution, inner supra -orbital, occipital, spinal and humeral. 

 Mouth inside yellow, no spots ; externally flanges whitish -yellow. 



Juvenile. Male. — Crown black, each feather with narrow 

 mesial buff streak on distal portion ; nape same but with broader 

 and more wedge-shaped streaks ; mantle, scapulars and back as 

 nape, but with rufous markings on each side of buff wedge ; feathers 

 of rump and upper tail-coverts with long rufous tips and no white 

 on upper tail-coverts ; ear-coverts brown- black with mesial buff 

 streaks ; chin, throat and sides of neck greyish-buff speckled black ; 

 breast more rufous-buff with larger black markings ; belly and 

 under tail-coverts buff ; flanks same but sparsely marked black ; 

 under wing-coverts and axillaries buff with blackish bases ; tail 

 and wing-feathers and primary -coverts as adult but three innermost 

 secondaries with rather less white ; inner greater wing-coverts 

 white with buff tips and var3dng amount of black markings, rest as 

 adult ; innermost median and lesser wing-coveits with Avhitish- 

 buff wedge-shaped tips, rest with paler buff tips than in adult. 

 Female. — Like male but three innermost secondaries without any 

 white, but with small buff spot at base of outer webs, iimermost 

 greater wing-coverts not white but like the others, except for 

 broader whitish-buff tips. 



First winter. Male and female. — Like adult winter. The 

 juvenile body -feathers, lesser, median and greater wing-coverts and 

 three innermost secondaries are moulted in Aug. -Sept., but not 

 rest of wing-feathers nor primary -co veits and tail. 



Measurements and structure.— ^ wing 65-68 mm., tail 46-49, 

 tarsus 22-24, bill from skull 13-15 (12 measured). $ wing 63-67. 

 Primaries : 1st 5-9 mm. longer than primary -co verts, 3rd to 5th 

 equal and longest, 2nd 5-7 shorter, 6th 1-2 shorter ; 3rd to 6th 

 emarginated outer webs. Secondaries about equal to 10th primary. 



