382 Mr. H. E. Dresser on the Palaarctic 



contradiction, however, I must demur, as I have before me 

 the only Irish specimen I have ever examined, obtained by 

 Mr. H. Blake Knox. This is certainly not a young bird, 

 and is undistinguishable from specimens from Sweden, 



In Great Britain the predominant form, and, indeed, the 

 only one, except in the case of rare stragglers to the east coast, 

 is Cinclus aquaticus, and, as Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe remarks, 

 English specimens are much the finest in colour on the under- 

 parts. I have examined many English specimens of this 

 form, but have never had an opportunity of examining a 

 British-killed specimen (except the one from Ireland) of 

 C. melanoyaster, which is occasionally met with on the east 

 coasts of England. Cinclus aquaticus is also found in France, 

 Belgium, Holland, and probably throughout the whole of 

 Northern Germany ; but I have had only scant opportunities 

 of confirming this by an examination of specimens from 

 different parts of northern continental Europe. I have, 

 however, examined specimens from the Rhine Provinces and 

 from Galicia. 



In the Pyrenees another local form of Cinclus occurs, which 

 approaches more nearly to C. tnelanogaster than to C. aquaticus, 

 and differs from the former in having a shorter wing, while 

 the upper parts, especially the head and neck, are of a paler 

 brown, but this brown extends over about the same area as 

 in C. melanogaster. Moreover, the black on the underparts 

 is paler and more brown in tinge, and lacks the red tinge of 

 C. aquaticus. This bird is, in fact, a pale form of Cinclus 

 melanogaster ; and by those who elect to differentiate 

 and name every form, however slightly differing, it may be 

 distinguished as Cinclus melanogaster pyrenaicus. 



Of this form I have examined specimens from Eaux Chaudes 

 in the Basses Pyrenees and from G^re in the Hautes Pyrenees 

 in the collections of Canon Tristram and Mr. J. Backhouse. 

 In Switzerland, Savoy, Piedmont, and Southern Europe as 

 far east as Greece and Turkey, another form is found [Cinclus 

 albicollis), which differs from Cinclus aquaticus in having the 

 upper parts paler and the breast of a much brighter rufous, 

 this colour extending on to the abdomen. Specimens of this 



