Major J. Biddulph on the Birds of Gilgit. 57 



Of three birds obtained in August^ two have the heads 

 black, and one has a greyish tinge on the cap. 



Of seven obtained in September, one has only the faintest 

 trace of white behind the eyes, one has the pale supercilium 

 and frontal band, five have an indistinct greyish tone over 

 the whole cap; bnt none show the white head, and one, 

 showing no trace of white on the head, has the wings broadly 

 margined with rufous. 



Again, the adult specimens above referred to show many 

 shades of brown on the wings, from light hair-brown to 

 black; but this feature does not appear to be distinctive of 

 either age or season. 



In the young bird of the year the tertiaries and scapularies 

 are narrowly margined with rufous-brown. In a September 

 bird, apparently of the earliest brood, which has assumed the 

 black on the upper parts, the tertiaries and scapularies are 

 even more broadly edged with rufous than in the younger 

 birds. The uniform brown wing, after losing the rufous 

 margins, appears in birds of every season, and is not in any 

 way connected with the assumption of the white on the head ; 

 it is seen equally in the most white-headed birds and in those 

 with pure black heads. The rufous tone of the under tail- 

 coverts appears most pronounced in spring and autumn ; but 

 even this does not hold good throughout the series. 



Dr. Scully and I have closely examined a very large number 

 of specimens ; and the only way in which we can account for 

 the occasional appearance of the white on the head is, that it 

 is assumed in the spring of the first year only. The young 

 bird has the head uniform dull brown, rather darker than in 

 the adult female, with narrowish rufous edgings to the terti- 

 aries and scapularies ; and towards the next spring a white 

 cap is gradually assumed, which is perfected in the beginning 

 of May. Directly after breeding, the white of the head ap- 

 pears to give place to dark grey, hardly distinguishable from 

 the black of the back ; and in the succeeding autumn-moult 

 the bird assumes the fully adult plumage with the glossy black 

 head, which is not afterwards lost. 



It may be that the species with the pure black head is 



