344 COMMON CROSSBILL. 



around the auriculars there is a broad stripe of 

 pale umber brown reaching from the eye ; the 

 feathers on the centre of the back have the base 

 darker, the tips only being crimson, which gives 

 a duller appearance to these parts ; the wings and 

 tail are very dark umber brown, tinted with 

 crimson on the scapulars, and having the quills 

 and secondaries very narrowly edged with reddish 

 white. Another male shot in Roxburghshire in 

 July, has all the crimson parts tinged with brown- 

 ish green, by that colour occupying the base of 

 the feathers, the centre of the back and scapulars 

 appearing nearly entirely of a deep shade of that 

 colour. In a female shot in November, the upper 

 parts, throat, and neck, were of a grayish green, 

 the feathers edged with yellowish green on the 

 head and back, and on both being dark at the 

 base ; the breast and belly were greenish yellow, 

 shading into gray on the vent; the under tail 

 coverts grayish black, edged with pale yellowish 

 gray ; wings and tail dark grayish umber brown, 

 having the feathers edged with greenish yellow. 

 In a young bird procured on the Continent, the 

 whole upper parts are umber brown, with the 

 yellowish green feathers appearing ; underneath 

 the throat and sides of the breast are reddish 

 yellow, shading into yellowish white in the centre 

 of the belly and vent, each feather marked longi- 

 tudinally along the shaft with umber brown ; the 

 \vings and tail are not so dark, and are edged 

 <vith pale brownish white. 



