PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 7 



(2) The black type. Not a sharply defined type, and is rare. Almost wholly black 

 specimens have been obtained from Caithness, Sutherlandshire, Perthshire, Stirling- 

 shire, Dumbartonshire, and Yorkshire. As a rule these black types are represented 

 by abnormally dark specimens of the red or white-spotted forms. (3) The white- 

 spotted type. Feathers of the breast and belly, sometimes of the head and upper 

 parts, tipped with white. The most typical examples of this type are from the high 

 grounds of the north of Scotland, and are certainly most characteristic of the 

 Highlands. In the female no less than five types are distinguishable : red, black, 

 white-spotted, buff-spotted, and buff-barred types. (1) The red type. This is 

 relatively rare among females, and occurs over the same geographical range as in the 

 case of the male. (2) The black type. As rare in females as in males, and occurs in 

 the same geographical areas as in male. (3) The white-spotted type. As in males ; is 

 most commonly met with in the Highlands. (4) The buff-spotted type. This is the 

 commonest and typical form of coloration in the female, the feathers of the upper 

 parts being spotted at their tips with white or pale buff. (5) The buff-barred type. 

 Characteristic of birds from Ireland. Herein the upper parts are coarsely barred with 

 buff and black, and the female in autumn plumage resembles the typical female 

 from Great Britain in breeding plumage. In such birds the plumage presents no 

 appreciable change of coloration throughout the year. The significance of these 

 variations yet remains to be discovered, but they seem to be due to climatic influ- 

 ences. Variations in weight are no less marked. The heaviest birds are said to be 

 those from the moors of Caithness and the south of Ireland, birds from these areas 

 turning the scale at 2 Ibs. each. A male from Kerry, recorded by Messrs. Ussher and 

 Warren (Birds of Ireland), turned the scale at 2 Ibs., but this is a quite exceptional 

 weight. The average weight is 1 Ibs. ; females are always rather smaller and 

 lighter, [w. p. p.] 



2. Distribution. This British form is confined to Great Britain and Ireland, 

 but has been successfully introduced into North-west Germany, near the Dutch 

 border, and also to South Sweden. In Scandinavia, North Russia, Siberia, and 

 North America it is represented by allied forms. In England it is found on the 

 Welsh borders (Monmouth, Hereford, and Salop), and from Staffordshire and 

 Derbyshire northward on moorlands to the Scottish border. It has long been 

 extinct in Leicestershire, but has been introduced to West Suffolk, and unsuccessfully 

 to the south of England. In Wales it is general in the north, though absent from 

 Anglesey, and is also found, though less commonly, in the South Welsh counties. 

 In Scotland it is plentiful, owing to careful preservation, throughout the mainland 



