208 ALLEN'S JSTATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



Adult Male. General colour above leaden-grey, the wing- 

 coverts rather paler, the greater coverts more hoary-grey ; 

 primary-coverts and quills hoary-grey, the secondaries darker 

 and more like the back ; tail brownish-black ; under surface 

 of body bluish-grey, with faint indications of black shaft-stripes; 

 lower abdomen, vent, thighs, and under tail-coverts rich chest- 

 nut ; under wing-coverts leaden-grey ; quill-lining brownish- 

 black ; cere, orbits, and feet bright brownish-red ; claws 

 yellowish-white, with horn-coloured tips ; bill yellowish horn- 

 colour, blackish at tip; iris light brown. Total length, 11-5 

 inches ; oilmen, 075 ; wing, 9-8; tail, 5'6; tarsus, 1-15. 



Adult Female. Different from the male. General colour 

 above bluish-grey, with transverse black bars on all the feathers, 

 the mantle a little darker and more ashy ; tail also bluish-grey, 

 a little paler towards the tip, with narrow black bars, the sub- 

 terminal one much broader ; quills brownish, externally ashy- 

 grey, barred on the inner web with whitish ; head, hind-neck, 

 and under surface of body rufous, inclining to buff on the 

 under tail-coverts ; forehead whitish ; lores and feathers round 

 the eye greyish-black ; sides of face and neck, as well as the 

 throat, yellowish-white, with faint indications of a pale rufous 

 moustachial streak ; soft parts as in the male, but less bright. 

 Total length, n inches; oilmen, 07; wing, 97; tail, 5*6; 

 tarsus, 1*15. 



Young Birds. At first resemble the old female, and have the 

 tail barred with black ; the fore-part of the crown whitish ; the 

 feathers of the mantle edged with rufous ; upper-part of ear- 

 coverts and feathers round the eye greyish-black ; a faintly in- 

 dicated moustachial streak ; throat and sides of neck creamy- 

 white ; under surface of body rufous, paler than in the old 

 female, the feathers with blackish centres, developing into 

 spots at the end ; cere, orbits, and feet reddish-yellow ; claws 

 yellowish-white, with dark grey tips. 



Range in Great Britain. An accidental visitor in spring and 

 summer, rarely occurring in autumn. Mr. Howard Saunders 

 states that the species has been reeorded upwards of twenty 

 times, and has occurred in nearly all the southern and eastern 

 counties of England, from Cornwall to Norfolk, as well as in 

 Denbighshire and Shropshire, Yorkshire, Durham, and North- 





