THE BRITISH STONECHAT. 455 



Adult female. Winter. Upper-parts much like male but black 

 not so intense ; upper tail-coverts with no white ; lores, ear -co verts 

 and cheeks brown with blackish bases ; chin buff ; throat same 

 but with black of proximal portion of feathers not entirely con- 

 cealed ; sides of neck whitish-buff tipped brownish and spotted 

 and streaked black ; breast and belly as male but not so bright ; 

 under wing-coverts and axillaries with buff to whitish-buff tips and 

 fringes ; tail- and wing-feathers as in male but innermost secondary 

 with much less white and next two with only a spot of pale buff 

 at bases of outer webs ; wing-coverts as in male but with much less 

 white On inner ones. Moult as in male. Summer. Effect of abra- 

 sion less marked than in male ; upper-parts become blacker but 

 brown edgings to feathers, though narrower, remain ; lower part 

 of throat becomes partially black and neck patches larger and more 

 whitish and white wing-patch more distinct ; breast becomes rather 

 brighter. 



Nestling. Down brownish -grey, fairly long not very plentiful. 

 Distribution, inner supra -orbital, occipital, spinal and humeral. 

 Mouth inside yellow, no spots ; externally flanges whitish-yellow. 



Juvenile. Male. Crown black, each feather with narrow 

 mesial buff streak on distal portion ; nape same but with broader 

 and more wedge-shaped streaks ; mantle, scapulars and back as 

 nape, but with rufous markings on each side of buff wedge ; feathers 

 of rump and upper tail-coverts with long rufous tips and no white 

 on upper tail -co verts ; ear -co verts brown- black with mesial buff 

 streaks ; chin, throat and sides of neck greyish-buff speckled black ; 

 breast more rufous-buff with larger black markings ; belly and 

 under tail-coverts buff ; flanks same but sparsely marked black ; 

 under wing-coverts and axillaries buff with blackish bases ; tail 

 and wing-feathers and primary -coverts as adult but three innermost 

 secondaries with rather less white ; inner greater wing-coverts 

 white with buff tips and varying amount of black markings, rest as 

 adult ; innermost median and lesser wing-coverts with whitish- 

 buff wedge-shaped tips, rest with paler buff tips than in adult. 

 Female. Like male but three innermost secondaries without any 

 white, but with small buff spot at base of outer webs, innermost 

 greater wing-coverts not white but like the others, except for 

 broader whitish -buff tips. 



First winter. Male and female. Like adult winter. The 

 juvenile body -feat hers, lesser, median and greater wing-coverts and 

 three innermost secondaries are moulted in Aug.-Sept., but not 

 rest of wing-feathers nor primary -co verts and tail. 



Measurements and structure. <$ wing 65-68 mm., tail 46-49, 

 tarsus 22-24, bill from skull 13-15 (12 measured). ? wing 63-67. 

 Primaries : 1st 5-9 mm. longer than primary-coverts, 3rd to 5th 

 equal and longest, 2nd 5-7 shorter, 6th 1-2 shorter ; 3rd to 6th 

 emarginated outer webs. Secondaries about equal to 10th primary, 



