THE BIRDS OF HELIGOLAND 313 



tuil-co verts, are of a soft olivaceous sulphur yellow. On the belly, 

 throat, and sides of the neck the colour is almost pure sulphur 

 yellow, suffused on the upper breast, and the sides of the breast, 

 with the colour of the back. From above the darker ear-coverts a 

 light olivaceous yellow eye-streak extends from the beak to the 

 back of the head. Each feather of the lower parts, excepting those of 

 the chin and belly, has a fine blackish-brown streak running along 

 the line of the shaft. The under tail-coverts are dull rust colour, 

 and have a blurred darker stripe along the line of the shaft. 



The wing-feathers are blackish-brown, and all have sharply 

 denned edges of the same colour as the back : the tail-feathers are 

 faintly black, the outer webs having broad blurred edges of the 

 same colour as the back, the central pair being almost uniformly of 

 this colour ; each feather has a large whitish well defined spot on 

 its tip. These spots are the exact opposite to those of the woodcock, 

 being almost pure white on the upper side, but slaty greyish-white 

 below. 



This is a large and robust bird, its measurements being as 

 follows: Total length, 574 ins. (146 mm.); length of the wing, 

 2-60 ins. (66 mm.) ; length of tail, 2'24 his. (57 mm.) ; length of tail 

 uncovered by wings, T61 in. (41 mm.). The beak, which is not very 

 strong relatively to the general proportions of the bird, measures 

 43 in. (11 mm.), and the tarsus '90 in. (23 mm.). 



In the wing, which is short and much rounded, the second 

 flight-feather is a little shorter than the fourth, the third being the 

 longest, and projecting -12 in. (3 mm.) beyond the fourth. The 

 length from the tip of the longest posterior flight-feather to the 

 point of the wing is -75 in. (19 mm.). 



In the tail, which is very round, short and broad, the outer pair 

 of feathers is '75 in. (19 mm.) shorter than the central pair, the 

 other pairs following in steps of '43, '27, 12 and '04 inches re- 

 spectively (11, 7, 3 and 1 mm.). The longest under tail-coverts are 

 20 in. (5 mm.) longer than the outer pair of tail-feathers. 



In old birds the lower parts are not sulphur yellow, but white, 

 with a tinge of reddish-brown on the neck and upper breast this 

 colour being very intense on the sides of the breast and the under 

 tail-coverts ; none of these feathers have dark stripes along the line 

 of their shafts. The edges of the feathers of the crown, back, 

 and wings are dull rust-grey (rostgrau), those of the rump and 

 the upper tail-coverts darkish, and a dingy reddish-brown ; the 

 peculiar coloration and marking of the tail is similar to that of 

 the early plumage. 



