218 LONG-TAILED TIT. 



is full three inches long, and resembles that of the Magpie, 

 has the three middle pairs of feathers very long and black, 

 the next three pairs half an inch shorter each than the 

 other, black on all the inner webs except the end, which is 

 as white as the outer web; on the third feather the white 

 extends only half way down. Upper tail coverts, black, 

 running into the red of the back; under tail coverts, greyish 

 white tinged with roseate, or rusty red; legs, toes, and claws, 

 dull black. 



The female resembles the male in plumage, but the black 

 streak over the eye is wider. 



The young, which are fledged about the end of June, 

 attain the complete plumage in November; until then the 

 bill is pale reddish, which gradually darkens; iris, lighter 

 than in the old bird. Head on the sides, mottled with a 

 streak of dusky brown on each feather; crown, white: neck on 

 the sides, as the head, on the front in the second plumage, 

 greyish white with small light brown spots, and behind as 

 in the adult. Breast, white, afterwards reddish white; back, 

 as in the adult bird, but the colour less pure, and more 

 brown; at first nearly entirely so. Wings, as in the adult; 

 secondaries, white on the outer edges. The tail has the 

 outer webs of the three side feathers, and part of the inner 

 webs of the two outer, white; in the second plumage it 

 becomes the same as in the adult bird; under tail coverts, 

 brownish red. Legs and toes, as the bill. 



Sir William Jardine describes one which had the crown 

 and under parts white, but all the rest of the plumage 

 black, tinged only on the scapulars with rose red; Montagu 

 others, as black on the whole of the upper part of the neck, 

 and with an obscure dusky band across the breast; and 

 Bewick one, in which the black band through the eyes was 

 wholly wanting, the back of the neck black, and the sides 

 reddish brown, mixed with white. 



