338 



SYLVIIDJE. 



middle feathers, which are blackish-brown throughout. The 

 cheeks, chin and throat black ; breast and sides dark sooty- 

 grey, becoming slate-grey on the belly, and lighter on the 

 vent and lower tail-coverts, which are tinged with red ; lower 

 wing-coverts dull greyish-white ; the primaries lead-grey, 

 and tail bay, beneath : legs, toes and claws, black. 



The whole length is five inches and three-quarters. From 

 the carpal joint to the tip of the wing, three inches and 

 three -eighths : the second and seventh quills nearly equal ; 

 the third, fourth and fifth longer than the sixth, nearly 

 equal and longest. 



The female is not very unlike that of the preceding species, 

 but is generally somewhat darker. The upper parts are of a 

 dull brownish-grey, the tertials margined with huffy- white ; 

 tail more dusky, and the outer pair of feathers with the outer 

 web brown ; the body beneath light grey. 



The young birds in their first plumage are. said to resemble 

 adult females ; but the changes the males undergo before 

 they assume the perfect plumage, and the length of time the 

 process takes do not seem to be well understood. Young 

 males sometimes breed in immature plumage, and birds so 

 behaving were once regarded by M. Gerbe as a distinct 

 species, to which he gave the name of Ruticilla cairii, but 

 he has since relinquished that opinion. 



The vignette represents the nest from the plate in 

 Schinz's work before mentioned. 



