32 BUNTING. 



tended to the width of one foot one inch and a half. Greater 

 wing coverts, dark brown, broadly margined with pale brown; 

 lesser wing coverts, the same, the first row tipped with light 

 yellowish brown; primaries and secondaries, dark brown, the 

 edges of the feathers lighter coloured; the first quill feather is 

 a little shorter than the second, the second a little shorter 

 than the third, which is the longest in the wing; the fourth 

 a little shorter than the first; tertiaries, dark brown, broadly 

 margined with pale brown. Tail, dark brown, the edges of 

 the feathers lighter coloured it is slightly forked, and rather 

 long; upper tail coverts, pale brown, streaked with darker 

 brown on the centre of each feather; under tail coverts, pale 

 yellowish brown, dusky on the shafts. Legs, pale yellow 

 brown, with a tinge of red; toes, dull yellow; claws, deep 

 brown. 



The female is not distinguishable in markings or colour 

 from the male. Length, seven inches and a quarter. The 

 wings expand to the width of one foot and three quarters of 

 an inch. 



The young, when fully fledged, are nearly of the same 

 colour as their parents; the upper parts lighter, the lower 

 pale grey, with dark oblong spots; after the first moult the 

 colours deepen, but the young are still to be distinguished 

 from the old by the dark markings being more lengthened. 



Varieties are not very unfrequent in which white more or 

 less occurs. One has been met with almost entirely white. 

 One is mentioned by my brother, Beverley R. Morris, Esq., 

 M.D., in 'The Naturalist,' new series, vol. i, page 46, as 

 having been met with at Pickering, on the 10th. of March, 

 1850, which was of a very pale straw-colour, with a few 

 brown spots. 



Mr. George Johnson, of Melton Ross, Lincolnshire, has one 

 of these birds, he informs me, nearly white. 



