92 SPAUKOW. 



the males assume their adult plumage, but it is not till the 

 next year that it is perfected. In the second season, the male 

 has the bill greyish yellow or horn-colour above, and below 

 with a faint tinge of red, the tip brown; from its base a 

 broad band of obscure black runs down the front of the 

 neck; in front of the eye the colour is blackish grey, and 

 over it is a line of yellowish grey mixed with chesnut brown, 

 extending down the neck. Head on the crown, brownish 

 grey; the neck on the sides has some of the feathers with 

 chesnut tips; in front it is light yellowish grey. Breast, 

 light yellowish grey above, fading beneath into dull white; 

 the back is light yellowish brown above, the inner webs of the 

 feathers being brownish black at the tip, lower down it is 

 light greenish dull grey. Greater wing coverts dusky, mar- 

 gined exteriorly with yellowish brown; lesser wing coverts, 

 light brown, with a little pale yellowish brown or chesnut 

 near the tips, and margined more broadly with yellowish 

 brown; primaries, dusky, margined exteriorly with yellowish 

 brown. Upper tail coverts, light greenish dull grey; under 

 tail coverts, light yellowish grey; legs and toes, greyish 

 yellow or horn- colour. 



Variations of plumage in the Sparrow are not unfrequent. 

 Thus, in one, the primaries and tail were white; another, shot 

 by myself many years ago, in the parish of Taxal, Cheshire, 

 near Chapel-on-le-Frith, Derbyshire, had some white feathers 

 in the wings, and a few elsewhere. Another, a hen bird, was 

 shot near Ipswich, Suffolk, of a dull white colour below, and 

 a light cream-colour above; and another in the Butter Market 

 in the same town, in October, I860, with a dull white head. 

 Specimens of an unvaried blackish brown are sometimes met 

 with ; some pure white ; some cream-coloured. One white one 

 had the red eyes which are generally seen in albinos; and 

 the late Mr. Thompson, of Belfast, has recorded one in which 

 the upper bill was nearly two inches long, and slightly 

 twisted to one side, turning down also like that of the 

 Curlew. 



The plate is from a capital drawing by my friend the Rev. 

 R. P. Alington, Rector of Swinhope, Lincolnshire. 



