MEALY HEJDPOLE. 121 



Its food is said to consist of the seeds of various forest 

 trees. 



The egg is described by Meyer as being pale greenish 

 blue, sprinkled over with pale but distinct spots of a reddish 

 brown colour, some of them inclining to lilac, chiefly confined 

 to a zone around the larger end. 



Male; length, five inches and a quarter or a third; bill, 

 dull yellow, the upper part brown above; between the bill 

 and the eye is a black space, dull in the winter; iris, 

 dusky brown; the bristly feathers 'at the base of the bill 

 are yellowish grey. Forehead and crown, red, duller in the 

 autumn, and in winter the forehead is white or reddish, 

 marked with a black band, and the crown dusky, the 

 feathers tipped with yellowish grey, and some of them with 

 red; the back of the head is pale reddish white, streaked 

 with black in the centre of each feather; the sides, in the 

 autumn, are slightly tinted with red, and greyish or brownish 

 white in the winter, streaked with a darker brown. Neck, 

 in front, red, in winter greyish white; on the back it and 

 the nape are pale reddish white, tinged with brown and streaked 

 with black in the centre of each feather; chin, almost black; 

 throat, black, in the winter brownish black; breast, pale 

 brownish or greyish white, streaked, excepting on the middle, 

 with darker brown; it is pale red in spring and summer; 

 above red, below and on the sides whitish, streaked and 

 tinged with brown. Back, light yellowish brown, streaked 

 with blackish, the feathers edged with whitish or dull reddish 

 in winter; on the lower part it is red, but in the autumn 

 greyish white, faintly tinged with red and streaked with 

 brown. 



The wings have the three first feathers almost equal, but 

 the second the longest; greater wing coverts, dark brown, 

 with broad ends of dull white, forming a conspicuous bar; 

 lesser wing coverts, tipped with dull white, forming another 

 short bar; primaries, secondaries, and tertiaries, brown, broadly 

 margined with whitish grey, the latter more broadly than 

 the former. The tail, long, dark greyish brown, the feathers 

 broadly margined with white, the two centre ones are much 

 shorter than the rest, making the tail deeply forked; upper 

 tail coverts, greyish white with a few dark streaks, after the 

 autumn slightly tinted with red; under tail coverts, pale 

 greyish white, with a few dark brown streaks; legs and toes, 

 dusky; claws, brownish black. 



