176 FIELDEAEE. 



on the upper part, fine dark chesnut brown, on the lower 

 part shaded into bluish grey, conspicuous in flight, whence 

 some of the vernacular names of the species. 



The wings, when closed, reach to about the middle of the 

 tail; they expand to the width of one foot five inches and a 

 quarter to one foot six; greater wing coverts, brownish red, 

 edged with a paler shade of grey; lesser wing coverts, brownish 

 red; primaries, greyish black, margined and tipped with pale 

 grey; the first quill feather is extremely small and narrow, 

 the third the longest, the fourth the next, and scarcely longer 

 than the second, which is a little longer than the fifth; the 

 shafts are black; underneath, these feathers are dark slate 

 grey; secondaries, greyish black, the greater part of the outer 

 webs paler brown; greater and lesser under wing coverts, 

 white, plainly shewing when the bird is on the wing. The 

 tail, which is of a deep greyish black, the side feathers 

 greyish towards the end, is long and nearly even, the feathers 

 narrow; underneath, it is dark slate grey; upper tail coverts, 

 ash grey; under tail coverts, white, marked on either side 

 with dusky blots. Legs and toes, dusky brown; claws, blackish 

 brown. 



The female closely resembles the male, but is scarcely so 

 large, and rather slighter in shape. Length, ten inches and 

 a half; the bill is darker; the head is more tinged with 

 brown; the throat is paler; the back is less clear in colour, 

 and its lower part is yellowish grey. The wings expand to the 

 width of one foot four inches and a half. The legs and toes are 

 paler than in the male bird. 



The young, after the autumn, nearly resemble their parents, 

 but the head is of a less pure blue grey, and the dusky 

 streaks on the crown are larger; the neck in front, and the 

 throat and breast on the upper part, are of a brighter 

 yellowish red, and the sides have the spotted feathers with a 

 patch of white inside the brown mark between it and the 

 light-coloured border. The back, on its lower part, is of a 

 duller blue grey; the greater and lesser under wing coverts 

 also are frequently marked with dusky. 



Slight differences as to size and colouring are sometimes 

 observable in this species, and white individuals have occasion- 

 ally been met with. The Revs. Andrew and Henry Matthews, 

 in their 'Catalogue of the Birds of Oxfordshire and its 

 Neighbourhood,' published in the 'Zoologist,' mention one 

 they possess in which the head and neck are pure white. Mr. 



