214 KING OUZEL. 



uniform chesnut colour at the larger end, the remainder being 

 nearly pure blue. They are four or five in number, sometimes, 

 it is said, six. Mr. Heysham, of Carlisle, reports the young 

 birds, as fully fledged by the 15th. of June, and Mr. 

 Macgillivray has known them on the 7th. 



Male; length, about eleven inches and a half to twelve 

 inches; bill, which is strong and notched near the tip, is 

 more or less yellow and blackish brown, the former at the 

 base: its upper surface is a gentle curve. Iris, dark brown, 

 the eyelids yellow; black bristly feathers surround the base 

 of the bill, and there is a row along the base of the upper 

 one. Head, crown, neck on the back, and nape, uniform 

 brownish black, the feathers edged with blackish grey; chin, 

 throat, and breast, also uniform brownish black, the feathers 

 edged with blackish grey, and the latter-named with an elegant 

 half-moon-shaped bar of white across its upper part, the horns 

 pointing upwards. Back, the same uniform brownish black, 

 the feathers similarly edged with grey. 



The wings, which are short, expand to the width of one 

 foot seven inches, and reach to near the middle of the tail, 

 have the first feather very short and very narrow, the second 

 equal in length to the fifth, the third and fourth nearly equal, 

 but the third the longest; underneath, the wings are paler 

 than above. Greater wing coverts, blackish brown, the feathers 

 deeply tipped with grey, and tinged with the same on their 

 outer webs ; primaries and secondaries, brownish black, but not 

 so dark as the rest of the plumage, and edged with grey on 

 the outer margins; tertiaries, the same, more broadly edged 

 with grey on the outer margins the outer webs tinged with 

 the same; greater and lesser under wing coverts, pale grey, 

 mixed with brownish ash-colour. Tail, brownish black, the 

 outer feather narrowly edged with pale ash-colour; underneath 

 it is dark grey; upper tail coverts, brownish black; under 

 tail coverts, the same the shafts white. Legs and toes, 

 dark greenish brown; underneath, yellowish: the outer one is 

 closely united to the middle one. Claws, brownish black: 

 they are compressed laterally, and are very blunt. 



The pale edgings to the feathers wear off in the winter, 

 so that the bird is more uniformly black in the spring. 



The female is rather lighter and duller-coloured than the 

 male, and the grey margins of the feathers are wider. Length, 

 ten inches and a half; bill, brownish yellow, the base of the 

 upper one dusky; iris, brown. Head, crown, neck, and nape, 



