88 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



brown j irides dark hazel. The male differs from the female in having the 

 chestnut on the underparts slightly duller in colour, extending to the 

 chin, and streaked with brown on the flanks ; the feathers on the head are 

 coloured like those on the back, and the white patch on the sides of the 

 head round the eye is more or less marked with brown. After the autumn 

 moult the whole of the chestnut on the underparts and the brown on the 

 chin, lores, forehead, and crown become pure white ; the feathers in front 

 below and behind the eye are dark slate-gray ; the wings remain the same 

 colour as in the summer plumage, but all the rest of the feathers from the 

 nape downwards become an almost uniform slate-gray, the feathers of the 

 back having darker shaft-streaks, and the scapulars and innermost 

 secondaries having narrow white margins. The bill becomes almost black, 

 somewhat paler at the base of the lower mandible. Birds of the year 

 resemble adults in winter plumage, but have the white above the eye 

 separated from the white on the crown by a dark band which joins the dark 

 nape, which, as well as the mantle and the wing-coverts, are much darker 

 than in the adult in winter plumage. There are also traces of buff margins 

 to some' of the feathers on the upper parts. Young in first plumage closely 

 resemble on the underparts adults in winter plumage, but the colour of 

 the upper parts is very similar to that of the male in summer plumage. 

 Young in down are described by Baird, Brewer, and Ridgway as very 

 closely resembling those of the Red-necked Phalarope ; but as no mention 

 is made of the two nearly white stripes down the back, it is probable that 

 they are buffish brown like the rest of the upper parts. 



