EEDBEEAST. 



sometimes formed. Some are entirely white. N. Howe, Esq., 

 of Worcester College, Oxford, has written me word of five 

 eggs found in the elegant gardens of that, my own, college, 

 whose 'classic shades' I so well remember, and which were 

 quite white and spotless. He also tells me since of a nest 

 and eggs taken near Exeter on New Year's day, 1853. My 

 friend E. C. Taylor, Esq., of Kirkham Abhey, Yorkshire, has 

 forwarded me one of the like colour, found in a nest in that 

 beautiful neighbourhood, my own, as I may call it, through 

 the tie of property and former residence. 



Male; length, five inches and nearly three quarters; bill, 

 brownish black; the red of the breast reaches over its base; 

 iris, black, large, and lustrous ; the red of the breast narrowly 

 surrounds it. Head, crown, neck on the back, and nape, 

 yellowish olive brown; chin, throat, and breast on the upper 

 part, orange red, bordered with bluish grey; on the lower 

 part the latter is white, and pale brown on the sides; back, 

 yellowish olive brown. The wings, which expand to a trifle 

 over nine inches, have the first feather about half the length 

 of the second, the third, fourth, and fifth nearly equal, but 

 the fourth the longest in the wing, the fifth scarcely shorter, 

 the sixth a little longer than the second; underneath they 

 are dusky grey: greater and lesser wing coverts, some of them 

 tipped with buff; primaries and secondaries, greyish brown, 

 their outer edges olive green; greater and lesser under wing 

 coverts, tinged with yellow. Tail, yellowish olive brown with 

 a tinge also of green, their outer edges, especially at the 

 base, reddish brown, and obliquely pointed; underneath, it is 

 dusky grey: the feathers are narrow. Upper tail coverts, 

 yellowish olive brown; under tail coverts, pale brown; legs, 

 toes, and claws, yellowish brown. As the plumage becomes 

 old the olive green of the upper parts become tinged with 

 grey, the wings and tail are faded, and the red of the neck 

 and breast is paler or more yellowish. 



The female is scarcely so large as the male, and her colours 

 not so bright; length, five inches and a half; eyelids, black, 

 as in the male; expanse of the wings, nine inches. 



The young bird differs totally in colour from the adult. At 

 first it is sparingly covered with loose down of a greyish 

 brown colour. When fully fledged, the upper bill is light 

 purple brown, the edges yellow, the lower bill yellowish on 

 its sides and the chief part of the remainder, and dark brown 

 at the end. The head, crown, neck on the back, and nape, 



