66 WHEATEAK. 



a broader band of brown under it. Forehead, brown, tinged 

 with red in the autumn; head, crown, neck on the back, and 

 nape, light reddish brown, intermixed with grey; chin, throat, 

 and breast above, light reddish brown, the remainder pale 

 greyish brown, and cream-colour in the autumn; back above, 

 light reddish brown, intermixed with grey; below, dull white. 



The wings extend to the width of eleven inches and a 

 quarter; primaries, secondaries, and tertiaries, blackish brown, 

 edged with dull reddish brown ; greater and lesser under wing 

 coverts, blackish brown, broadly edged with brownish white. 

 Tail, dark blackish brown, the inner part of the feathers 

 white at the base in a graduated manner, excepting the two 

 middle ones, of which the shaft only is white at the base, 

 and a small portion of the downy part of these feathers; 

 upper tail coverts, dull white. Legs, toes, and claws, brownish 

 black. 



The young, when nearly fledged, have the streak over the 

 eye rufous, and the line through it is imperfect; the dark 

 band on the side of the head is wanting. Head, crown, and 

 neck on the back, light greyish brown, the central part of 

 each feather on the head paler; back, in the male, on the 

 lower part, white, but most of the feathers tipped with brown 

 in the females. Greater wing coverts, deep brown, broadly 

 margined and tipped with brownish red; lesser wing coverts, 

 dusky, with greyish yellow margins. Tail, deep brown, the 

 feathers white at the base, and broadly margined and tipped 

 with brownish red. 



After the first autumnal moult the young birds assume the 

 adult plumage, but the colours are more tinged with brown. 



These birds vary considerably in size, and also, according 

 to age, in colour; the grey of the back and the white of the 

 breast being more pure, and the black and brown being 

 deeper in old birds; the wearing of the edges of the feathers 

 in the summer also produces a change. 



Both young and old birds moult before leaving the country. 



J. H. Gurney, Esq., of Easton, near Norwich, records in 

 the 'Zoologist,' page 2923, a curious variety of this bird killed 

 at Thetford, in July, 1850. It was a female. The wings 

 were white, excepting a few feathers on the shoulder, and two 

 or three adjoining the primaries on the centre of each wing, 

 which were of a pale buff. The rest of the plumage was 

 the same as usual, but all lighter in colour. 



Another singular variety of this bird was shot at Spetchley, 



