SPOTTED EEDSHAJfK. 145 



shell-fish; but it is particularly asserted of it, that it is not 

 a 'Vegetarian' in any degree. 



Savi, the Italian ornithologist, likens the note to the 

 syllables 'chi-o, chi-o.' Meyer to 'tshuit, tshuit,' quickly 

 uttered. 



In this species the plumage of the upper parts is silky 

 and soft in its texture, but those of the under parts close 

 set and downy. Male; weight, about five ounces; length, 

 one foot and about half an inch, to one foot two inches; 

 the bill, long, slender, and a little turned up for about half 

 its length towards the tip, is nearly black in summer, in 

 winter glossy black, except the base of the lower mandible, 

 which, in the former season, is bright red, and in the latter 

 not so bright; in winter there is a dusky streak, and over it 

 again a white one, from the base of the bill to the eye. 

 Iris, dark brown; the eyelid under the eye, white. Head, 

 crown, neck on the back, and nape, in summer, sooty black 

 in winter, grey; chin, white in winter; throat, in summer, sooty 

 black in winter, on the front and sides, greyish white. Breast, 

 in summer, black, with white tips to a few of the feathers; 

 in winter, white, and on the sides slightly tinged and streaked 

 with grey. Back above, in summer, sooty black, with white 

 tips and margins; in winter, more grey, below white. 



The wings have the first quill feather the longest; the 

 axillary plume is white; when closed, they reach a little 

 beyond the tail: they expand to very nearly two feet. Greater 

 wing coverts, in summer, sooty black, the feathers edged, 

 margined, and tipped with well-defined triangular-shaped 

 spots of pure white; in winter greyish brown, tipped and 

 edged with white in alternate bars; lesser wing coverts, also 

 in summer, sooty black, with the tips and margins white; 

 in winter grey margined with white; primaries, in summer, 

 black, the first with the shaft white; in winter greyish or 

 dusky black; secondaries and tertiaries, in summer, sooty black, 

 with the margins and tips of the feathers white; greater 

 and lesser under wing coverts, white, with dusky grey spots. 

 Tail, in summer, greyish black, with narrow transverse white 

 bars; in winter the middle feathers barred with blackish grey 

 and grey; the outer ones on each side barred with blackish 

 grey and white; upper tail coverts, barred in summer with 

 black and white, in winter with dusky grey and white; under 

 tail coverts, barred with black and white in summer, in winter 

 white. The legs, which are long and slender, and unfeathered 

 VOL. v. L 



