SAXICOLIN^E. ACCENTOR. 131 



68. ACCENTOR ALPINUS. ALPINE CHANTER. 



Light brownish-grey ; the back with large dusky spots, the 

 wing-coverts dusky, with a terminal white spot ; throat white, 

 with small triangular black spots, sides brownish-red ; bill 

 dusky, lower mandible yellowish-white for three-fourths of its 

 length. Female similar to the male. 



Male, 7, - -, 3 T V, 1 T V, IT'W &> iV 



Of frequent occurrence in the mountainous parts of the south 

 of Europe. Three individuals have been shot in England ; 

 the first, in November 1822, in the garden of King's College, 

 Cambridge, and now in Dr Thackery's collection. Its food 

 consists of insects and seeds, and it breeds in rocky places, 

 laying five light greenish-blue eggs. In its habits it resembles 

 the next species. 



Alpine Accentor. Collared Starling. 



Motacilla alpina, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. 806. Accentor alpi- 

 nus, Temm. Man. d'Ornith, i. 248. Accentor alpinus, Alpine 

 Chanter, MacGillivray, Brit. Birds, ii. 258. 



69. ACCENTOR MODULARIS. HEDGE CHANTER. 



Upper part of the head and neck grey, streaked with brown ; 

 back reddish-brown, with dark brown spots ; fore neck and 

 breast dull ash-grey, sides streaked with brown ; upper man- 

 dible brownish-black, lower flesh-coloured, with the tip 

 dusky ; feet brownish-yellow, toes darker, claws wood- brown. 

 Female similar, but with the grey of the neck and breast duller 

 and tinged with brown, and the rump more olivaceous. Young 

 with the upper parts confusedly mottled with dusky and light 

 brownish-red, the lower parts light yellowish-grey, streaked 

 with dusky. 



Male, 6i, 8|, 2/ 5 , 2if, T 5 ^ if, T V Female, 6, 8. 



This plainly coloured, modest, quiet, and familiar bird is 

 generally distributed in Britain and Ireland, frequenting gar- 

 dens, hedges, and thickets. The male sings occasionally, in 

 fine weather, even in winter ; but in the latter half of spring 

 especially, may be heard chanting its short, clear, pleasantly 

 modulated, but not remarkably mellow song. At all seasons, 

 it has a peculiar shake of the wings, which, during the breed- 

 ing period, increases to a kind of flutter. It feeds on small 

 seeds of various kinds, as well as insects, pupae, and larvae, 

 using a great quantity of minute fragments of quartz and other 

 hard minerals. The nest, which is formed from the middle of 

 March to the beginning of May, is bulky, lined with wool and 



