124 LLOYD'S NATURAL HISTORY. 



B. Brit. Mus., viii., p. 331 (1883); Seeb., Hist. Brit. B , i., 

 p. 518, pi. 18 (1883); Saunders, Man., p. in (1889); 

 Lilford, Col. Fig. Brit. B., pt. xv. (1890). 



Adult. Above delicate pearly-grey, browner on the crown, 

 and gradually shading off into blackish on the upper tail- 

 coverts and tail, the latter tipped with white spots ; the wing- 

 coverts beautiful crimson, the bastard wing black, and the 

 greater coverts black on the inner web, crimson on the outer 

 one ; the innermost greater coverts grey, like the outer web of 

 the adjoining inner secondaries ; primary coverts and primaries 

 black, externally crimson for the greater part of the outer web ; 

 sides of face and throat greyish-white, remainder of the under 

 surface from the fore-neck downwards slaty grey, verging int( 

 black on the abdomen and under tail-coverts ; under wing- 

 coverts and axillaries dark crimson ; quills black below, with 

 a white spot near the end of the second, third, fourth, am 

 fifth primaries, and a second white spot near the base of th( 

 same quills ; bill and legs black ; iris brown. Total length, 

 6-5 inches; culmen, n ; wing, 4-0; tail, 2'i ; tarsus, 0-95. 



Adult Female. Similar to the male. Total length, 5-5 inches 

 wing, 4-0. 



During the Nesting Season the birds assume a black throat am 

 chest, which are not so distinctly marked in the female as ii 

 the male. 



Eange in Great Britain. A very rare and accidental visitor, 

 of which two occurrences have been recorded; one as long ago 

 as 1792, as we learn from a letter written by Robert Marsham 

 to Gilbert White, of Selbourne, in which he states that a Wall- 

 Creeper had been shot at his house at Stratton-Strawless, in 

 Norfolk. Mr. F. S. Mitchell had also a specimen in his collec- 

 tion which was shot at Sabden, in Lancashire, on the 8th 

 May, 1872. It was observed flying round a tall chimney, am 

 attracted the attention of a number of mill-hands by its bright 

 colour. It appeared to be a solitary bird and not to have 

 mate with it. 



Range outside the British Islands. An inhabitant of the moui 

 tains of Southern Europe, extending into Central Asia as fa 

 east as China, and found in nearly all the mountain-chains 



