The Zoologist— April, 1870. 2099 



Varieties of Birds. — Seen ihis autumn: — A snow-white starling, apparently 

 healthy, feathers rich and pluraous. A parti-colourecl common bunting {Emberiza 

 mliiaria), the white feathers rather plentiful anrl tinged with yellow. A cream or 

 almost white sand martin. A snipe from whiuh the colour appeared to have faded, 

 giving it a creamy look, but ihe pattern of the markings still appearing. In the 

 Balliuclea (Killiney) rookery numbers of ihe young rooks have white chins, which 

 disappear after the autumn moult. — H. Blahe-Knox ; Dulkey, Co. Dublin. 



Early Nest of Longeared 0(r/.— Yesterday we took four eggs of the longeared owl 

 from the deserted nost of a magpie in our plantations ; the nest had been re-lined by 

 the owl with its own soft feathers : one egg had been recently laid, and another 

 showed signs of having been incubated. I think this is very early in the season for 

 such a prize. — H. F. Ballersby ; Cromhjn, Rathowen, Co. Westmealh, March 10, 

 1870. 



Pied Blackbird. — A gamekeeper has just shot near here a beautiful pied black- 

 bird ; ii has a ring of white feathers round the throat and is otherwise marked and 

 spotted with white. — Id. 



Ruticilla tithys and R. Carii. — I was very glad to find in last month's ' Zoologist' 

 (S. S. 206!) further remarks on the plumages of the black and gray redstarts, and 

 particularly that Dr. Bree has taken my remarks in the spirit I made them — a desire 

 to know more on the subject. As to Caiii being synonymous with R. tithys I still 

 dissent; that is, if the male R. Carii breeds in a different dress from that of R. tithys. 

 Before anything can be done to separate or amalgamate these birds, modern proof, 

 which should be easily obtained, is required to prove that there is an adult male of 

 Carii from May to June; in other words, that males in Carii plumage are to be 

 found in spring. If such males are to be found I think it highly improbable that 

 Carii is synonymous with tithys, for this reason, that every species of redstart should or 

 might have its Carii or permanent variety, or, in plainer language, that males would 

 breed in female plumage: this is, I think, never the case, so why make tithys the 

 exception ? Dr. Bree has not defined his " raoulling plumage," which, taken literally, 

 means when the plumage is part summer and part winter, or vice versA. I have no 

 doubt he alludes to the first plumage, which is somewhat like Carii ; but from the 

 context one would fancy that the male tiihys assumed the female or a similar dress in 

 the winter, and retaining that dress through spring, bred so, or even remained "a 

 permanent variety." Temminck's " sa robe d'automne" is also somewhat vague, but 

 undoubtedly Temminck meant that the male might breed the first year in his first 

 plumage, or first autumn plumage, probably taking birds as his guide from the late or 

 second nest, which still in autumn bore the first plumage, which earlier egged birds 

 would have lost. Many of the Sylviadae leave Britain before the young have moulted, 

 and again larj^e numbers of the young leave in perfect winter plumage : this is caused 

 by the time that elapses between ihe two nests. I stated (S. S. 2019) that the first 

 winter plumage of tiihys was very similar to the adult, but greatly concealed by long 

 brown edges, and that the following spring, as in the wheatear and others, these fringes 

 became abraded, and gave out the partly concealed but characteristic plumage of the 

 male. Dr. Bree thinks it quite possible that the so-called R. Carii is the young of the 

 year of R. tithys in imperfect plumage, and that in the second year it becomes 

 R. tiihys. This is quite contrary to my observations on the plumage of the redstarts, 

 &c., which only in first plumage at all resemble their females, losing any similarity 



