322 THE BIRDS OF GILGIT. 



Of ten birds obtained in July, five are young birds of the 

 year ; the five old birds are moulting and in bad plumage : 

 four of the latter appear to have the head pure black ; and one 

 shows a greyish tinge on the cap. 



Of three birds obtained in August, two have the heads black, 

 and one has a greyish tinge on the cap. 



Of seven obtained in September, one has only the faintest 

 trace of white behind the eyes, one has the pale supercilium 

 and frontal band, five have an indistinct greyish tone over the 

 whole cap ; but none show the white head, and one, showing 

 no trace of white on the head, has the wings broadly margined 

 with rufous. 



Again, the adult specimens above referred to show many shades 

 of brown on the wings, from light hair-brown to black ; but this 

 feature does not appear to be distinctive of either age or season. 



In the young bird of the year the tertiaries and scapularies 

 are narrowly margined with rufous brown. In a September 

 bird, apparently of the earliest brood, which has assumed the 

 black on the upper parts, the tertiaries and scapularies are even 

 more broadly edged with rufous than in the youuger birds. 

 The uniform brown wing, after losing the rufous margins, 

 appears in birds of every season, and is not in any way con- 

 nected with the assumption of the white on the head ; it is seen 

 equally in the most white-headed birds and in those with pure 

 black heads. The rufous tone of the under tail-coverts appears 

 most pronounced in spring and autumn ; but even this does not 

 hold good throughout the series. 



Dr. Scully and I have closely examined a very large number 

 of specimens j aud the only way in which we can account for 

 the occasional appearance of the white on the head is, that it is 

 assumed in the spring of the first year only. The young bird 

 has the head uniform dull brown, rather darker than in the 

 adult female, with narrowish rufous edgings to the tertiaries 

 and scapularies ; and towards the next spring a white cap is 

 gradually assumed, which is perfected in the beginning of May. 

 Directly after breeding, the white of the head appears to give 

 place to dark grey, hardly distinguishable from the black of the 

 back ; and in the succeeding autumn-moult the bird assumes 

 the fully adult plumage with the glossy black head, which is 

 not afterwards lost. 



It may be that the species with the pure black head is dis- 

 tinct from that which assumes the grey cap ; but we are unable 

 to separate them into two on this or any other hypothesis.* 



* [I still believe that there is only one species. Blanford, after examining a selection 

 of my huge series, still thought there were two, but that in certain stages of their 

 plumage they were indistinguishable. This may be so, but I cannot see my way to it.— 

 A. O, H.J 



