39 [Vol. xxi. 



The bird, which had been killed in the middle of November, 

 was specially interesting as showing the intermediate 

 plumage of the second year, a phase rarely procured and not 

 represented in the British Musenn; [c/. Selby, 'Illustrations 

 of British Ornithology,' ii. p. 406 (1833)]. 



The bird had apparently been bred in 1906. Its present 

 dress showed a mixture of the old summer-plumage of 

 1907 and of new winter-plumage : the crown and hind-neck 

 were in sooty black summer-plumage and the throat and fore- 

 neck white like the rest of the underparts ; the short black- 

 and-white band across the throat of the adult in summer 

 was indicated by an interrupted row of black streaks, and the 

 black-and-white half-collar on either side of the neck by an 

 irregular mottled black-and-white area. The feathers of the 

 interscapular region and back were freshly-moulted and in 

 winter-plumage, being blackish-grey, indistinctly blotched 

 with grey on either side of the extremity ; some feathers of 

 the old summer-plumage which were still retained on the 

 back were somewhat similar, but the spots at the extremity 

 were whiter and more distinct. The lesser and median 

 wing-coverts, still in the summer-plumage of 1907, were 

 similarly spotted and more or less like those of the adult, 

 but the longer innermost coverts, overlying the humerus, 

 were very different, being bordered along the terminal half 

 of cither web with white. The feathers covering the area 

 above the femur, which were clove-brown in the adult at 

 all seasons, had a hoary appearance, being mottled white 

 and black ; the freshly -moulted tail-feathers were black, 

 distinctly tipped with white. 



A full description of this bird, and notes on an interesting 

 adult example of C. adamsi changing from the winter to the 

 summer plumage and shot off Northumberland in January 

 by Mr. Abel Chapman, will also appear in a futui'c number 

 of ' British Birds.' 



