Vol. xxxiii.] 64 



of the throat were Avhite, in marked coiitrast with the rest 

 of the plumage, and the outer webs of the flight-feathers, 

 greater coverts, and tail-feathers were narrowly edged with 

 pale rufous. As was well known, the young of the Common 

 Starling, of which specimens were exhibited, was light brown, 

 rather darker on the crown and upperparts, and was altogether 

 a very different-looking bird. 



Mr. OgiJvie-Grant said that both he and Mr. Meade- 

 Waldo had for several years past been much struck by 

 the very dark colour of all the young Starlings, both in the 

 Orkney and Shetland Islands, but it was not until this 

 year that he procured specimens from the latter group 

 for examination. It was a common sight in these islands 

 to see large flocks of immature birds, all of which had the 

 general colour black, no brown birds being seen among 

 them. The adult bird did not appear to differ in any way 

 from that of typical Sturnus vulgaris. Dr. Hartert, who had 

 kindly examined the birds, was also agreed on this point. 

 At present therefore it did not seem expedient to separate 

 the Orkney and Shetland birds, even subspecifically, though 

 it was desirable to draw attention to the very remarkable 

 difference between the young birds, which did not seem to 

 have been noticed previously. It was interesting to note 

 that on the Island of Sanday, in the Orkney Group, most of 

 the Starlings used rabbit-burrows as nesting-sites. 



Mr. Ogilvie-Grant also exhibited two adult male 

 examples of Barrow's Golden-eye (Clangula islandica) in the 

 eclipse-plumage, killed on the 25th of September. He 

 said that for many years he had been trying to secure 

 specimens in this stage of plumage, but they were very 

 difficult to obtain, and it was not until the present year 

 that he had succeeded in securing two from the north of 

 Iceland. Mr. Millais, in the first volume of his ' British 

 Diving Ducks' (p. 101), had described the male of Barrow's 

 Golden-eye in the eclipse -plumage, and stated that the 

 head and neck were of a " dirty grey-brown/' very light on 

 the throat, also that the small white feathers in front of the 



