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female Rock-Thrush came to the ground, he would crouch down,

keeping his head always towards her, and would execute various

strategical movements to the rear until he was able to manoeuvre

himself altogether out of her neighbourhood. From the moment

that he realised that the Rock-Thrushes had really gone, he

ceased to keep guard, feeling that there was no longer a foe

worthy of his steel. Thenceforward, and up to the actual day

on which the female died, he gave himself up to warbling and

posturing ; but, since, he has been mute, and keeps almost

entirely on the ground along with his child, with whom he is

now quite friendly.


As regards the plumage of these birds, the female may be

briefly described as of a light sandy-buff much speckled with

darker.


The male, in winter plumage, is nominally like the female ;

but my male lias always shewn a much darker plumage, with

appareutty black primaries. His only moult is in the autumn.

According to the Br. Museum Catalogue,—“ In winter plumage

the male is black, but the whole of the feathers are obscured by

broad edgings of sandy colour. By the wearing off of these

margins the full black plumage is attained.” This is doubtless

substantially correct; but I am not quite satisfied that it accounts

for all the changes I have noticed. The same authority says of

the young, which one might suppose would have been like

the female,— “ Mottled like all young Barks, and especially

resembling a Shore-Lark, but blackish on the head and back.’”

My young birds had no juvenile mottling ; if they are to be

described as mottled, so must the parents, especially the mother.

Numbering them according to age, of No. 4 I can only saj^ that

it was blackish and without mottles ; it was very juvenile, and

the reverse of savory when picked up, and was promptly

cremated. Of the three elder, as they trotted about, No. 1 was

alwa}^s lighter than the others, while the other two were exactly

alike. Presumably they were a female and two males. Nos. 2

and 3, when in a squatting position, seemed to be wholly black

above, with a conspicuous sandy superciliary streak. On close

examination, however, it appeared that most of the feathers had a

faint edging round the tips of sandy ; whilst those round the neck,

on the chest, and especially on the wings, were more or less

edged with the same colour; but the lower breast, abdomen, and

vent were of a dead sooty black without a trace of lighter. As

No. 1 developed, the sandj^ tips seemed to grow and hide the black ;

but she remains distinctly darker than the old female. At one

period, a bold line of sandy ran up from the bill to about the



