6 MARSH WAEBLEB. 



have been kindly submitted by their owners, Mr. Bond, Mr. Hastings, 

 and Mr. Sharpe, to the editor. It is confessedly hard to distinguish 

 between prepared specimens of two species so much alike as A. 

 streperus and A. palustris, and it is with some diffidence that after a 

 careful examination he has come to the conclusion it is at present 

 premature to admit the latter as a British bird. In thus resolving 

 he however throws no doubt on these examples having been obtained 

 in this country; but what does seem uncertain, after a diligent inves- 

 tigation of the alleged distinctive characters of each species put forth 

 by various writers, is whether these two species, except in life and 

 shortly after death, can be surely distinguished, and consequently 

 whether the slight peculiarities of the British specimens attributed to 

 A. palustris prove that they have been rightly so assigned. 



" Mr. Hastings, who has taken great pains with the question, and is 

 satisfied that A. palustris not only occurs in England, but is pro- 

 bably an annual summer migrant to our shores, has obliged the editor 

 with the following remarks on a comparison of the two species: — 

 'Although the colour of the upper portion of the plumage in both 

 is an uniform olive brown, A. palustris is yellower. It is a somewhat 

 longer bird, with a shorter and browner bill; a buffy white line, 

 extending from the base of the bill over the eye, is clearly defined. 

 [Professor Newton's figure of A. streperus has no eye stripe at all. — 

 C. R. B.] In A. streperus this line is so faint as to be scarcely 

 discernible. [Gould gives a very decided marking. — C. R. B.] In A. 

 palustris the second primary is equal in length to the fourth, while 

 in A. streperus it is equal to the fifth. It is doubtful whether this 

 can be invariably relied upon, for the length of feathers even in the 

 same species will sometimes vary considerably through age, moult, or 

 accident. The tail in A. palustris is less rounded than in A. stre- 

 perus, the outer feather in the former being not so short as in the 

 latter. 



"'The measurements of the two species, taken from skins, are as 

 follows : 



Length. 



A. streperus 5.3 



A. palustris 6.5 



The readiest means of distinguishing the two birds at a glance is by 

 the colour of the legs and toes. In living or freshly-killed specimens 

 it will be observed that the tarsi and feet of A. streperus are of a 

 slaty brown, while in A. palustris the same parts are flesh-colour. 

 In dried skins the former turns to hair brown, the latter to yellowish 



BUI. 



Wing, from carpus. 



Tarsus 



0.55 



2.7 



0.8 



0.5 



2.5 



0.9 



