76 ZONOTEICHTA ALBICOLLIS. 



work. Mr. Mitchell was attracted in this instance to the movement of the 

 bird as it sat perched upon a whin bush, jerking its tail; but a less 



observant eye might have failed to notice the peculiarity." 



* 



The uncoloured plate to the article which appears in Mr. Gray's work 

 has considerable spirit. 



This is not a British bird; yet I am forced to regard it as one in 

 Britain. Recent authors have, in my opinion, w4ien they ejected these 

 American wanderers from the ornis of our isles, acted well and wisely. 



For a bird to be blown by a gale across from the New World to the 

 Old is a matter which falls within the belief of ornithologists. Puck only 

 took forty minutes to circumnavigate the earth ; and that elfin boy never 

 heard of a telegram. Though unable to race with Puck, a wind-driven 

 Zonotrichia might get to our shores. 



Messrs. S. F. Baird, T. M. Brewer, and R. Ridgway, in their ' North- 

 American Birds/ vol. i. p. 574, state as follows : — 



Sp. Char. Two black stripes on the crown, separated by a median one 

 of white. A broad superciliary stripe from the base of the mandible to the 

 occiput, yellow as far as the middle of the eye and white behind this. A 

 broad black streak on the side of the head from behind the eye. Chin 

 white, abruptly defined against the dark ash of the sides of the head and 

 upper part of the breast, fading into white on the belly, and margined 

 by a narrow black maxillary line. Edge of wing and axillaries yellow. 

 Back and edges of secondaries rufous brown, the former streaked with 

 dark brown. Two narrow white bands across the wing-^overts. Length 

 7 inches, wing 3*10, tail 3*20. Young of the year not in the collection. 



''Hah. Eastern Province of North America, to the Missouri. Breeding 

 in most of the northern United States and British Provinces, and wintering 

 in the United States almost to their southern limit. 



