38 A CATALOGUE OF THE BIEDS 



bird fi-om the nest, with the feathers only partially developed ; 

 the whole of the plumage is black, each feather haAdng a greyish 

 bar close to the . extremity ; on the under parts of the body the 

 bars are narrow, but on the upper parts they are wide and very 

 conspicuous ; the quills are likewise found marked in the same 

 manner, and the tail feathers show slight indications of similar 

 bars. This marking is quite symmetrical, and suggests the ap- 

 pearance of the spotting of the first or nest plumage so general 

 in the Passeres. I have seen two more individuals of this interest- 

 ing variety ; they are, like my specimen, both birds fi'om the nest, 

 and consequently in the first plumage. In the '' Omithologie Eu- 

 ropeenne" of Degland and Gerbe it is stated, that ''this species 

 is found sometimes with the extremities of the secondary quills, 

 the little and middle coverts marked with whitish spots (collec- 

 tion Degland)." And in Yarrell's ''British Birds," a variety is 

 described " of a light ash colour most beautifully mottled all over 

 with black, and the quill and tail feathers elegantly barred." 

 It is evident that this individual is only a more strongly marked 

 example of the spotted variety above mentioned; and it is in- 

 teresting to observe that it was also in the nest plumage ; at least 

 such is probably the case, for it is fm'ther stated that, on moult- 

 ing, the bird lost "all its mottled plumage" and "became a jet 

 black Book." 



I know of no instance of an adult bird exhibiting this variety 

 of plumage. All the three that I have seen were in the first 

 plumage, and this would seem to be the case with the bird men- 

 tioned by Yarrell. Thus the first plumage of this uniformly 

 black species exhibits occasionally the spotted markngs so com- 

 mon in the nest plumage of the Passeres. 



17. Jackdaw. C. monedula, Linncnus. 



Corvus monedula, Bewick, Hist. Brit. Birds, Ed. 1847, I., 81. 

 „ ,, Yarrell, Hist. Brit. Birds, Ed. 2, II., 103. 



A very common resident. Up to the time of the reparation of 

 the steeple of St. Nicholas' Church, Newcastle, 1867, numerous 

 Jackdaws built their nests regularly year after year in that 



