582 



becoming darker on the rump ; tail blackish brown ; upper wing-coverts same as the back ; quills dark 

 brown on the outer web, the inner web white, broadly tipped with brown, and the inner primaries 

 having white on the outer web ; the secondaries also white, broadly tipped with black, and finally narrowly 

 tipped with white, forming a conspicuous alar bar, the innermost secondaries, or dorsal quills, glossy 

 black, with a green tinge ; lower part of the breast and abdomen white, the lower part of the latter 

 and the vent fulvous ; flanks reddish brown, the feathers being slightly tipped with grey ; under wing- 

 coverts grey, broadly tipped with white; the feathers on the edge of the carpus white; under tail- 

 coverts white; beak and legs dark lead-colour; iris white. Total length 13'5 inches, culmen T6, 

 wing 6"8, tail 23, tarsus - 9. 



Adult Female. Differs from the male in having the colours more obscure, the feathers on the back and 

 breast having lighter tips, and the abdomen being marked with brown, and not pure white, as in 

 the male. 



Male, winter (14th January). Differs from the spring-plumaged bird in having the chestnut-red portions 

 much obscured, the feathers on the fore part of the breast having white edgings ; the underparts, which 

 in the spring plumage are pure white, are now dirty white, closely marked with brown. 



Female, winter (February). Resembles the male, but is much duller in colour, the entire underparts being 

 dark fulvous, marked with grey, the feathers on the centre of the abdomen having white tips. 



The range of the present species extends throughout Central and Southern Europe, into Northern 

 Africa, westward to the Canaries, and eastward into India. It has, however, not been recorded as 

 found in Siberia by any of the Russian travellers. In Great Britain it is a spring visitant, occurring 

 usually in the eastern counties. Mr. Gray gives but one instance of its having been met with in 

 Scotland, a specimen having been shot near Musselburgh in 1855 ; and it has not been recorded 

 as having occurred in Ireland. It has not yet been met with in Sweden, Norway, or Finland ; but 

 in Russia, Mr. Sabanaeff writes to us that it is annually found, during migration, in the Govern- 

 ment of Moscow, though never in any numbers, and it is said to breed in the districts of Kalinkin ; 

 he also observed it in the Government of Jaroslaf. According to Bogdanoff, it is found in the 

 Government of Kazan during the summer months ; and Kessler records it as one of the com- 

 monest species in the districts of Kieff. It is met with in the Ural in the spring, and is said 

 by Sabanaeff to breed on the Kaslin lakes, being also found in Tagila. In Poland, as we are 

 informed by Dr. L. Taczanowski, it is a very common species, arriving in April and remaining 

 until driven away by the ice ; but even then stragglers stay till midwinter. In north-eastern 

 Germany, according to Borggreve, it occurs during the breeding-season in Posen, Lausitz, Lower 

 Silesia, Pomerania, and Prussia, leaving for the south again on the approach of winter. Dr. E. 

 Rey writes to us that he has observed it on the " Salzigen See," in the spring up to the month 

 of May, but it does not breed there. 



It ranges during the summer season as far north as Denmark, and is said by Kjserbolling to 

 breed there. Mr. E. Hage procured it from Slesvig. Mecklenburg states that it breeds at 

 Bothkamp, in Holstein ; and Boje writes that it also breeds, not uncommonly, at Damme, in 

 that Duchy. In Holland and Belgium it is generally to be found, according to Baron von 

 Droste HulshofF, not uncommonly on the mainland of East Friesland, especially on the high 

 moors, and will certainly be found breeding in the peat bogs. In July 1861 a flock appeared on 



