72 



BRITISH BIRDS. 



autumn by migrants from the extreme north. In confirmation of this 

 may be mentioned that a flock of these birds, in November 1860, accord- 

 ing to Mr. Rodd, alighted on a Norwegian vessel when near the English 

 coast. It is said that this flock consisted of many hundreds. Mr. Gray 

 also remarks that in some seasons the eastern counties of Scotland are 

 visited by migratory flocks from Scandinavia. Another flock, in October 

 1833, settled on a ship as it passed the Norfolk and Suffolk coast, and 

 remained on board until it was almost in the Thames. The Tree-Sparrow 

 is regularly observed in October and November on our east coast, some- 

 times comiug in with Greenfinches, and passes Heligoland in some numbers 

 on migration. 



The Tree-Sparrow is smaller than the House-Sparrow, and may readily 

 be distinguished from that bird by its chestnut head and nape, bufiish- 

 brown rump and upper tail-coverts, black ear-coverts surrounded with 

 white, and by the double bar on the wing. Another very interesting 

 distinction between the two birds is that the male and female Tree- 

 Sparrows are almost precisely alike. The colours of the bill, legs, claws, 

 and irides are similar. In the young in first plumage the black parts are 

 brown. 



The White -throated Sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis, has been recorded 

 as a British bird on the strength of a female specimen shot near the 

 Broadhill, on Aberdeen Links, on the 17th of August, 1 867. The parti- 

 culars were communicated in March 1868 to the Natural History Society 

 of Glasgow, who subsequently published in their ' Proceedings ' a full 

 description of the bird, with other details. Without wishing to cast any 

 doubt upon the specimen in question, it is, however, extremely probable 

 that the bird had escaped from confinement; and to admit it into the 

 present work seems scarcely advisable. It has not the remotest claim to 

 be considered a "British bird,^' as the term is generally understood. 

 The White-throated Sparrow is found commonly in North America, where 

 it is a migrant, wintering in the southern portions of that country. 



