300 



with a wash of blue ; chin and upper throat ashy white ; rest of the underparts dull bluish slate, the 

 feathers broadly tipped with ashy grey, the centre of the abdomen whiter, and the under tail-coverts 

 pure white. 



Nestling in down {fide Malherbe, Faun. Orn. Sic. p. 198). Covered with bluish black down, the frontal 

 plate, bill, and legs being white. 



This richly coloured bird inhabits Southern Europe and North Africa, but has been met with, as 

 a rare straggler, even as far north as the British Isles. Hancock, in his recently published 

 catalogue of the birds of Northumberland and Durham, says that one was taken alive at Boldon 

 Flats in August 1863, and another was caught near Ponteland in August 1873; but doubtless 

 both these were birds escaped from confinement. Mr. Robert Gray says (B. of W. of Scotl. 

 p. 337) that a specimen was shot near Campbeltown, in Argyleshire, in the first week of December 

 1863, and sent in the flesh to Mr. McCulloch, birdstuffer, Glasgow, in whose hands he saw it; 

 and he adds that, after a careful scrutiny, he found nothing in its appearance to lead him to 

 conjecture that it had escaped from captivity. 



With the above exceptions I find no record of its occurrence in Northern Europe ; and it is 

 only met with as a rare straggler to the central portion of the continent. Landbeck states (Vog. 

 Wiirt. p. 67) that one was killed in the winter of 1788 at Melchingen, in Sigmaringen, about 

 two hours' journey from Mossingen, which is the only instance of its occurrence in Germany ; 

 but it occurs at intervals in the south of France, and is said to frequent the marshes at the 

 mouth of the Rhone. Professor Barboza du Bocage states that it occurs at Ribatejo, in Por- 

 tugal ; and the Rev. A. C. Smith says (Ibis, 1868, p. 455) that there are many specimens in the 

 museums of Lisbon and Coimbra, and that he was informed that it is by no means rare in 

 Portugal. In Spain, Colonel Irby writes (Orn. Str. Gibr. p. 146), " it is very irregular in its 

 appearance, both as to time and locality. In some years, during January and February, they 

 are to be seen near Gibraltar in situations where they do not occur at any other time, and are 

 then doubtless on migration;" and Mr. Howard Saunders says (Ibis, 1871, p. 225) that "though 

 still tolerably abundant in the marshes of the Guadalquivir, it is almost, if not quite, extinct in 

 those of Valencia, where it was formerly very numerous ; in the marshes of the island of Majorca 

 its numbers are also sadly diminished." Mr. A. von Homeyer, in his notes on the ornithology of 

 the Balearic Isles, says (J. f. O. 1862, p. 430) that it breeds but rarely on Majorca, and he only 

 twice met with it, once at the Prat and once at Albufera, but he never observed it on the island 

 of Minorca. It is stated, he says, to be commoner in Majorca in winter than in summer. In 

 Italy it is recorded as a straggler in the districts of Nice, Liguria, and Tuscany ; and it is tolerably 

 abundant in Sicily, especially in the marshes of the Anapo and about Lentini. It also occurs in 

 Sardinia, being common some years and rare in others. It is stated by Temminck to occur in 

 Greece and the Ionian Islands ; but the authors who have written on Greek ornithology do not 

 appear to have met with it, and Dr. Kriiper states that nothing is known respecting its occur- 

 rence there of late years. Nor do I find any mention made of its occurrence in South-eastern 

 Germany, the Danubian Principalities, or Turkey ; but it is met with in Southern Russia. 

 Professor Von Nordmann states that he never saw it alive, but that he knows that many have 

 been obtained at the mouth of the Kouban ; and Pallas speaks of it as being not rare on the 



