155 



can be detected on the upper surface ; but on the lower side of the body these are pretty thickly distributed ; 

 they are, however, very dull and obscure. Total length 8 - inches, culmen 1"0, wing 4'9, tail 35, tarsus T15. 

 Mr. Basil Brooke has also lent us a male killed by himself at Villacidio on the 2.2nd of April 1871. It is in 

 complete breeding-attire, and the only remains of white edgings, which are of course nearly obsolete, are on 

 the lower flanks and under tail-coverts, and a few on the sides of the body. Total length 8'9 inches, culmen 

 l - 0, wing 4"8, tail 3"5, tarsus 1 - 15. 



Spain. Mr. Howard Saunders has lent us three specimens out of his collection, one of them from 

 Granada, being a male of the previous year in full winter dress. The other two birds are most interesting. 

 One from the Sierra Nevada, shot in May 1871, is in complete breeding-plumage, with a clear blue lustre on 

 the head, throat, and even on the lower back and rump, without a trace of a single white edging to the feathers 

 anywhere ; evidently a very old bird. The other is a female from Malaga, and is another specimen by which 

 we were able to trace the progress from a spotted to a blue stage of plumage. It bears the date of the loth of 

 March 1871, and retains a great deal of its winter dress ; on the interscapulary region are some whitish 

 edgings to the dorsal plumes, as also on the tips of the wing-coverts, quills, and also of the tail-feathers. 

 The under surface of the body is spotted and mottled with black and fulvous cross markings ; but the feathers 

 of the chest and flanks are fast becoming blue, which colour is also to be observed on the whole of the upper 

 surface, brighter on the lower back and rump. Total length 8 - 6-9"0 inches, culmen F0-F1, wing 4'8, tail 

 3 "5-3 '6, tarsus 1T5. 



Malta. We have seen three specimens from this island, all of them hen hirds. One obtained by Canon 

 Tristram himself on the 1st of February, 1858, is remarkably brown all over the hody, the breast, in fact, 

 rather inclining to rufous ; and the under tail-coverts are more particularly of this colour. One of the birds 

 sent us by Mr. Wright has already "been mentioned : it was obtained by him in the autumn of 1866, and 

 looks to us like a female of the previous year that has bred in the spotted dress ; all the feathers are much 

 worn and abraded, and the brownish mottlings of the under surface all but obsolete. Another specimen, 

 however, obtained by Mr. Wright in October 1862, and also in Dresser's private collection of Thrushes, seems 

 to be a female of the previous year that has bred and completed her moult. With a few whitish edgings to 

 the scapulars, wing-coverts, and rump, it possesses very little blue lustre on these parts, being for the most 

 part brown above ; on the under surface, however, we cannot help noticing the contrast in the colouring of 

 the breast and ahdomen. The latter is very distinctly marked with crescent-shaped bars of blackish, while 

 the throat is spotted and mottled with fulvous and brown, and the chest is almost uniform greyish brown with 

 mottlings of darker brown, thus forming a kind of gorget. These three hen birds measure as follows : — 

 Total length 8'7-89 inches, culmen TO, wing 4 - 5-4 - 7, tail 33-3"5, tarsus F15. 



Northern Africa. We have examined an Algerian specimen in the collection of Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun. 

 It is a mottled female in winter dress, but exhibits no peculiarities of plumage worthy of notice. Canon 

 Tristram's collection contains a male bird shot at Kef, in Eastern Algeria, on the 27th of March 1857, which 

 is nearly in full breeding-plumage; and Messrs. Salvin and Godman have a female in complete blue livery 

 shot by Mr. Osbert Salvin himself in Tunis, on the 8th of March in the same year. This is a very important 

 specimen, as, being carefully sexed by Mr. Salvin, it first led us on to the inquiry as to whether the female 

 really did ultimately get blue all over, a fact we have now been able to establish. Total length 8 - 6-9'0 inches, 

 culmen TO-TOS, wing 4 - 8-5 - l, tail 3'5-3'6, tarsus F15. 



Greece. Four specimens are now before us from Macedonia, collected by Dr. Kriiper in October and 

 November 1869 and in August 1870. One of the latter, which is changing from the spotted nestling- 

 plumage to the blue dress of the male, has already been noticed. This bird was killed on the 22nd of August ; 

 and another one shot on the 28th of the same month has fully completed his moult. Total length 8"6-8'9 

 inches, culmen - 9-l'l, wing 4 - 8— 4 - 9, tail 3 - 5-3 - 6, tarsus 1*15. 



Palestine. Canon Tristram's collection contains two specimens from this country. The male bird shot 

 on the 5th of March, 1854, is in full breeding-plumage, whereas Captain Shelley's Egyptian examples, though 



