312 



and this grey tinge is also present on the pectoral bands and the sides of the throat ; under tail- and 

 wing-coverts washed with pale orange. 



Young Male in first autumn (Soiling, Hartz). Upper parts as in the adult bird, but rather duller, and more 

 uniform in colour, and here and there a few of the nestling feathers remain ; secondaries and wing- 

 coverts margined with rufous ; from the base of the bill over the eye pale rufous ; chin and throat 

 white, washed with yellowish, on each side bordered with black, and to some extent dull blue ; below 

 this white patch a broad pectoral band of blackish, and here and there a blue feather intermixed with 

 some of the feathers of the nestling plumage ; and below this the breast is washed with rufous ; rest of 

 the underparts dull white. 



Adult Male in winter (Malaga, February) . Resembles the male in spring plumage ; but instead of the 

 brilliant blue throat, with a central white spot, the chin and upper parts of the throat are white, only on 

 the sides (which are otherwise blackish) slightly marked with blue ; lower part of the throat below 

 where the white spot is present in the summer plumage blue, obscured by the feathers having whitish 

 tips ; below this the black and bay bands are present, but are somewhat obscured, owing to the feathers 

 having white tips. 



Obs. A male killed in December, near Malaga, now in the collection of Mr. Howard Saunders, resembles 

 the specimen last described, but has the white on the chin and throat rather blurred with black and 

 slightly washed with pale yellowish orange ; and I should think that it is a younger bird than that, more 

 especially as I observe that all the immature specimens appear to have the throat slightly clouded with 

 yellowish ; and I find it most difficult to distinguish them from the young of C. suecica in that plumage. 

 A male in my own collection, shot at Halle, in Saxony, in the autumn, resembles the adult female 

 above described, but has the lower part of the throat and upper part of the breast washed with dull 

 blue ; and there arc one or two dull orange-coloured feathers on the breast, some of which are narrowly 

 tipped with blue. 



The old female probably assumes a plumage closely resembling that of the young male, as is the case with 

 the female of C. suecica. A specimen obtained at Granada in September 1870, and marked " female," 

 has the throat and breast as in the male in winter plumage above described, but has the white on the 

 throat washed with yellowish. As this bird bears considerable resemblance to the old female of 

 C. suecica obtained by Mr. E. R. Alston, I have deemed it best to figure it for comparison. 



The White-spotted Bluethroat is the western representative of Ci/anecula suecica, and is found 

 in Central and Western Europe, North-western Africa, and is said on one or two occasions to 

 have been met with in Asia. 



It has, as stated in the article on C. suecica, been but once recorded from England, but is 

 common in Germany and Holland, as well as in most parts of continental Europe. In Scandi- 

 navia it does not appear to have occurred, being there replaced by Cyanecula suecica. According 

 to Naumann (Vog. Deutschl. xiii. p. 376) " it is certainly less numerous in Germany than the 

 bird without any white spot, but much more so than the red-spotted or Swedish bird, but is 

 met with in similar localities, though not always in the same countries, as that species. It 

 appears to inhabit the western part of Germany, and is there commoner than towards the east 

 or north-east, and has not been met with on Heligoland, where the Swedish bird is found. It 

 rarely breeds with us, but is commoner on the Rhine and the Danube." In the same work he 



