Q 



18 



5 ad. corpore supra, alis et Cauda ut in mare seel paullo pallidioribus : gula et gutture griseseenti-albidis, 

 lateraliter nigro Botatis et vix cseruleo lavatis : jugulo imo albido, rufescente adumbrato : pectore 

 superiore fascia nigra : abdomine albido, pectore imo vix rufescente lavato. 



Adult Male (Christiania, 19th April). Upper parts dark hair-brown, with a faint greyish tinge ; feathers on 

 the crown with rather darker centres, and the sides of the crown rather darker than the rest of the 

 upper parts; rump washed with olive-brown; quills with rather lighter margins to the outer webs; 

 two central rectrices clove-brown, the remainder with the basal half bright bay, and the terminal 

 portion blackish brown ; over the eye a whitish streak ; chin, throat, and fore part of the neck down 

 to the breast rich ultramarine-blue, with a large central spot of bright bay ; the lower portion of the 

 blue area darkens into black, forming a distinct band of that colour, and below this, again, there is a 

 tolerably broad bay band ; rest of the underparts dull white ; under wing- and tail-coverts washed 

 with reddish; bill and legs brown, the former darker; iris dark brown. Total length 6 inches, 

 culmen 065, wing 3 - 05, tail 235, tarsus l'l. 



Adult Female (Egypt, 31st March). Upper parts as in the bird last descx-ibed, but somewhat paler in tinge ; 

 throat with but little trace of blue, being greyish white marked with blue on the sides, which are on 

 the lower part marked with black ; on the lower part of the throat is a pale whitish bay spot slightly 

 marked with blue ; below this a blackish band crosses the breast, below which the white is slightly 

 marked with bay ; rest of the underparts dull white. 



Obs. A female, killed by Mr. Alston in Norway, is precisely similar to the above ; but I have before me 

 several (and amongst them one shot from the nest by Mr. Alston) which have no trace of blue or bay 

 on the throat. It appears, therefore, that the female breeds in this latter plumage as well as in the 

 dress in which it so closely resembles the young male. Mr. R. Collett obtained one breeding in this 

 plumage, and writes as follows : — " A very peculiar coloration marked the plumage of a female shot on 

 the Dovre, July 13th, 1871. In this specimen the chin was blue, blended with whitish; the breast 

 lightish brown, on the sides bordered with a black band, spotted with white ; below the breast there 

 was a blue stripe margined with red. Though not a sterile female (the ovarium contained eggs the 

 size of a pea) , this individual was very like a young male." 



Nestling (Nertshinsck, Ural, 23rd July). Upper parts blackish brown, striped with reddish yellow, each 

 feather having a central stripe of that colour ; upper tail-coverts reddish ; tail blackish brown, rufous 

 at the base, excepting the central rectrices, which are entirely blackish brown ; quills blackish brown, 

 primaries tipped with buff, secondaries and wing-coverts margined and tipped with rufous ; throat and 

 breast striped like the back ; lower part of the abdomen dull bufl'y or yellowish white. 



Obs. Having before me a considerable series of specimens of the two species of Bluethroats from various 

 localities, the following remarks on them may prove acceptable to my readers : — 



Great Britain. I have not had an opportunity of examining a British-killed specimen ; but it appears that 

 only C. suecica has occurred here. 



Norway and Sweden. The species frequenting these countries is the true C. suecica (L.), having the 

 centre of the breast bright bay; specimens from Norway and Russia are the most richly coloured of any 

 in my series. An adult female, shot in Finmark by Mr. Collett, has the entire throat white, bordered on the 

 sides with black, and washed with pale orange ; were it not for this latter tinge, it would be undistinguishable 

 from a female obtained by Major Irby near Seville, in Spain. Another female, obtained by Mr. E. R. Alston 

 on the Valdersfjeld, approaches the adult male in appearance, except that the chin and upper part of the throat 



