NOTES AND QUERIES. 301 



a darker coloured bird than A. pratensis that (in view also of my Egyptian 

 skin) I cannot imagine that in its ordinary winter dress it could be rightly 

 described as lighter in general colour than A. pratensis at the same season. 

 t have recently examined examples of A. cervinus iu the museums at 

 Tromso, Trondhjem, and Christiania, and although most of these were 

 adults in summer dress, I find in my note-book the following remarks on 

 eleven examples at Christiania (viz. seven adult males, and females, summer ; 

 three immature; and one adult female, autumn): — " All generally darker 

 than pratensis, though the light edges are more pronounced, contrasting 

 with the conspicuously dark centres ; markings of under parts very bold, 

 black, and big." The autumn female would not be different from the birds 

 in winter dress, and probably the three immature examples would not differ 

 very much. My impression of A. cervinus, founded upon the small amount 

 of personal observation here detailed, is that it is certainly in all stages of 

 plumage a darker bird than A. pratensis at corresponding seasons. The 

 light coloured edges to the feathers of the upper parts of A. cervinus (they 

 appear to be nearly white in some cases) give it a bright look ; it is a 

 brighter, more brilliant, and more striking bird than A. pratensis, but not, 

 I think, a lighter coloured bird. Mr. Coburn writes that the resemblance 

 is striking between an example of A. pratensis killed in April and his 

 example of A. cervinus. As I write I have before me my Egyptian winter- 

 killed A. cervinus, and an adult male A. pratensis killed on the 30th April, 

 but there is no striking resemblance between them. In the general colour 

 of the upper parts they certainly approach one another more closely than 

 do examples of each species both in winter plumage. But A. cervinus is 

 more distinctly marked on the back, and, not to mention other points of 

 difference, the arrangement of the markings on the throat and upper breast 

 is different. In my experience this last difference is more or less noticeable 

 in all stages of plumage. In summer it is remarkable in live birds seen at 

 a little distance (I have several times seen the two species within an hour 

 of each other), and I can see no reason why it should not be equally notice- 

 able in winter. A comparison of the skins in my collection shows that the 

 differences alleged by Mr. Coburn to exist in the size of the bill, and the 

 colour of the (dried) legs of the two species, cannot invariably be relied 

 upon, although possibly A. cervinus will be found to have the bill usually 

 smaller than average examples of A. pratensis. As I have only four 

 examples of A. cervinus to compare, I can at present only say that the bills 

 of these are not smaller than the bills of some of my examples of A. 

 pratensis. The size of the bill varies in both species, and birds of both 

 species likewise vary more or less in size. I do not think there ought to 

 be any difficulty in distinguishing (so far as plumage is concerned) between 

 examples of A. cervinus and A. pratensis in any stage of plumage, when one 

 has the specimens in one's hands. And, given a clear view at a reasonable 



