202 
SYLVIAD^. 
dusky, edged with reddish-brown ; the Jarger wing-coverts 
are tipped with white, which forms a band across the wings. 
The tail-feathers are dark greyish-brown, with paler edges ; 
the under wing and tail-feathers are brownish-grey, the under 
coverts slate-colour. 
The male and female differ very little in plumage; but the 
latter is always rather less in size, the colour of the head 
paler, and the back tinged with grey. In adult birds of both 
sexes the iris is brownish-red ; the beak dusky, the corners 
of the mouth dirty yellow; the gape and tongue yellow ; the 
tarsi thin and delicate, the claws sharp, and dusky in co¬ 
lour ; the legs and feet are reddish-brown. The moult takes 
place in July or August. 
The young, before their autumnal moult, are very different 
from the adult birds ; over the eye is a pale yellowish-grey 
streak ; the top of the head is deep yellowish-grey, the back 
of the neck dingy brownish-yellow, spotted with black ; the 
entire back and shoulders yellowish-brown, with black oval 
spots; the rump yellowish-grey; the throat is dirty yel¬ 
lowish-white ; the cheeks dull rust-yellow, mixed with grey ; 
the upper part of the breast and flanks are dark rust-yellow, 
with black oval spots ; the middle of the breast and belly 
dirty white; each feather greyish-yellow towards the shafts. 
The under tail-coverts are rust yellow, with blackish shaft- 
streaks ; the wings and tail are as in the adult, except that 
the tips of the greater coverts are rust yellow instead of 
white, and the lesser coverts are also tipped with the same. 
The iris is at first dusky, and afterwards brownish-red; the 
beak is ash-brown on the upper mandible, yellowish below, 
the throat and tongue orange, the corners of the mouth 
red. 
The length of the Hedge Accentor is about five inches 
and three-quarters. The beak measures about five lines, and 
tapers from the base to the tip ; the wing measures, from the 
