354 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OP BRITISH BIRDS. 



edged white ; tail apparently without gloss ; wing as male but 

 speculum less developed, outer secondaries sepia with no steel-blue 

 gloss, innermost secondaries with inner webs sepia and more or less 

 frosted with silvery-grey towards tip or with shaft-streaks of same ; 

 greater coverts sepia, middle ones (in some outer ones) tipped white 

 and sometimes with a terminal sepia marking ; median and inner 

 greater coverts sepia or black-brown more or less faintly edged 

 cinnamon- brown ; lesser coverts same but edged or barred buff. 

 Eclipse. — (Not examined.) 



Nestling. — Upper-parts and sides of body dark brown ; lores 

 lighter ; line above and below eye whitish, behind eye a narrow 

 buff -white line ; under-parts grey-brown, darker on sides of face, 

 fore-neck and under tail-coverts, lighter on chin ; frontal and loral 

 feathering as in adult. 



Juvenile. Male and female. — Like adult female but upper- 

 parts with narrower and paler edges, under-parts much lighter. 

 Crown sepia, feathers more or less barred and tipped light buff ; 

 nape dark ash-brown ; rest of upper-parts black-brown, feathers 

 narrowly tipped buff, some with terminal black- brown tips ; sides 

 of face and neck, chin, throat and fore-neck buff ; feathers more 

 or less spotted and tipped dusky-brown and with ill-concealed ash- 

 white bases ; rest of under-parts ash-white, feathers with broad 

 subterminal sepia bars and edged cinnamon-buff or pink- cinnamon, 

 in some with narrow terminal dusky lines ; tail as in adult ; wing 

 as in adult female but violet-purple speculum ill-defined, outer and 

 most of middle secondaries (in some all) black-brown or sepia lack- 

 ing violet-purple gloss, secondaries with much narrower white tips 

 than in adult female and innermost without or with only an indica- 

 tion of, silvery-grey shaft-streaks ; greater coverts with narrower 

 white tips ; median and lesser as in adult but with light or warm 

 buff edges. 



First winter. Female. — (Male not examined.) Apparently like 

 adult female but nape as juvenile but apparently darker, new 

 feathers of mantle as juvenile but more broadly edged pink-buff ; 

 new upper tail-coverts brown-black ; fore -neck as juvenile ; wing 

 as juvenile. Feathers of head, mantle, scapulars, rump and upper 

 tail-coverts and all under-parts, tail but not wings, are moulted in 

 autumn and winter. N.B. — In the one bird examined (Nov.) 

 feathers of neck all round appeared to be those of juvenile but 

 doubtless would be renewed eventually. 



Measurements and structure. — <J wing 209-217 mm., tail 80-90, 

 tarsus 34-37, bill from feathers 36-40 (12 measured). 9. wing 210- 

 215, bill 37-40. Primaries : 1st narrow, pointed and little more 

 than half longest primary- covert, 2nd longest, 3rd equal or 2-5 mm. 

 shorter, 4th 8-12 shorter, 5th 19-25 shorter, 6th 30-36 shorter ; 

 3rd emarginated outer, 2nd slightly inner webs. Innermost 

 secondaries only slightly longer than secondaries, falcate or sickle - 

 shaped in both sexes but not in juvenile, longest shorter than 7th 

 or 8th primaries. Scapulars long, tapering and falcate in male. Tail 



