374 A PRACTICAL HANDBOOK OF BRITISH BIRDS. 



five worn tail-feathers still remaining ; wings short and in quill and 

 bird in flightless condition. Bill as in winter-summer plumage. 



Adult female. Winter and summer. — Head and neck black- 

 brown or sooty- brown ; between eye and base of upper mandible 

 a small patch of white, feathers tipped black- brown ; a larger 

 patch on side of neck behind eye (these patches less distinct in fresh 

 plumage) ; remaining upper-parts black-brown or sooty-brown, 

 feathers with lighter edges ; under-parts sooty-brown, upper- 

 breast, sides of body and flanks with lighter brown edges ; feathers 

 of centre of breast more or less edged white at sides, sometimes many 

 feathers white with a spot or central marking of sooty- brown ; tail 

 black-brown ; wing as male but outer webs and tips of primaries 

 and their coverts, bastard-wing, outer web of outer secondaries 

 and innermost secondaries black-brown (sometimes as black as in 

 male) ; greater coverts sepia or black- brown, outer ones sometimes 

 broadly tipped white ; median and lesser coverts sooty-brown or 

 black-brown with lighter brown edges. Moult apparently as male, 

 birds with both wings flightless occur in Aug., Oct., and even Nov. 

 No spring material examined ; in late summer owing to abrasion of 

 edges of feathers upper-parts have a characteristically barred 

 appearance ; whitish pa ; ch on lores and below eye very distinct 

 owing to abrasion of black- brown tips, that on lores sometimes 

 continuous with patch below eye. Amount of white on under- 

 parts varies considerably, in some under-parts are almost uniform, 

 in others plentifully intermixed with white. 



Nestling. — Like that of 0. n. nigra, a tiny white spot on lores 

 not always present ; cheeks, sides of neck, chin and throat purer 

 white ; band across fore -neck dusky-brown. 



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

 parts lighter and browner, feathers of under-parts narrowly tipped 

 white. Nape, mantle and scapulars usually lighter than in adult 

 female ; cheeks, sides of neck, chin and throat sooty-brown, 

 feathers with imperfectly concealed ash-brown bases ; large white 

 patch on lores and another below and behind eye, feathers mostly 

 tipped brown ; amount of white varies individually ; fore-neck and 

 upper-breast, sides of body and flanks, vent and under tail-coverts 

 light sepia, darker on fore-neck ; feathers of upper-breast, sides of 

 body and flanks edged buff-brown or whitish ; feathers of lower- 

 breast and belly sooty-brown or drab-brown edged white, edges 

 narrower and less pronounced on belly ; tail as adult female, but 

 tips square with bare shaft projecting ; wing as adult female, but 

 sometimes innermost secondaries, median and lesser coverts lighter 

 and browner. 



First winter and summer. Male. — New feathers of upper and 

 under-parts black as in adult ; most advanced birds examined 

 have lores a mixture of new black and worn whitish feathers, no 

 white patch below eye, this area black with a few worn whitish 

 feathers. Some feathers of head, neck, mantle, scapulars, upper- 

 breast, sides of body and flanks, sometimes some tail-feathers are 



