SWEDISH BLUE-THROATED WARBLER. 11 



by M. Verreaux, five inclies and a half; from carpus to tip three 

 inclies; tarsus thirteen lines; tail two inches; beak, the lower 

 mandible six-tenths, and the upper eleven-twentieths of an inch. 



The bird figured by Mr. Yarrell as Phcenicura 

 suecica is the S. cyanecula of Brisson, Meyer, and 

 Schinz, and the variety B. suecica' of Gmelin and 

 Latham. The real Motacilla suecica of Linnseus is, 

 according to Degland, the bird which I have figured, 

 and which in a dozen skins sent me by M. J. Verreaux, 

 has the red mark in the centre of the blue more or 

 less developed. It is most probably one of two varieties, 

 and it is very difficult to decide to which of the two 

 the typical form can be referred. 



Yarrell says that the white s]3ot of Phcetiicura cyan- 

 ecula, the bird Avhich he has described and figured as 

 the original Motacilla suecica of Linnaeus, is sometimes 

 seen in very old males red. M. Temminck also describes 

 the red-spotted variety as a permanent race, only oc- 

 curring in Russia and Siberia. Degiand, on the con- 

 trary, says that the Russian specimens have the white 

 spot as well as the red one, and some have the spot 

 partly red and partly white, as though the two races 

 had crossed; and the same has been remarked by Mr. 

 Hardy, of specimens sent to him from the Nile. 



Professor AUman has received during the present year 

 a series of S. ccerulecula , sent to him for the Museum 

 of Edinburgh, from Heligoland, by Mr. H. Gatke. They 

 are adult male and female, and three young ones. In 

 one of the latter there is a clear white spot, with a 

 tinge of red appearing round it. The occurrence of 

 this variety in Heligoland, Norway, and Sweden gen- 

 erally, strengthens Degland's opinion that it is the 

 genuine Motacilla suecica. of Linnaeus. It breeds regu- 



