6782 



Birds. 



a young male and female of this common species (the first birds I 

 have procured, with the exception of the robin). The male is 9j 

 inches in length, and 17 inches in extent of wings. Bill along the 

 ridge, 1 inch. Tarsus, 1 inch ; thigh, lj. Inner hind-toe, 4-tenths 

 of an inch; claw, 3|-tenths : outer toe, 3-fourths of an inch ; claw, 

 4-tenths. Inner fore-toe, 6-tenths; claw, 3-tenths: outer toe, 8-tenths; 

 claw, 4-tenths. Bill bluish black, but of a horn-colour at the base 

 and on the lower mandible. Head black, spotted with red and gray; 

 throat gray, spotted with black ; there are two red patches on the 

 sides of the head, a streak of the same colour beneath the eyes, and a 

 small spot over them and at the nape. Back black; feathers tipped 

 with gray ; there is also a line of the same both over and under the 

 eye, extending towards the nape. Nostrils oval, partly concealed by 

 black bristles. Upper tail-coverts white and rather elongated. The 

 tail is 3j inches long, rounded ; it has twelve feathers ; the lateral 

 ones are only an inch in length, weak and incurved, white on the 

 outer webs, black on the inner, except at the extremities, which are 

 white. Four centre feathers black and doubly pointed ; the second 

 external feather white on the inner web for one- third its length, and 

 on the outer margin throughout, point yellowish white ; the third is 

 white on the inner web at the base, yellowish brown at the tip ; the 

 fourth has a small white spot on the inner web at the base, and 

 is light brown at the extremity, which is forked : the whole of the 

 feathers are arched, and the centre ones very stiff. Wing has nine- 

 teen quills : first, black ; from second to seventh inclusive, tipped 

 with gray, and partially margined with the same on the outer webs ; 

 eighth, slightly tipped with white, and there is a small spot of the 

 same on the margin of the inner web, about half-way up; ninth, white 

 at the point, broadly margined with the same on the inner web ; tenth, 

 black at the base and on the outer web, barred with black on the 

 inner towards the extremity ; eleventh, black at the base, with patches 

 of the same on the outer web and at the extremity, and there is a nar- 

 row bar of black on the inner; from twelfth to seventeenth inclusive, 

 the quills are black at the base, and there are spots of the black on 

 the outer webs, with a bar of black across both webs ; eighteenth, 

 black on the outer web at the base, with three spots of the same 

 higher up the web, two on the margin and one near the shaft, besides 

 being barred with black on the inner ; nineteenth, almost similar : 

 the third quill is longest, second nearly equal, fourth little shorter, 

 first 6-tenths of an inch shorter than the second. Primary coverts 

 black, tipped and margined with gray. Secondary coverts black, 



