MU. F. M. 0GILV1B ON THE RED-EKEASTED FLY-CATCHER. l'.l'J 
for the greater part white.” Mr. Saunders gives the length of this 
species as 4| in., in this specimen it reached fully 5 in. (o£ in.). 
Unfortunately this bird was obtained too late to be included in 
the body, or rather the appendix, of the lately published third 
volume of the ‘ birds of Norfolk;’ but Mr. Southwell has inserted 
a short note on p. xiii of that work recording the capture of this 
bird, and I should like to break a lance with him concerning the 
statement he makes therein. Mr. Southwell says: “An example 
of this pretty little Fly-catcher, which proved to be an immature 
female, was shot,” &c. By “ immature ” female I presume 
Mr. Southwell means a bird of the year, and I am entirely at 
a loss to know on what grounds the “proof” of its immaturity 
rests. " Neither its feathers, toes, or claws, the usual outward signs 
of immaturity, nor the appearance of the ovary, support his view. 
The feathers are those of a newly moulted adult, as a comparison 
with the large series of skins in the British Museum will show, and 
the well-formed toes and long sharp curved claws are altogether 
opposed to the supposition that it is a bird of the year. It may 
be said that the paler edgings to the wing-coverts and secondaries 
are a sign of immaturity ; but these paler margins to the feathers 
are found in the adult ? , as has been shewn by Gould in his 
figure of this Fly-catcher (‘British Birds,’ vol. ii.), and as described 
by Sharpe (British Museum Catalogue, vol. iv. p. 162), “ adult 
female . . . wings brown ; greater coverts and quills with edgings 
of lighter brown.” 
It is, of course, possible that the specimen may be a bird of the 
second year, as the difference between a second year’s bird and one 
of greater age seems hardly perceptible, but I cannot believe it is 
a bird of the year. Both at the British Museum and Zoological 
Society, where I exhibited this specimen, it was held to be 
undoubtedly adult ; and, backed by such strong authority as this, 
I have less hesitation in putting forward my own view so 
confidently. 
* See page 202. 
