118 THE ROBIN, OR REDBREAST. 
green ; quills yellowish brown on their outer 
webs, darker on the inner, having the tertials 
and coverts tipped with pale orange ; forehead, 
region of the eyes, throat, and upper part of the 
breast, gall stone yellow, approaching to reddish 
orange, and separated from the oil green of the 
upper parts by a uarrow banding of bluish gray, 
which shades into the former, and nearly encircles 
the lower part of the reddish breast ; the belly 
and vent are yellowish white, rising into brownish 
white on the flanks ; the thighs are oil green. 
The female is not so brightly or distinctly marked. 
The young, in their first plumage from the nest, 
are entirely of a yellowish oil green, without aDy 
trace of the red breast, each feather being spotted 
near the tip with pale orange, or pale chestnut 
brown. The red on the breast gradually makes 
its w r ay with the autumnal moult, and specimens 
in October may be procured in the partial 
change. 
The nest sub-family is that of the philomelince, 
so named from the nightingale, philomela, being 
presumed to exhibit the typical characters of a 
small group, arboreal in their habits, and remark- 
able for a melodious, and very powerful song. 
Between two of the principal genera, philomela 
and curruca, the distinctions seem scarcely yet 
to be rightly understood, and require more close 
observation ; as it is, however, we have kept them 
apart, separating also from both as a sub-genus, 
Mr Selby’s salicaria, or reed warblers, which 
