270 
allen’s naturalist’s library. 
Adult Male. — Back and scapulars chestnut-brown, with slightly 
indicated greyish margins to the feathers ; the lower back, 
rump, and upper tail-coverts ashy-grey, darker on the latter ; 
lesser wing-coverts like the back ; the median and greater- 
coverts dusky brown, washed with ashy and slightly tinged 
with rufous, the greater coverts and the bastard-wing with 
whitish margins ; primary-coverts and quills dark brown, edged 
with ashy-grey, a little browner on the secondaries ; tail- 
feathers blackish, edged with ashy, ribbed under certain 
lights with dusky cross-bars, and the outer feathers fringed 
with white at the end of the inner webs ; crown of head and 
hind-neck ashy-grey, extending on to the mantle ; the crown 
slightly streaked with blackish centres to the feathers ; the base 
of the forehead hoary-whitish, extending above the eye ; lores 
dusky black; eyelid whitish ; sides of face and ear-coverts ashy- 
grey, streaked with whitish ; cheeks ochreous-buff, streaked 
with black, the stripes widening posteriorly, especially towards 
the sides of the neck ; cheeks, throat, and breast ochreous- 
buff, the cheeks scantily streaked with black, the throat uni- 
form, the lower throat and chest distinctly streaked, and the 
chest mottled with blackish centres to the feathers, which are 
continued down the sides of the body and tinged with chest- 
nut ; centre of breast and abdomen white, as well as the under 
tail-coverts, which have blackish margins ; under wing-coverts 
and axillaries white ; quills dusky below, ashy along the inner 
webs ; bill yellow; feet black; iris reddish-brown. Total length, 
10 inches; culmcn, o-8; wing, 5*5 ; tail, 4 - o; tarsus, 1-3. 
Adult Female. — Similar to the male, but not so richly coloured, 
the markings on the sides of the breast and throat much less 
defined. Total length, 10 inches; wing, 5 '6. 
Young. — Dusky brown above, the mantle darker, the upper 
surface streaked with whitish along the shafts of the feathers, 
which are further mottled with black tips ; throat and fore-neck 
orange-buff, largely spotted with black tips to the feathers, the 
spots smaller and less pronounced on the breast and sides of 
the body. 
Range in Great Britain. — A regular winter visitor, arriving in 
large flocks and gradually dispersing over the country, so that 
its arrival in the western districts is later than the time when it 
