3°6 
allen’s naturalist’s library. 
uniform ashy-brown ; median wing-coverts blackish-brown, with 
ashy-brown edges ; greater coverts and inner secondaries dark 
brown, edged with rufous, the latter with ashy-white tips ; 
bastard-wing, primary-coverts and quills dark browm, the latter 
with paler brown margins; rump and upper tail-coverts uniform 
olive-brown ; tail-feathers dark brown, the two centre ones 
paler ; crown of head and hind-neck dull slaty-brown ; lores 
dusky ; ear-coverts reddish-brown w'ith w T hitish shaft-streaks ; 
sides of neck, cheeks, throat and breast slaty-grey, becoming 
paler on the lower breast, and shading off into dull white on 
the abdomen ; sides of upper breast uniform olive-brown; sides 
of body and flanks brown, the latter streaked with blackish- 
brown centres to the feathers ; under tail-coverts whitish with 
b'own centres; axillaries and under wing-coverts ashy-grey; 
quills dusky brown below, ashy along the inner edge; bill dark 
brown, the low'er mandible paler; feet light brown ; iris brown. 
Total length, 5-5 inches; culmen, 0-5; wing, 275; tail, 2 - 4 ; 
tarsus, o - 85. 
Adult Female. — Similar to the male in colour. Total length, 
5 - 6 inches; wing, 2 - 6. 
Young. — Similar in plumage to the adult, but much more 
mottled, with black centres and paler tips to the feathers ; the 
external aspect of the wings more rufous ; the hind-neck 
spotted with ochreous buff ; throat ashy-grey, spotted w'ith 
dusky ; throat and chest and sides of body ochreous-buff, with 
triangular spots of blackish-brown ; breast ashy-white. 
Range in Great Britain. — A common resident throughout the 
British Islands, occurring and breeding everywhere, excepting 
in some of the Hebrides, the Orkneys, and Shetlands. Large 
numbers occur on migration, especially on our eastern coasts, 
and the species is also a winter visitant to the Orkney 
Islands. 
Range outside the British Islands. — Breeds nearly everywhere 
throughout Europe, excepting in the extreme north, reaching 
to 70° lat. in Scandinavia, to Archangel in Western Russia, and 
to about 6o° in the Ural Mountains. In the south of Europe 
it nests only on the mountains, and is principally known as a 
winter visitor to the Mediterranean countries ; but it has been 
