2o8 
allkn’s naturalist’s library. 
Adult Male — General colour above leaden-grey, the wing- 
coverts rather paler, the greater coverts more hoary-grey; 
primary-coverts and quills hoary-grey, the secondaries darker 
and more like the back ; tail brownish-black ; under surface 
of body bluish-grey, with faint indications of black shaft-stripes; 
lower abdomen, vent, thighs, and under tail-coverts rich chest- 
nut; under wing-coverts leaden-grey; quill-lining brownish- 
black ; cere, orbits, and feet bright brownish-red ; claws 
yellowish-white, with horn-coloured tips ; bill yellowish horn- 
colour, blackish at tip; iris light brown. Total length, ii'S 
inches; culmen, 075 ; wing, 9'8; tail, 5'6; tarsus, i'i5. 
Adult Female.— Different from the male. General colour 
above bliiish-gre)', with transverse black bars on all the feathers, 
the mantle a little darker and more ashy ; tail also bluish-grey, 
a little paler towards the tip, with narrow black bars, the sub- 
terminal one much broader; quills brownish, externally ashy- 
grey, barred on the inner web with whitish ; head, hind-neck, 
and under surface of body rufous, inclining to buff on the 
under tail-coverts ; forehead whitish ; lores and feathers round 
the eye greyish-black ; sides of face and neck, as well as the 
throat, yellowish-white, with faint indications of a pale rufous 
moustachial streak ; soft parts as in the male, but less bright. 
Total length, ii inches; culmen, 07; wing, 97; tail, 5-6; 
tarsus, I '15. 
Young Birds At first resemble the old female, and have the 
tail barred with black ; the fore-part of the crown whitish ; the 
feathers of the mantle edged with rufous ; upper-part of ear- 
coverts and feathers round the eye greyish-black ; a faintly in- 
dicated moustachial streak ; throat and sides of neck creamy- 
white ; under surface of body rufous, paler than in the old 
female, the feathers with blackish centres, developing into 
spots at the end ; cere, orbits, and feet reddish-yellow ; claws 
yellowish-white, with dark grey tips. 
Bangs in Great Britain — An accidental visitor in spring and 
Summer, rarely occurring in autumn. Mr. Howard Saunders 
states that the species has been recorded upwards of twenty 
times, and has occurred in nearly all the southern and eastern 
counties of England, from Cornwall to Norfolk, as well as in 
Denbighshire and Shropshire, Yorkshire, Durham, and North- 
