42 
YELLOW-HAMMER. 
on the centre. The quill feathers of the wings have the 
yellow margins less bright; the white spots on the side feathers 
of the tail are smaller even than in the female; under tail 
coverts, dusky in the centre. 
Varieties occasionally occur—one has been seen in which 
the head, neck, and throat were pure white, with a few spots 
of brown on the top of the head. Montagu mentions one 
he had, in which the white of the head, neck, and lower 
part of the back, as also the whole of the breast, were pale 
yellow, and some of the quill feathers, and of those on the 
shoulders, white. Mr. Macgillivray records another, shot in 
the county of Linlithgow, of a greyish white colour, the 
margins of the feathers pale brownish red, the bill and feet 
pale. 
