BUNTING. 
82 
tended to the width of one foot one inch and a half. Greater 
wing coverts, dark brown, broadly margined with pale brown;, 
lesser wing coverts, the same, the first row tipped with light 
yellowish brown; primaries and secondaries, dark brown, the 
edges of the feathers lighter coloured; the first quill feather is 
a little shorter than the second, the second a little shorter 
than the third, which is the longest in the wing; the fourth 
a little shorter than the first; tertiaries, dark brown, broadly 
margined with pale brown. Tail, dark brown, the edges of 
the feathers lighter coloured—it is slightly forked, and rather 
long; upper tail coverts, pale brown, streaked with darker 
brown on the centre of each feather; under tail coverts, pale 
yellowish brown, dusky on the shafts. Legs, pale yellow 
brown, with a tinge of red; toes, dull yellow; claws, deep 
brown. 
The female is not distinguishable in markings or colour 
from the male. Length, seven inches and a quarter. The 
wings expand to the width of one foot and three quarters of 
an inch. 
The young, when fully fledged, are nearly of the same 
colour as their parents; the upper parts lighter, the lower 
pale grey, with dark oblong spots; after the first moult the 
colours deepen, but the young are still to be distinguished 
from the old by the dark markings being more lengthened. 
Varieties are not very unfrequent in which white more or 
less occurs. One has been met with almost entirely white. 
One is mentioned by my brother, Beverley B. Morris, Esq., 
M.D., in ‘The Naturalist,’ new series, vol. i, page 46, as 
having been met with at Pickering, on the 10th. of March, 
1850, which was of a very pale straw-colour, with a few 
brown spots. 
Mr. George Johnson, of Melton Boss, Lincolnshire, has one 
of these birds, he informs me, nearly white. 
