STOW BTTNTITO. 
28 
and obtuse in form. Meyer mentions one in the possession 
of Mr. Hancock, of Newcastle, marked all over with spots of 
a reddish and purple hue. 
Male; length, about six inches and a half, or rather more, 
to six and three quarters and seven inches; bill, yellow, 
brownish black at the tip—entirely yellow in summer; iris, 
chesnut brown. Head on the back, pale yellowish brown, or 
chesnut—white in summer; crown, bright chesnut brown mixed 
with white, the tips of the feathers being reddish brown in 
winter: sometimes it is white. Neck on the back, greyish 
brown—white in summer; in front a gorget of bright chesnut 
brown mixed with white; nape, white in summer, tinged with 
greyish or brownish red in winter; chin, white; throat, white, 
tinged with chesnut in winter; breast, white, with more or 
less yellowish brown on the sides—wholly white in summer. 
The feathers of the back black in summer, at other times 
deeply edged with greyish white, or pale yellowish, or reddish 
brown. 
The wings extend to the width of one foot one inch. The 
first quill feather is the longest; greater and lesser wing 
coverts, white; primaries, black, slightly edged with white— 
wholly black in summer. In some the first, and in others 
the second feather is the longest; secondaries, mostly white, 
but in younger birds black edged with white, and in adult, 
birds some are black in summer; tertiaries, white. The tail 
has the two or three outer feathers white, with a dark streak 
along the shaft on the outer web some way down from the 
tip, and a small black spot near the tip; the rest blackish 
brown, edged with brownish white—pure black in summer; 
upper tail coverts, black, broadly margined with reddish 
brown in winter, or mingled tawny and white. Legs, toes, 
and claws, black, the hind one lengthened and nearly straight. 
The female has the colours more dull with less white. 
Length, six inches and a quarter; bill, as in the male; iris, 
as in the male. The head on the sides and crown is very 
light chesnut brown; neck on the back, yellowish grey, the 
upper part with brownish grey instead of reddish margins; 
on the sides dark yellowish grey, in front dull chesnut brown 
in the form of a band, its edges on the sides streaked with 
dusky. Throat, pale yellowish grey; breast, light grey or 
greyish white, tinged on the sides with chesnut brown. The 
black on the back is not so pure as in the male bird, and 
the margins of the feathers are light yellowish brown. 
