BLACKSTART. £9 
greyish black, with a tinge of slate-coloured blue; chin, throat, 
and breast on the upper part and sides, slate Dlack, the feathers 
margined with light grey; lower down the breast is light 
grey, and ultimately greyish white; back on the upper part, 
greyish black; on the lower part brownish red. 
The wings have the first feather scarcely an inch long, the 
second shorter than the third, which is the longest, but 
scarcely exceeding the fourth and fifth, which are equal, the 
sixth not quite so long as the third, the seventh of the same 
length as the second; greater and lesser wing coverts, greyish 
black, edged with lighter grey; primaries, secondaries, and 
tertiaries, dusky g¥eyish black, the two latter edged with 
greyish white, of which colour is a large portion of the 
outer web of the second-named, formmg a white patch when 
the wings are closed—the primaries underneath are leaden 
grey; greater and lesser under wing coverts, dull greyish 
white. Tail, light chesnut red, except the two middle feathers, 
which are dark reddish brown, inclining to black, edged with 
brownish orange. Mr. Thompson, of Belfast, says, that on 
two of the Irish specimens the tail was tipped with black, 
which colour prevailed particularly on the outer web of the 
feathers—underneath it is chesnut brown; upper tail coverts, 
brownish red; under tail coverts, dull pale reddish. Legs, 
toes, and claws, black. 
The moult takes place in August. 
The, female has the whole of the upper parts dark yellowish 
brown. Length, five inches and three quarters; chin, yellowish 
brown, with blackish spots; throat, darker brown; breast, light 
yellowish grey; back, on the lower part, reddish brown. 
Primaries and secondaries, darker than the rest of the plumage, 
the latter broadly margined with yellowish white; tertiaries, 
also edged with buff white. Tail, brownish red, but duller 
than in the male; under tail coverts, dull pale reddish brown. 
The young resemble the female until the following spring. 
The male bird is of a darker grey than the female, and the 
lower part of the back of a lighter red. The colour would 
appear to darken with age. 
‘In plumage,’ says Mr. Gatcombe, in ‘The Naturalist,’ volume 
1, page 227, ‘these birds vary considerably: I have obtained 
them with black breasts, yet without a shade of white on 
the tertials; then again with the white on the wings very 
strong, and not a sign of black on the breast: this appears 
to me very strange, as the black almost invariably appears 
VOL, Iv. E 
