here and there with elegant variegated tranfverfe bars of the fame
colour: the wings are fafciated and powdered; the firft of the
prime quills ferrated on the outer edge, fome of them fpotted
with- white on the outer edges; tips black: the tail and wings
are equal in length: the tail is rounded at the end, of the fame
colour with the body, and obfoletely fafciated with white : the
fhins are feathered, and marked with undulated ftrias, as the reft
of the body, the toes only being naked, which are of a pale colour
: the claws brown.— So far Pallas’s general defcription.
The fpecimen I allude to in the Leverian Mufeum, I am pretty
clear, is the fame bird above defcribed, but it is only fix inches
in length. In this the whole plumage is very foft and delicate,
imitating that of the TVry-nock. It is delicately powdered, as
Pallas exprefifes it to be, with ferruginous and black, but about
the fides of the neck the whole has a ferruginous tinge: tail of
a dark brown, barred with ferruginous and grey : the ears are
full an inch long, of the fame delicate mixture of colour with
the body, and appear to confift of more feathers than one *:
the wings feem to be a trifle longer than the tail; but, as the
fpecimen is a dried one, it is probable this circumftance may
have been occafioned by the operator who put it in attitude.
This came from Gibraltar, but whether native there or not was
not certain.
According to Dr. Pallas, this bird inhabits the more fouthern Piaci.
parts of the Volga, Samara, and Jaick-, he fays likewife that it is
often found about inhabited places, as well as in woods. In the
Peterjburgh Pranfactions, it is faid to be found near that city.
* This circumftance could not be afcertained, the bird being fixed in a glazed
cafe. The defcription in the Peterjb. Tranfac. fays they are ten in number.
S a * ? W ith
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