Female. Plate CCCLX. Fig. 2.
The Female is somewhat smaller than the male.
Length to end of tail 3 5/8 inches, to end of wings 3, to end of claws 4 2/8; extent of wings 5 3/8; wing from flexure 1 7/8; tail 1 4/12. Weight 4 dr.
Young in Autumn. Plate CCCLX. Fig. 3.
The upper parts are much darker than in the adult; the lower parts of a deeper tint.
Length to end of tail 3 1/2 inches, to end of wings 3 1/8, to end of claws 4 1/8; extent of wings 5 3/8; wing from flexure 1 5 1/2/8.
The young bird just ready to fly, has the bill bright yellow, excepting the ridge of the upper mandible, which is brown; the feet yellowish-brown. The upper parts are reddish-brown, faintly barred with dusky; the wings as in the adult, but the secondary coverts with only a very small dull white spot at the tip, and the first row of coverts with a line of the same colour along the shaft. The lower parts are dull greyish-brown, with the terminal margin of each feather darker, and the sides and hind parts barred with dusky.
On comparing numerous specimens of American and European birds, it is found that the proportions of the parts are nearly the same, and the colours generally similar. But the American birds generally have the lower parts more tinged with red, their general colour being pale reddish-brown, whereas those of the European birds are pale greyish-brown; in the former the bars on the sides and hind parts are much darker, advance farther on the breast, and in some specimens are seen even on the neck; in the latter the bars are dusky, and never appear on the middle of the breast, much less on the neck. In old European birds, the axillars and lower wing-coverts are greyish-white, without spots; in old American birds, even those of which the neck is unbarred, the axillars and lower wing-coverts are always barred with dusky. As to the two rows of white spots on the wings, they seem to be quite similar in the birds of both continents, and in those of each exhibit variations in form, sometimes being short and somewhat triangular, sometimes also extending along the shaft. The tarsi, toes, and claws are precisely similar, as are the wings, and it does not appear that in the American bird the claws are larger, or the wings longer, as might be supposed by a person desirous of proving the one to be more scansorial and migratory than the other. Perhaps the European bird is somewhat larger, and it certainly differs a little in colour. After one has studied the differences, he can easily select from a promiscuous assemblage of skins the European or the American specimens. But, after all, the differences are very slight, and certainly not such as to form good essential characters. Were the two species to be comparatively characterized, they might be described as follows.
T. europæa. In the male the upper parts reddish-brown, faintly barred with dusky, the lower parts pale greyish-brown, the sides and abdomen barred with dusky and greyish-white, the fore neck and breast without bars, the lower wing-coverts and axillars greyish-white.
T. hyemalis. In the male the upper parts reddish-brown, faintly barred with dusky, the lower parts pale reddish-brown, the sides and abdomen barred with brownish-black and greyish-white, the fore neck and breast more faintly barred, the lower wing-coverts and axillars greyish-white, barred with dusky.