THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA. 323 



buff; feathers of nape the same but with broader more spatulate 

 striae ; back and mantle black, each feather with two buff streaks and 

 narrow buff' edges, a feather here and there shewing white instead of 

 buff markings, this giving a curiously mottled appearance ; feathers 

 of lower back buff with crescent ic bars of black ; tail coverts the same 

 but the black increasing in extent so as to finally occupy most of the 

 surface ; longest tail coverts whitish at the tips; tail Jioldly barred 

 black and rufous and tipped white. 



Visible portion of the wing covert and inner secondaries like the 

 back but the feathers more mottled and less regularly marked with 

 black ; prunaries and outer secondaries dark brown, the former some- 

 tim,es mottled with rufous buff on the outer web, the latter more or less 

 barred with the same. 



Below chin, throat and foreneck white ; remainder of lower parts 

 brown, the feathers of the breast and flanks regularly marked with buff 

 lines following the contour of the feathers ; abdomen and lower breast 

 the same but with the bars much more broken and irregular and some- 

 times obsolete, their place being taken by indefinite pale central 

 streaks ; shafts white ; lower tail coverts white barred with rufous 

 and black in varying degree. 



The range of tints on the lower surface is considerable, some birds 

 appearing almost black on these parts, others, quite a rufescent buff. 



Colours of the Soft Parts. — Similar to those in the male but duller ; 

 the bill is paler, the dark portion being confined to the base and 

 nostrils. 



Measurements. — ^Ving 10-2" (259 mm.) to 11 "S" (287 mm.) ; average 

 10-7" (271-7 mm.) : tail from 7" (177-2 mm.) to 8-05" (205-0 mm.) ; 

 tarsus about 2-8" (68-5 mm.) ; crest 1-3" (33-0 mm.) ; bill at front 

 about 2" (50-8 mm.), and from gape about 2-1" (53-3 mm.). 



"Weight, 4-lbs. 11-ozs." (F. M. Bailey.) 



TJie young male is like the female but has the throat much mottled 

 with black ; the upper parts generally have more black and less rufous 

 and therefore appear darker as a whole, and the under parts are much 

 more boldly mottled and barred wdth black and rufous with broad 

 white central marks breaking up the latter. 



The Chick in its first jjlumage is like the female but has the plumage 

 above marked with conspicuously broad central streaks of white ; 

 below the throat and fore neck are dull fulvous white and the abdomen 

 and flanks buff feebly barred and blotched with dark bro-^Mi. 



Chicks in Down have the crown rufescent chestnut with a central 

 Ime of black ; nape brown, feebly mottled with paler ; back chestnut 

 brown -with broad lateral streaks of buff ; wing and tail quills pale 

 cinnamon buff with blackish pencillmgs and broad pale central streaks 

 to the inner secondaries ; below dirty fulvous buff. 



In the series in the British Museum although many birds are in a 

 moulting stage there is nothing to support Mr. "Wilson's theory of a 



