THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA. 709 



Wings like the back, the inner webs of the quills browner, 

 and less richly coloured ; under wing-coverts, axillaries and flanks 

 like the back. 



The variation in the plumage of the female is far greater than 

 in the adult male, and birds from the same locality differ to such 

 an extent that it is hard to belieye they are the same species. In 

 some the rich rufescent tone is almost entirely absent, being re- 

 placetl with gre}", which gives the dominant tinge to the whole 

 appearance. In others the ochre centres are larger and brighter 

 and ochre to a great extent replaces the rufous in the mottlings 

 as well. In a few birds the centre of the crown has the features 

 marked with deep bright chestnut, and the same colour appears 

 hei'e and there on the wing-coverts, scapulars and innermost 

 secondaries. 



Colours oj Soft Parts. — Irides brown or hazel-brown, much the 

 same as in the male ; bill, horny-brown ; legs, dull-grey or greyish 

 brown nearly always with a tinge of purple or fleshy . 



Measurements. — Length, 573 mm. expanse, 762 mm. (Beebe). 

 Wings, 215 to 235 mm., average 18 specimens, 226 mm. ; tail, 190 

 to 211 mm., average 204 mm. Bill from front to tip, 13 to 15 mm.; 

 tarsus, 68 to 74 mm., generally showing an obsolete spur only. The 

 tarsi are very much more slender in the female than in the male. 



" Weight, 2 lbs. 4 ozs. to 2 lbs. 10 ozs." (Hume). 



Young male and young female are like the adult of the latter 

 sex, but less richly coloured ; there is no rufous in the plumage, and 

 the ochre is often pale and whitish on the neck and upper back. 



The adult plumage of the male is assumed by degrees, the 

 black and crimson of the head, neck and extreme upper breast and 

 back being first completed, whilst the crimson appears in patches 

 on the wings, scapulars and back and the ocelli make their first 

 appearance as white dots scattered indefinitely here and there. It 

 is interestine- to note that at the second autumnal moult when the 

 male acquires the semi-adult plumage, many feathers are assumed, 

 which show a transitional stage between the plumage of the young 

 bird and the completely coloured male. Thus, many of the feathers 

 which are mottled in the former and crimson in the latter are at 

 this moult mottled over the greater part but with faint-crimson 

 stains and indefinite pale grey ocelli. 



The throat and chin are covered with black feathers, more or 

 less mottled at the base, and the skin, which hardly shows through, 

 is pale and leaden coloured ; the lores and sides of the face are also 

 well-covered with short thick black feather. 



Ghieh in down, crown and nape rich chestnut, changing to 

 chestnut-brown on the back and rump and tail tuft ; lores, an indis- 

 tinct supercilium and sides of head and nape pale fulvous, the latter 

 mottled with chestnut ; the forehead is brighter and almost an orange 



