SPOTTED WEET-WEET. 357 



small and elevated; the anterior toes are webbed at the 

 base, the outer web much larger, flattened beneath, and 

 marginate ; the first toe with ten, the second with twenty- 

 four, the third with thirty-five, the fourth with forty scutella. 

 The claws are slender, slightly arched, compressed, and 

 rather acute. 



The plumage is soft, blended, glossy, and somewhat 

 compact on the upper parts. The wings are long; the 

 primaries narrowish, the first longest, the second almost 

 equal ; the secondaries longish, incurved, obliquely rounded 

 and acuminate, the inner very long and tapering, one of 

 them only four-twelfths of an inch shorter than the first 

 primary when the wing is closed. The tail is of moderate 

 length and much rounded. 



The bill is greenish-brown above, yellowish-flesh-coloured 

 beneath, the extremity of both mandibles blackish. The feet 

 flesh-colour, tinged with yellow. The general colour of the 

 upper parts is greyish-brown, tinged with green and glossy ; 

 the head, hind-neck, and fore part of the back with small 

 longitudinal dusky lines ; the other parts with distant trans- 

 verse bars. Some feathers on the edge of the wing, the 

 margins of the alular feathers, the tips of the primary and 

 secondary coverts are white. The alula, primary coverts, 

 and primary quills are dusky, glossed with green ; the secon- 

 dary quills lighter ; all the quills, except the inner elongated 

 secondaries and the outer primary, tipped with white, which 

 on the secondaries form a conspicuous band. When the 

 wing is extended it is crossed by a bar of the same colour, 

 which includes the inner margins of the primaries except 

 the first and the bases of the secondaries, on which, how- 

 ever, it is concealed by the coverts. The tail is of the same 

 colour as the back, tipped with white, that colour margined 

 anteriorly by a dusky bar ; the feather next to the outer is 

 paler, with several dark bands on its outer web ; that of the 

 outermost white, with four dusky bands. The lower parts 

 are pure white, marked all over with roundish, brownish- 

 black spots, which are larger on the breast and sides. 



Length to end of tail 8 inches ; bill along the ridge \%, 

 along the edge of lower mandible l-^; wing from flexure 



