150 BULLETIiSr 15 3, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



the greater wing coverts rufous wood brown, mottled with black 

 on the terminal half, subterminally broadly banded with black, and 

 broadly tipped with dull ochraceous buff; primaries and outermost 

 ^secondaries pale vinaceous buff banded with two narrow black bands 

 very broadly banded subterminally with black, tipped with dull 

 ochraceous buff; inner secondaries, pale vinaceous buff, heavily and 

 abundantly vermiculated with black, with no black bands, terminally 

 tipped with sudan brown, subterminally bordered with white; the 

 distal parts of the feathers externally narrowly edged with white or 

 very light pinkish buff; lower back and rump, dark grayish-olive 

 brown, narrowly and irregularly barred with blackish, and broadly 

 tipped with sudan brown; upper tail coverts and central rectrices, 

 very pale vinaceous fawn color exceedingly heavily and abundantly 

 vermiculated and mottled with black, making the feathers look 

 quite blackish, much darker than rest of upper parts; and narrowly 

 tipped with white and then brown terminally; lateral rectrices simi- 

 lar but duskier basally, but solid black for the distal third to half; 

 very narrowly tipped with white and sudan brown; cheeks and 

 auriculars, ochraceous tawny, lower sides of face and sides of throat, 

 white; chin, white; middle of throat, buffy to pale ochraceous buff 

 with a narrow median whitish line bordered for its posterior part 

 by blackish brown ; lower throat and upper breast, pale wood brown, 

 the feathers broadly tipped with black, white, and, terminally, ochra- 

 ceous tawny ; lower breast, whitish ; abdomen, flanks, and under tail 

 coverts, black very narrowly tipped with pale ochraceous; iris, 

 brownish yellow; bill, olive black above, yellowish green below and 

 along commissure ; feet, gray ; claws, olive brown. 



At Bodessa, Mearns made the following entry in his notes about 

 tliis bird: 



A noisy bird but silent in flight. Frequents the long trail on a long dividing 

 crest leading south. Here its tracks may always be seen. I have shot two in 

 the trail along which they run, singly or in pairs, for miles. When the fresh 

 tracks cease in the dusty trail, I send a boy out on each side in the grass, 

 and the birds are soon flushed and shot on the wing. They are delicious table 

 birds. Usually on high ridges, seldom flushed from the longer grass of the 

 slopes below. On May 31, my boy brought me a half-grown young one which 

 he had caught in the grass when hunting. 



The list of localities in which this bird was noted is as follows: 

 Abaya Lakes, May 18-19, 50 birds; Bodessa, June G, 2 seen; Tertale, 

 June 7-12, 30 seen ; El Ade, June 12, 2 ; Turturo, J.une 15-17, 2 birds ; 

 near Saru, June 19, 4; Yebo, June 20, 10 seen; Karsa Barecha, June 

 21, 4 birds ; Malata, June 22, 2 ; Chaffa villages, June 23-24, 8 seen ; 

 Hor, June 26-30, 4 noted ; dry river south of Hor, July 1-2, 6 birds ; 

 Dussia, July 3-4, 6 seen. 



