118 STTJRNIDiE. 



edged with dusky brown, producing a mottled appearance ; scapulars 

 like the back ; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts more 

 uniform brown, the latter reddish brown ; wing-coverts greenish 

 black, hoary grey at the ends, which are edged with dusky blackish ; 

 bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quiUs black, externally glossed 

 with steel-green, all but the second primary white at the base, the 

 secondaries externally hoary grey towards the base of the outer 

 ■neb, the inner ones brown with ashy edges ; tail-feathers brown, 

 with an ashy shade on the margins, the two outer ones reddish on 

 the inner web ; crown of head hoary grey, mottled with greenish- 

 black edges to the feathers, especially distinct on the nape and hind 

 neck ; forehead less distinctly mottled ; lores and feathers at base 

 of nostrils, feathers round sides of face, ear-coverts, and cheeks 

 black ; throat deep chestnut ; sides of neck like the hind neck ; 

 lower throat, fore neck, and breast cinnamon-rufous or light bay ; 

 abdomen white, a few of the upper feathers with rufous centres ; 

 sides of body and flanks cinnamon-rufous ; thighs ashy brown with 

 whitish margins ; iinder tail-coverts dull cinnamon, broadly edged 

 with white ; under wing-coverts and axillaries pale cinnamon, 

 edged with white, the edge of the wing greenish black ; the greater 

 lower coverts blackish ; quills below black, with a white patch at 

 the base of the primaries : " bill dusky black, reddish black at base ' 

 of lower mandible ; upper and lower mandibles margined with pale 

 yellow; legs, feet, and claws black; iris dull white" {J. Arm- 

 stroni/). Total length 7 inches, culmen 0'75, wing 4-1, tail 2-4, 

 tarsus 0"8. 



Specimens from the North-western Himalayas are rather paler 

 than those from Assam and British Burmah, but the transition in 

 depth of colour is perfectly gradual; and complete links from one 

 form to the other are exhibited in the series in the British Museum. 



Adult female. Different from the male. General colour above 

 dusky brown, slightly mottled with grey centres to the feathers of 

 the head and back ; lower back and rump more uniform, the upper 

 tail-coverts rather more reddish brown ; lesser wing- and median 

 coverts brown, with a subterminal bar of hoary grey ; greater coverts 

 brown, with a broader grey band before the tip ; bastard-Aving and 

 primary- coverts blackish brown ; quills black, edged with bronzy 

 green, the primaries white at the base, the inner secondaries brown 

 like the back, the outer ones with the same patch of fibrous grey 

 near the base of the outer web as in the males ; taU-feathers dai'k 

 brown, with a slight rufous tint below ; crown of head like the 

 back ; lores and feathers round the eye blackish ; ear-coverts 

 blackish brown like the sides of the neck ; cheeks and under surface 

 of body dull white, here and there washed with rufous ; throat, 

 breast, sides of body, and flanks mottled with brown centres to the 

 feathers ; abdomen and under tail-coverts white ; thighs dark 

 brown ; under wing-coverts wliite, centred and edged with brown, 

 those near the edge of the wing uniform dark brown ; axillaries 

 white, brown at the base ; quills below dusky brown, with a large 



