115 



Detailed description : — 



Adult Male : Head, neck, rump, upper tail 

 coverts and whole of breast bright crimson red, sides 

 of body marked with small white spots ; mantle and 

 shoulders brown, washed with crimson (each feather 

 having a crimson end) ; wings and wing-coverts dark 

 brown with a dull red outer web to each feather ; tail, 

 above dark-brown, each feather with a red outer web ;; 

 under-wing-coverts, abdomen and under tail-coverts 

 pale brown, under surface of tail brownish black. 

 Bill red, culmen and edge black; iris dark-brown; 

 naked ring round eye yellow ; feet reddish flesh- 

 colour, lycngth, 3.5 in. (minima), 3.75. in. (sene- 

 gala), (c). 



Female : Brown under surface and sides paler ; a 

 few white spots on sides of breast ; wing and tail 

 feathers brownish-black, the bases of the latter having 

 the outer webs crimson ; under tail-coverts dirty 

 white ; lores, eyebrow, rump and upper tail-coverts 

 red. Bill, eye-ring, &c., as in cock. (For description 

 of young, see p. 59). 



The white spots are sometimes entirely wanting,, 

 and the red colour often varies a good deal in 

 tint in different individuals, and sometimes spreads 

 over the whole mantle and on to the wing- coverts, 

 while on the other hand the whole upper surface is 

 olive-brownish (d). As I have from a pair of un- 

 spotted parents bred many spotted young as well as 

 some of deeper colour, I feel sure that the occurrence 

 of these spots and also the varying shades of colour, 

 depend chiefly on the age, environment and food- 

 supply of each individual ; and similarly I think that 

 the allied species or local race, which Heuglin has 



(c) Length from B. M. Catalogue. 



(d) = L. brunneiceps. 



