53U 



CAPUIMri.CID.F,. 



Subsp. p. Caprimiilgus plumipes. 



Capviuiulgnspegyptius, <S'ri(//// (w<»rZ(V//<.), Sfrai/ F. iv. p. 1-")3(1876; 



Turkestan); isliarpe, Sci. Bcmlts Yark. Miss., Aves, p. llo (part.) 



(1891). 

 Caprinnilg'us plumipes, Prjevulski in Hotdei/s Orn. Misc. ii. p. Lj8 



(1877 ; Iloaug-ho li., S.' Mongolia) ; id. Ibis, 1877, p. 243. 



Above riifous-isabelline, finely vermiculated with deep bro'un and 

 streaked with brownish black ; an indistinct buff nuchal collar ; 

 scapulars darker and more rufous, broadly pale buff on the outer 

 webs ; on the wing a rufous-brown transverse bar and some series 

 of large buff terminal sjwts to the wing-coverts; primaries deep 

 brown ; inner webs traversed b}' broad pale rufous bars, quite or 

 almost extending to the shafts, outer webs with pale rufous, a 

 broad white band across the first three ; central tail-feathers same 

 colour as the upper parts, crossed by irregular narrow blackish bars 

 varying in number ; lateral tail-feathers rufous-buff, variegated and 

 barred with deep blackish brown, and witli broad white tips, about 

 1*5 inch in length, to the two outer ones; lower parts pale rufous- 

 buff, sandy buff, or almost isabelline, with a large patch of white on 

 the throat, dark mottled and barred, being much darker and varied 

 with pale terminal spots on the breast, becoming more or less uniform 

 on the lower abdomen and lower tail-covei ts ; under wing-coverts 

 hke the abdomen. Total length about 10-5 inches, wing 7"4 to 7*5, 

 tail 5-5, tarsus 0-62. 



Female. Has the patch on the throat, the patch on the primaries, 

 and the tips to the outer rectrices not white, but rufous-buff or 

 buff. 



The very broad and distinct rufous bands on the primaries, the 

 rufoiis-buff to sandy-rufous colour, and the somewhat narrower 

 streaks on the head are characteristic of this rare form. 



The description is taken from one of the typical specimens collected 

 by Pijevalski, and two similar ones from Turkestan in the St. Peters- 

 burg Museum. If these specimens be compared only with typical 

 ones of C. europaus and C. imtvini, they seem to be consi:)icuously 

 different from either ; but on an examination of a large series of 

 those allied forms, some specimens were found that are almost 

 intermediate between C. univini and C. plumipes, while certain 

 specimens of C. europtaits incline somewhat to C. plumipes in colour. 

 A skin of C. europceus from South Africa indeed closely resembles 

 C. plumipes, and one of Severtzoff's specimens from Turkestan also 

 approaches the latter species. This Central-Asiatic form must 

 tliereforo also be considered a subspecies of C. europa-u?. The 

 specimens from Yarkand and Kandahar are exactly similar to the 

 typical ones from Mongolia. 



Hah. Central; Asia, from Mongolia throughout Turkestan to 

 Afghanistan. 



a. 2 ad. sk. Ijitku, Dolan Distr., 30 miles from Yar- Hume Coll. 



" kaud, .July 28 (J. Scully). 



b. 2 ad. sk. Kandahar, May 8 (Sir O. St. John). Hume Coll. 



