40. CURSORIIDiE. 



Adult male. General colour above cindery grej r with a faint sandy 

 wash ; wing-coverts and inner secondaries like the back ; bastard- 

 wing, primary-coverts, and quills purplish black ; secondaries not 

 so black, broadly tipped with wbite, and more greyish brown on 

 the inner web ; upper tail-coverts white ; tail-feathers ashy-grey, 

 tipped with white, before which is a sub-terminal black band, 

 indistinct on the central feathers and only visible to a slight degree 

 on the outer feather, where there is black on the inner web only, the 

 outer one being pure white ; crown of head bright chestnut, con- 

 cealing a large occipital patch of black ; a loral band of black 

 reaching to the fore part of the eye ; a superciliary band of silvery- 

 white, encircling the nape and followed by a band of black, which 

 extends from behind the eye round the nape ; feathers below the 

 eye white ; cheeks and throat whitish washed with rufous, deepen- 

 ing into cinnamon on the lower throat and chest, and becoming 

 deep chestnut on the breast, the chestnut patch followed by a large 

 abdominal patch of black ; lower abdomen, vent, and under tail- 

 coverts white ; sides of body and flanks, as well as the inner under 

 wing-coverts and axillaries, ashy brown ; under wing-coverts and 

 under surface of primaries black : " bill blackish, the gape and base 

 of lower mandible yellowish ; feet yellowish white or whitish, the 

 joints dark; claws black: iris dark brown" (W. V. Legge). Total 

 length 8-8 inches, culmen 0*85, wing 5 - 8, tail 2-1, tarsus 2-1. 



Adult female. Similar to the male in colour. Total length 9 P 8 

 inches, culmen 09, wing 6-1, tail 2-1, tarsus 2-1. 



Young. Differs from the adults in being mottled all over with 

 brown and yellowish buff as well as being centred with fulvous ; the 

 secondaries and end of the tail varied in the same manner ; head 

 like the back ; the white eyebrow indistinct and washed with sandy 

 buff; the facial markings visible but indistinct; the throat sandy 

 white ; the fore neck and breast pale cinnamon, freckled with sub- 

 terminal spots and bars of brown ; lower surface of wing as in the 

 adults, but the axillaries lighter and more ashy brown. 



Hub. Indian Peninsula and Ceylon. 



Butler 



