238 AKDEID^. 



on the sides of the upper breast a patch of dependent feathers, 

 having black centres with tawny-bufF or rufous margins ; under 

 wing-coverts tawny buif ; axillaries and under surface of quills pale 

 chestnut : " eyelids and facial skin reddish purple ; bill nearly all 

 yellow, the culmen alone being dark brown ; legs and toes yellowish 

 green ; claws brown ; iris yellow to pale red " {E. W. Oates). Total 

 length 11 inches, culmen IS, wing 5"5o, tail 1'6, tarsus 1-9. 



Adult males in winter appear to be a little more dingy on the 

 upper parts than in summer, the head and back being shaded with 

 greyish brown. 



Adult female. Mantle and back uniform dark brown ; wing- 

 •coverts ding}' brown, but mottled with sandy-buff margins and 

 chequered notches, which appear also on the scapulars and inner 

 secondaries, aad have also sub-terminal markings of darker brown 

 on many of the coverts ; the greater coverts, primary-coverts, and 

 ■quills are chestnut, with a good deal of dusky at the base and on 

 the inner webs, the primary-coverts also dusky towards the ends ; 

 tail-feathers dull chestnut ; crown of head and nape dusky brown ; 

 the frilled feathers on the sides of the neck brown in the centre, 

 with yellowish margins ; sides of face yellowish buff, streaked with 

 brown ; the whole of the under surface yellowish buff, very thickly 

 streaked with dark brown, the sides of the throat whiter, the 

 feathers composing the broad mesial streak down the middle of the 

 throat and fore-neck having a distinct rufous shade ; on each side 

 of the upper breast a patch of dependent plumes, black in the centre, 

 with yellowish-buff margins ; thighs chestnut ; under wing-coverts 

 yellowish buff like the chest ; axillaries and quill-lining dull chest- 

 nut, the feathers with a good deal of grey in them : " facial skin, 

 margins of upper mandible, and nearly the whole of the lower 

 mandible yellow, remainder of bill black ; back of tarsus and soles 

 yellow ; clavs yellowish brown ; iris yellow " {E. W. Oates). Total 

 length 13 inches, culmen 2, wing 5-35, tail 1"7, tarsus 8"75. 



The young hirds are very like the female, as determined by 

 Mr. Oates and myself, but the whole back is variegated with 

 yellowish-buif spots and markings, as well as the wings, so that the 

 uniform brown mantle is a sign of the adult female, and the spotted 

 mantle of a young bird. Mr. Everett gives the soft parts of a 

 young female as follows : — " Legs and feet bright olive-green ; bill 

 greenish yellow at base, the culmen of a dark olive-brown tint; 

 iris golden yellow." 



Considerable variation in the tint of the cinnamon plumage of il 

 this species is observable in a series, and specimens from more 

 southern localities are decidedly the darker and richer in colour. 

 Thus Ceylonese and Belgaum birds are darker than those from 

 N.W. India, and the Nicobar bird is also especially dark. 



I believe the loss of the blackish streaks on the centre of the 

 throat to be a sign of age, as old birds seem to lose the dark mark- 

 ings entirely, and have the centre of the throat and centre of the 

 breast streaked merely with dark orange-rufous. It has been very 

 difficult for me to determine what is the plumage of the adult 



