20 PTEEOCLID^. 



Perdix aragonica, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii. p. 645 (1790). 



Tetrao subtridactvlus, Hasselq. [ubiPj; Lath. Gen. Hist. viii. p. 254 



(1823). 



Adult male. Chin and throat chestnut, extending round the sides 

 of the neck and gradually paling into orange on the nape ; a tri- 

 angular black patch at the base of the throat ; rest of the head and 

 upper back grey, tinged with dull yellow ; lower back, rump, and 

 upper tail-coverts darker grey, pale vinaceous buff at the base, and 

 each feather with a terminal spot of rufous buff. Primaries and 

 primary-coverts grey ; the outer web of the first primary blackish 

 grey ; secondaries with the basal half white and the rest greyish 

 brown. Secondary and inner median wing-coverts whitish, with 

 the greater part of the outer web ochre ; rest of wing-coverts and 

 scapulars like the lower back, but the terminal spot mostly ochre 

 tinged with rufous buff internally. Axillaries and under wing- 

 coverts white. Chest and upper breast isabelline grey, separated 

 by a moderately wide black band. Lower breast and rest of under- 

 parts black. Tarsi and under tail-coverts white. Tail of 1(3 

 feathers, centre pair rufous buff, barred with grey and tipped with 

 greyish ochre, rest similar but tipped with white, and gradually 

 becoming greyer and darker on the outer ones till the last pair have 

 the ground-colour grey, slightly tinged with reddish buff. Total 

 length 13-5 inches, wing 9'3, tail 4-2, tarsus 1. 



The immature male differs from the adult in having the tips of 

 the primaries and primary-coverts edged with buff vermiculated with 

 black, some of the feathers of the top of the head with a black sub- 

 terminal band and rufous-buff margin, and several feathers of the 

 upper back and scapulars yellowish buff barred with black as in the 

 female. 



A quite young male specimen has the whole of the upper parts 

 and the chest and upper breast buff, irregularly barred and marked 

 with black, but otherwise resembles the adult. 



Adult female. Differs from the male in having the throat yellowish 

 white, the outer feathers with black shafts, and terminated by 

 a narrow black and rather wide pale grey band ; the rest of the 

 head, upper back, and chest isabelline, a submargiual black spot at 

 the extremity of each feather ; back and rest of upper parts pale 

 rufous buff, closely barred and marked with black ; upper breast 

 yellowish white : plumage otherwise like that of the male. Total 

 length 13 inches, wing 8-6, tail 4, tarsus 1. 



Jmmature females h.a,ve the primaries and primary-coverts edged 

 with buff mixed with brownish black. 



Hah. N. Africa, S. Europe, S.W. and Central Asia, ranging from 

 Fuerteventura and Gran Canary in the west to N.W. India in the 

 east, and extending southwards to the Sahara, and north to the 

 Kirghiz Steppes and Dzungaria. 



a, b. c? 9 fid- sk. Aboo. Hume Coll. 



c,d. d 2 ad. sk. W. of Jodhpur, Jan. & Feb. Hume Coll. 



[W. T. Blanford). 



