262 



PHAPIANID.^. 



Adult male *. Lores and forehead sandy buff, shading into dark 

 brown on the top and back of the head ; nape paler brown ; rest of 

 the upper parts rufous chestnut ; most of the feathers, especially 

 those of the mantle, margined with pale greyish brown ; and the 

 wing-coverts, lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts finely 

 vermiculated with biaek. Quills brown, except the outer webs of 

 the secondaries, which resemble the coverts ; rest of the head and 

 neck pale greyish brown, shading into whitish on the chin and 

 throat ; underparts chestnut or rufous chestnut, each feather mar- 

 gined with pale sandy brown or buff. Many specimens have a 

 larger or smaller patch of feathers in the middle of the breast, 

 ornamented with ash-grey centres ; these markings have apparentlj' 

 no reference to age, locality, or season. Under tail-coverts chestnut, 

 vermiculated with black. Tail blackish brown, the centre pair of 

 feathers and the outer webs of the second and third pairs mottled 

 with rufous ; legs and feet coral-red ; bill dusky red at the base, 

 horny towards the tip. Total length 14-6 inches, wing 6-3, tail 5-4, 

 tarsus 1-7. 



An immature male has the plumage of the adult, but the upper 

 parts and breast are intermixed with feathers resembling those of 

 the female, and the spurs on the tarsi are wart-like or absent. 



Adult female differs from the male in having all the upper parts, 

 especially the mantle and wing-coverts, mottled and irregularly barred 

 with black, most strongly marked in specimens from Southern India. 

 The feathers of the neck and underparts tipped with black, and all 

 the tail-feathers mottled with rufous or buff. Tarsi sometimes 

 withoiit sjjurs, usually with a pair and often two. 



Hah. Peninsula of India ; Madagascar, introduced. 



a-g. d $ ad. sk. 



h, i. S 2 ad. sk. 

 k,l. d2 ad. sk. 

 m-o. (S 2 ad. et J 



imm. sk. 

 p. c7 ad. sk. 



q. c? ad. sk. 

 r. 2 ad. sk. 

 s. 2 ad. sk. 



t-v. r7 ad., $ injm. 



sk." 

 U-, .r. J 2 inmi. sk. 



Mount Aboo, May, July {G. 



Kivff). 

 Deccan [Col. Sykes). 

 Matheian, 1 "eb. 

 Maliablesliwar, April, May 



(H. J. Bruce). 

 Mabablesbwar, May [S. B. 



Fairbank). 

 S. Konkan, Feb. (G. VicM). 

 Bc^'^mm,^^]^. {E.A.Butler). 

 Goa Frontier, April (S. B. 



Fairbank). 

 Malabar Coast. 



Calicut. 



Hume Coll. 



India Museum [P.]. 

 Col. Lloyd [P.]. 

 Hume Cull. 



Tweeddale Coll. 



Hume Coll. 

 Hume Coll. 

 Tweeddale Coll. 



Tweeddale Coll. 



Hume Coll. 



1 



* Specimens from Mount Aboo are iindoubteclly somewhat paler tban those 

 from the Nilghiris. The males have the breasts and underparts generally paler 

 chestnut, and the females have the blnek markings paler and less di,<<tinct, 

 especially on the upper parts of the body. There cannot, lio-never, be the 

 shghtest ground foi- supposing that there are even two distinct races, much less, 

 species, as this variation in tint is fully accounted for by the diffierence in 

 climate, the annual rainfall on Mount Aboo being slight compared with that of 

 Calicut and the Malabar coatts, whence the most richly coloured birds in our 

 series were obtained. 



