147 



Upper tail coverts, ashy brown, washed with olive- 

 yellow and with darker brown centres. Tail feathers, 

 dark brown, edged with ashy brown tinged with yellow. 



Cr'Oivn of head, olive yellow, streaked with blackish 

 centres and slightly washed with ashy. Forehead, dull 

 golden yellow, extending backwards over the eye. 

 Lores, dusky yellow. Eyelid and side of face, dull 

 golden yellow, with a dusky streak across the lower 

 ear coverts. Cheeks, dull golden yellow with a dusky 

 malar stripe. Throat aytd under body, dull golden 

 yellow. 



Sides of upper breast, ashy grey. Flanks, more 

 ashy, and streaked with black. Loiver abdo^nen, thighs, 

 and under tail coverts, whitish. Under iving coverts and 

 axillaries, pale ashy, washed with yellow. 



Generally speaking, the above details, taken from 

 the Catalogue of the British Museum, and in which 

 it will be noted there is no mention of green, apply 

 to the hen also, except that she is a little browner 

 and has less yellow on the forehead and sides of face ; 

 the breast is also greyer than in the male. 



In structure the bird is stoutly built, and this 

 appearance is greatly helped by the relative shortness 

 of the tail in comparison with the domesticated 

 varieties. The toe nails are short and small, and, as 

 in most wild birds with perhaps the exception of the 

 Mannikins, seem to show little tendency to grow in 

 captivity to the length found in the products of arti- 

 ficial selection : in colour they are black, and the feet 

 and toes brown. 



The total length of the bird is stated by Dr. 

 Sharpe to be from 4*55 to 4-60 inches. Swainson's 

 measurement of a " native specimen" obtained from 

 Sir W. Jardine is recorded by him in Part III. of 

 Animals in Menageries as 5^ inches, and he further 

 says that the tail, which is "distinctly forked," 

 measures li inch beyond the wing tips. Between 



