i6o



Mr. W. P. Pycraft,



Mr. Gronvold’s exquisite plates are so life-like that there

is no need for much description of this bird’s colouring. He is

taller and handsomer than the two Cape Crowned ( B. regulorum )

hens which I saw in the Zoo lately; his neck is longer, much

darker in colour, and more graceful. The face markings differ

considerably in the two species; in Regulorum the cheeks

are white, except in a small space at the upper part, and

the wattles are long and pendulous ; while in B. pavonina the

white and pink patches on the cheeks are almost equally divided,

and the wattles (under the chin only) are so tiny as scarcely to

be seen unless looked for.


[The concluding part of this paper, and an enlarged coloured figure

of the head only of Balearica pavonina showing clearly its distinctive mark¬

ings, will appear in the next number of this journal.—E d.]



ON THE TOPOGRAPHY OF A BIRD.


By W. P. Pycraft, M.B.O.U., &c.


In writing the description of a bird it is found expedient,

where a varied pattern of coloration has to be described, to

locate the variously coloured areas of the body by distinct

names. At the request of some of our readers these areas have

been mapped out, and will be found in the accompanying chart

(Plate i).


The description of the plumage completed, many other

points require attention that are but too frequently neglected, or

slurred over. One of the most important of these is the colour

of the soft parts—that is of the iris, the eyelids, beak, inside of

the mouth, and the feet.


With regard to measurement, it is not sufficient to give

the total length from the beak to the tip of the tail. The

expanse of the wings stretched to their fullest should be given,

as well as the distance from the tip of the closed wing (a) to the

crown of the head, and (£) to the tip of the tail. In making

skins from freshly killed birds careful attentiou should be paid

to the preservation of these measurements. In a series of skins

of the same species recently examined by the writer, some had



