232 A MANUAL OF THE BIRDS OF AUSTRALIA. 
black, the feathers of the back more plainly barred with wavy cross lines of black, 
and having a broad black subterminal band ; on each side of the feathers a margin 
of white, producing a striped appearance ; scapulars like the back, grey, with 
chestnut and black markings towards the end of the feathers, which have somewhat 
broader white linear margins ; lower back and rump like the rest of the back, but 
more mottled with chestnut, and black bars, and with the white marginal streaks less 
strongly developed ; upper tail-coverts like the rump, but with broader white edges 
to some of the feathers ; wing-coverts dull ashy, the lesser series with a few black 
bars, the median and inner greater coverts chestnut towards their ends, which have 
a white tip preceded by a black subterminal bar ; primary-coverts and quills blackish- 
brown, the primaries with narrow margins of paler brown, the three outermost edged 
with ashy-white ; the innermost secondaries much varied, being chestnut, with black 
cross-bars, of which the subterminal one is very broad ; the distal aspect of some of 
them notched with buffy-white and edged with this colour, before which is a sub- 
terminal line of black, preceded by some blackish vermiculations ; tail-feathers 
ashy-grey, with slight blackish vermiculations ; crown of head black, the hinder 
crown and nape barred with chestnut ; the base of the fore-head, lores, and a line of 
feathers along the sides of the crown white, with black edges, producing a spotted 
appearance ; ear-coverts, dark ashy-grey, with white shaft-lines below the eye ; 
cheeks white, with black margins, resembling the sides of the neck, which are 
similarly spotted, the hind-neck mostly ashy-grey, with a twin bar of white and black 
and a chestnut tip, this followed by an area of nearly uniform chestnut, which over- 
spreads the upper mantle, and has only a few black bars ; chin and upper throat 
white ; the lower throat, chest, upper-breast and sides of the body dull plumbeous- 
grey, each feather centred with an ovate spot of buff, with more or less of a blackish 
margin, the buff taking the form of bars on the sides of the breast, where there are 
a few black bars ; on the sides of the fore-neck and chest an area of chestnut con- 
tinuous with the chestnut of the upper mantle, and extending down to the sides 
of the upper-breast, where there are a few white spots and black bars ; middle of the 
breast and abdomen white, with a slight tinge of buff ; under tail-coverts sandy- 
buff, with some lateral black spots ; under wing-coverts, axillaries, and inner lining 
of quills dull ashy-grey. Total length 190 mm.; culmen 18, wing 108, tail 43, 
tarsus 23. 
Adult male.---Differs from the female in being smaller ; the distribution of colour 
above is similar, but everywhere duller, particularly on the mantle, where the 
extended colour of the back takes the place of the bright chestnut patch, which is 
conspicuous in the female ; the feathers of the lower throat and chest are buffy-white, 
with twin black spots, which gives an irregular barred appearance; bill bluish- 
horn colour ; iris deep orange ; tarsi and feet deep yellow. 
Immature.—Very similar to that of the adult male. 
Nestling.—Covered with black, white and grey down, with an admixture of 
chestnut on the middle of the back and wings ; a white line on each side of the 
crown, from the lores to behind the eye ; a black line from the base of the fore-head, 
which widens out on the crown and encloses a narrow white line on the hinder crown ; 
there is also a more or less pronounced double white line on the middle of the back ; 
under-surface entirely dusky-grey. 
Two other young individuals, a little more advanced in age, have the head 
similarly coloured to that of the nestling ; the feathers of the back are black, with 
white on rufous margins ; primary- and secondary-quills brown, with buffy-white 
edges ; throat covered with grey down ; the feathers of the breast and sides of neck 
sandy-rufous, with black shaft-lines in one specimen ; in the other the black takes 
the form of bars ; abdomen and flanks buffy-white, becoming tawny on the under 
tail-coverts. 
Nest.—A slight depression in the ground, sometimes lined with a little grass 
