254 GAME-BIRDS OF INDIA 



"Males measure; Length lO'S to 11'25, expanse 1975 to 22'5, 

 wing 6-4 to 7'0, tail from vent 3-25 to 3-75, tarsus 0-88 to I'O, bill 

 from gape 0'58 to 0'7. Weight (i to 7'5 ozs." (Hume.) 



Jerdon gives the weight of the male as from 7 to 8 ozs. 



Variation in the colour of individual adult males consists prin- 

 cipally in the depth and tone of the tinting of the upper surface. 

 This in some birds is deeper and more reddish and in other birds 

 paler and more buff. There is also considerable difference in the 

 grey markings on the scapulars, etc., in some these being quite a 

 french- or slate-grey, in the centre of the bars, whereas in others 

 the centre of the bar is almost concolorous with the margins. 



Adult Female. — Whole crown as in the male, but the forehead 

 without the black and white bars ; nape more yellow-buff and with 

 the spots smaller than those on the head ; whole remaining upper 

 surface a reddish- or chestnut -buff, paling to ochreous-buff on the 

 rectrices and marked throughout with very deep-brown or black bars, 

 those on the tail being broadest ; scapulars and innermost secondaries 

 broadly tipped with pale yellow-buff, winglet, primaries, primary- 

 coverts and outer secondaries, as in the male, brown ; inner 

 secondaries like the back but with broader bars and often with a 

 vinous tint on the outer webs : lores and sides of the head fawn with 

 black striae ; chin and upper throat fawn-buff, immaculate in old 

 birds, finely spotted in young ones ; whole lower surface barred buff 

 and deep-brown, the buff bars becoming more or less white on the 

 abdomen, where the brown bars deepen to black. 



Females of this species vary almost more than the males, and the 

 difference in tint on the back is very great, varying from a rich, 

 almost rufous bay, which, however, is very rare, to a pale sandy-buff 

 which is very common. The colours of the lower parts vary less, 

 but birds are sometimes met with which have the breast-bars almost 

 white, the buff tint being quite faint and irregularly distributed. 



The colours of the soft parts do not differ from the corresponding 

 parts in the male. 



Measurements. — Wing 6'0 to 6"9 inches ( = 152'4 to 175'2 mm.), 

 averaging 6-55 (= 166-3 mm.), bill at front "47 to -56 (= 11^9 

 to 14*2 mm.), averaging '51 ( = 12^9 mm.), tarsus "85 to '98 ( = 21-5 

 to 24'8 mm.), with an average of about '94 ( = 238 mm.). 



