'296 GAME-BIRDS OF INDIA 



some degree, though not as much, I think, as the upper breast, and 

 the abdomen and flanks also go through the same gradations of 

 colours ; western birds appear to be invariably darker than our 

 Indian birds on these parts, although they seem no more richly 

 coloured above. The colour of the throat and chin varies from very 

 pale cream-yellow to quite a rich, though light, chrome-yellow. 



Measurements. Females. — '' Length 11 to 12'25, expanse 20'9 to 

 21'5, wing G'6 to 69, tail from vent 4'0 to 4"8, tarsus '8 to "85, 

 bill from gape -6 to -67. Weight 7-5 to S'S ozs." (Hume.) 



The average wing-measurement of about 100 females in the 

 British Museum is 6'85 inches ( = 173'9 mm.). The extremes of 

 length, however, are far greater than in Hume's series, ranging 

 from 6-35 to 7-05 (=161-2 to 178-0 mm.). 



The colours of the soft parts are the same as in the male. 



"An immature female differs from the adult in having the outer 

 primaries and inner secondaries tipped with buff, the former vermi- 

 culated with black, the upper breast spotted with blackish-brown, 

 the centre pair of tail feathers not produced with filaments." 

 {Ogilvie-Grant.) 



A young bird with points of fluff still about it, has the whole of the 

 upper parts a pale dull buff and is finely vermiculated all over with 

 tiny wavy bars of black, many of the feathers having the ends edged 

 with white and with a chestnut patch at the tip. From chin to 

 breast the colour is an earthy-buff with fine bars of blackish and the 

 abdomen and flanks are dull black. The quills are blackish-brown, 

 the tips freckled with buff and black, and the inner secondaries 

 freckled thus all over ; the greater and median primary-coverts are 

 also black, the former very narrowly, the latter broadly edged with 

 dark-buff. 



Another specimen older than the last and with all the nestling-fluff 

 worn off is the same, but has a wide band below the breast and above 

 the black abdomen almost devoid of spots, and the breast instead 

 of being vermiculated with narrow black bars has definite black 

 spots ; the inner secondaries are also more clearly and regularly 

 barred with dull buff and deep brown, though the tips retain the 

 same chestnut and black freckling. The tail is throughout banded 

 earthy-buff and black. 



