1 06 SPECTACLE, OR WHITE-WINGED WATER- CHAT. 



nor lias the female, until now, ever been described 

 Sonnini, indeed, in his translation of Azara, sup- 

 poses that this is the Bee argente of the Spanish 

 naturalist ; but there seems to be no good founda- 

 tion for this opinion. Such an accurate observer of 

 nature as Azara was, would never have passed over 

 in silence the extraordinary fleshy lobe which, like 

 a pair of spectacles, encircles the eye of the male, 

 and no mention whatever is made of this peculiarity 

 in the description of the bird alluded to. (See 

 Azara, iii. 453.) 



The male, as already intimated, is entirely of a 

 deep sooty black colour, uniform over the whole of 

 the plumage excepting the quills ; the first six of 

 these are pure white, having the base, tips, and 

 part of the outer web black, so that when the wings 

 are closed these quills appear only to have an 

 oblique band of white across their outer webs. The 

 naked skin round the eye is loose, and, in the deaa 

 bird, plaited ; perfectly similar, in fact, to that of 

 the Prionops plumatus. 



The female is so differently coloured that it might 

 easily be mistaken for another species. The upper 

 parts are brown, varied with lighter stripes, and 

 pale edgings to the wing-covers ; but the basal mar- 

 gins of all the quills are clear and bright rufous ; 

 the inner wing-covers are of the same colour, but 

 much paler. The under plumage is dingy white, 

 striped with brown upon the breast and flanks. 

 The bill of the male, even in the dead bird, is 

 Btraw-coloured yellow, but that of the female has 



