120 LITTLE BUSTARD. 



feathers white, the ends mottled with black and 

 buffy-white, crossed with two narrow bars of black, 

 the extreme tips white; the breast, and all the 

 under surface of the body, white ; legs, toes, and 

 claws, clay-brown."* In another specimen before 

 us, probably of a female, from the continent, we 

 have the ground colour of the upper parts, except 

 on the neck, nearly black, very much cut into upon 

 the edges, and on the surface marked with wavy 

 bars of ochreous-yellow and pale reddish-orange ; 

 throat and chin pale yellowish- white ; on the neck 

 the dark shade is nearly deep wood-brown, the centre 

 of each feather being pale ochreous ; on the breast, 

 the pale colour becomes the prevailing tint, the 

 feathers distinctly barred with blackish-brown ; the 

 belly, flanks, and under tail-covers, pure white, the 

 barrings confined to the flanks, and then taking the 

 form of lengthened cross spots, the shaft being 

 marked with a thread of black ; the edges of the 

 wings white ; the quills wood-brown, white at the 

 base ; upper tail-covers with white tips, which form 

 a pale basal band ; the tail itself white, barred and 

 irregularly marked with black ; the centre feathers 

 tinted with ochreous. 



* Yarrell ii. p. 374. 



