SPOTTED-WINGED PINTADO, OR GUINEA HEN. 227 



same manner, as the lesser quills. This is the only 

 material difference we can detect between the bird 

 before us and the ample descriptions that have been 

 published of the common species. Of this latter, 

 however, we have procured some feathers, which 

 enables us to state that those of the lesser quills 

 and of the back are spotted precisely similar to those 

 of our present bird. The difference, however, of 

 the quill-feathers, is so important, that it is alone 

 sufficient to separate them as species. It is im- 

 possible from a dried specimen to say what were 

 the original colours of the head, but it is bare of 

 feathers, as is the front of the neck, for more than an 

 inch and a half from the chin. A similar portion of 

 the upper neck would be also bare, but for a number 

 of disconnected, black, setaceous feathers, or rather 

 bristles, extending to an inch in length. In the 

 middle of the crown is a compressed tubercle about 

 half an inch long, two-tenths of an inch high, and 

 one-tenth broad; the crown, as far as the nape, 

 being thick and callous ; there is a wattle on each 

 side of the gape, apparently of a red colour. The 

 lower part of the neck, above and beneath, and also 

 the breast, is brown glossed with purple, but all the 

 rest of the plumage is spotted with white. 



Two specimens were sent from Senegal, one of 

 which is in our museum. 



Total length about 20 inches; bill, from the 

 gape, 1 ; wings, 9^ ; tail, from the base, 7 ; tarsus, 

 2; middle toe and claw, 2 ; inner toe slightl/ 

 shorter than the outer; hind ditto, 1. 



