150 PLOCEID^ VIDUA 



Description. Adult male in breeding plumage. Entire head, face 

 and throat deep black ; a collar round the back of neck, passing 

 down the sides of neck to join the same colour on the breast, bright 

 mahogany red, fading on the abdomen into buff ; thighs, vent and 

 under tail-coverts black ; axillaries and under wing-coverts white 

 tinged with rufous and black ; edge of wing mottled black and 

 white ; remaining upper surface, including the wing-coverts, second- 

 aries and tail black ; primaries light brown edged with whitish ; 

 on each side of the lower back a white spot. 



Iris reddish-brown ; bill black ; legs and feet brown. 



Length to end of longest tail-feathers 14-75, exclusive of the 

 long feathers 5-25 ; wing 3'00; tail 12-00; exclusive of long 

 feathers 2*50 ; length of two longest feathers 12-00 ; breadth 1-50 ; 

 length of two central feathers 4-00, the bare shafts extending 2*00 

 beyond this, breadth 2-00 ; attached to the base of each long feather 

 is a hair-like filament of the same length as the feather ; originally 

 these filaments adhered to the margin of the outer web of each 

 feather, becoming detached as soon as the feathers reached their 

 full growth. According to Dr. Butler, the elongated tail-feathers 

 decrease in breadth but increase in length with the age of the bird, 

 the longest feathers in a very old cage bird measuring 13| inches. 

 Tarsus 0-65 ; culmen 0-45. 



Adult female. Above reddish-brown streaked with black ; wing- 

 coverts brown, margined externally with reddish-brown ; quills dusky 

 edged with reddish-brown ; upper tail- coverts black margined with 

 white ; tail feathers blackish-brown slightly tipped with white and 

 edged with rufous ; crown sandy-buff slightly streaked with black 

 and bordered on each side by a broad streak of black ; a broad eye- 

 brow buff; lores and feathers round eye white; ear-coverts pale 

 sandy-buff streaked above with black ; sides of neck tawny streaked 

 with black ; cheeks and under-surface of body buff- white, washed 

 with tawny red on the breast, side and flanks, the breast slightly 

 streaked with black at the sides; thighs, under-tail and wing- 

 coverts white, the outer under-wing coverts with black bases ; 

 axillaries tawny-buff. 



Iris brown ; bill light brown ; feet brown. 



Length 6-00 ; wing 3-00 ; tail 2-50 ; tarsus 0-65 ; culmen 0-40. 



The male in winter closely resembles the female in plumage. 



Young of the year. Uniform ash-brown, the head greyer, also 

 the face and throat ; breast and sides tawny-brown ; lower breast, 

 abdomen and under tail-coverts white ; bill brown. 



