PRELIMINARY CLASSIFIED NOTES 325 



a rich chestnut, paler in some individuals, each feather having a marginal fringe of 

 grey. The lores are black, and there is a faint white superciliary streak. The face 

 is nearly black. The throat and fore-breast are of a rich deep buff, relieved by 

 moderately broad shaft-streaks of black. In the prepectoral region it should be 

 noted the shaft-streaks are replaced by a horse-shoe of black. Traced breastwards, 

 the horse-shoe gives place to a V-shaped pattern ; in the living bird all but the stem 

 being concealed by the over-lapping of the feathers. On the fore-part of the breast 

 the black area is reduced to a small, more or less arrow-shaped spot, or to fan-shaped 

 spots. The flank feathers immediately covering the wrist- joint are black, with an 

 inner margin of buff along the fore-edge of the feathers. Farther back these flank 

 feathers bear a large central shield-shaped area of black surrounded by a broad fringe 

 of buff, becoming white on the hind-flanks, where the black area is conical in shape. 

 The lower breast and abdomen are pure white. The outermost tail feather may bear 

 a thin line of white along the tip of the inner vane, and this is still more marked 

 in the juvenile plumage, where it extends upwards along the fore edge of the inner 

 web. Just before the autumn moult all the feathers are greatly abraded, the pale 

 fringes to the feathers being completely lost, and the dark area greatly reduced. 

 The black markings on the crown and breast are then conspicuous, while the buff 

 hue has completely disappeared. The female is slightly duller than the male, 

 but is barely distinguishable. Juvenile plumage : the fledgling resembles the 

 adult, since the scapular and interscapular region are of a warm brown, inclining 

 to chestnut, and contrast with the head and rump, which are of a greyish brown. 

 Median stripes of buff (shaft-streaks) occur in the scapulars and interscapulars, 

 which are faintly tipped black : on the scapulars the buff areas have a narrow 

 border of black. The lesser wing-coverts are dark brown, with very narrow buff 

 shaft-streaks, terminating in a black and white spot the white at the tip of the 

 feather, a pattern producing a brush-like appearance, the rest of the feather 

 being invisible in a general survey. The major coverts are tipped with white, 

 and on the innermost feathers the white runs up to form a shaft-streak. Throat 

 pale buff colour, breast a rich buff-yellow, each feather with a large slightly oval 

 spot of black at its tip. Flanks like the breast as to ground colour, but this fades 

 into white over the region of the thigh, and is relieved by slate-coloured transversely 

 oval spots : on the fore-part of the flanks the spots are very distinct, thus con- 

 trasting strongly with the same region in the adult. At a somewhat later stage 

 of the juvenile plumage, the head, neck, and rump are greyer, and the shaft-streaks 

 of the rump and scapulars more apparent. By the chestnut saddle and grey head 



