392 TETRAONDXE. 



in the countries that are at the limits of its geographical 

 range ; thus M. Malherbe, in his Fauna of Sicily, says 

 it visits that island every spring and autumn, when on its 

 passage from North Africa to Italy and back. 



The adult male has the beak bluish white ; the irides 

 hazel ; behind the eye, and above the ear-coverts, a small 

 triangular patch of naked red skin ; the forehead, the space 

 between the beak and the eye, with the feathers extending 

 backwards as far as the ear-coverts, and downwards cover- 

 ing the front of the neck and throat, bright yellowish 

 chestnut ; top of the head and back of the neck greyish 

 brown ; the back and wing-coverts freckled with two 

 shades of chestnut brown on a ground of wood-brown, 

 the shaft of each feather forming a conspicuous streak of 

 pale wood-brown ; the wing-primaries, or flight-feathers, 

 greyish brown, with transverse bars of wood-brown ; the 

 rump and upper tail-coverts, some of which are long, 

 freckled with two shades of brown, and barred transversely 

 with chestnut ; tail-feathers uniform reddish chestnut. The 

 neck and upper part of the breast, the sides, and flanks, 

 light bluish grey, minutely freckled with dark grey ; lower 

 breast with a rich chestnut-coloured horse-shoe-shaped 

 patch on a ground of white ; sides and flanks barred with 

 chestnut ; thighs greyish white ; under tail-coverts yellow- 

 ish brown ; the legs and toes bluish white ; the claws 

 brown. 



The whole length of the male bird is twelve inches and 

 a half. The wing in form rounded. The length from the 

 carpal joint to the end, six inches ; the first feather about 

 as long as the sixth ; the second equal to the fifth ; and all 

 of them shorter than the third and fourth, which are the 

 longest in the wing. 



The female is generally a little smaller than the male ; 

 the light chestnut-coloured patch round the beak is lighter 



