302 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



Sxxicola rubicola. Newt. ed. Yarr., i., p. 339 (1873). 

 Pratincola rubicola, Dresser, B. Eur., ii., p. 263, pis. 39, 40 



(1873); Sharpe, Cat. B. Brit. Mus., iv., p. 185 (1879); 



Seeb., Br. B., i., p. 317 (1883) ; B. O. U. List Br. B., p. 



8 (1883); Lilford, Col. Fig. Br. B., pt. ii. (1886); Saun- 



ders, Man., p. 29 (1889) ; Wyatt, Br. B., pi. 2, figs, i, 2 



(1894). 



Adult Male. General colour above black, generally with some 

 obsolete sandy-buff edges to the feathers, these being lost only 

 in the height of the breeding-season ; upper tail-coverts white, 

 spotted with black ; wing-coverts black, the inner, median, and 

 greater coverts white, forming a large wing-patch ; primary- 

 coverts and quills blackish-brown, with sandy brown margins ; 

 tail-feathers blackish-brown ; head, sides of face, and throat 

 black, with a broad white patch on the sides of the neck, ex- 

 tending from behind the ear-coverts to the shoulder ; fore-neck 

 and breast orange-chestnut, inclining to pale cinnamon on the 

 sides of the body, the feathers being blackish, with pale cinna- 

 mon ends ; the abdomen and under tail-coverts isabelline-buff ; 

 thighs light brown ; axillaries white, blackish towards the base ; 

 under wing-coverts black, with white edges ; bill and feet black ; 

 iris brown. Total length, 5*3 inches ; culmen, o - 5 ; wing, 2*7 ; 

 tail, i *8 ; tarsus, 0*9. 



Adult Female. Different from the male, and lacking the black 

 on the head; the upper surface dark sandy-brown, streaked 

 with black centres to the feathers ; the white wing-patch not so 

 large, and the upper tail-coverts rufous, centred with black, not 

 white as in the male; tail-feathers dark brown, with narrow 

 whitish edges; head like the back, and similarly streaked ; eye- 

 lid whitish ; lores dusky ; ear-coverts dark brown ; throat ashy- 

 whitish, with a large black patch on the lower throat ; sides of 

 neck with a small white patch, much less than in the male ; 

 remainder of under-parts from the fore-neck downwards orange- 

 chestnut, the centre of the breast and abdomen isabelline. 

 Total length, 5 inches ; wing, 2*55. 



Young. Dark brown above, spotted with triangular buff 

 centres to the feathers, which have also blackish edges ; rump 

 and upper tail-coverts rufous, spotted with black ; head darker 



