274 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



long scapulars margined with tawny-brown ; wing-coverts 

 ashy, with a few dusky frecklings; the median-coverts 

 for the most part chestnut; the greater coverts velvety- 

 black ; bastard-wing, primary-coverts, and quills dark ashy, 

 paler on the inner webs ; the outer secondaries velvety- 

 black and tipped with white, the inner ones white externally, 

 forming a speculum, the innermost ashy-grey ; tail-feathers 

 ashy-grey, edged with white towards the ends, and mottled 

 with dark broun near the ends of the outer feathers; crown of 

 head dusky-brown, slightly mottled with paler edges to the 

 feathers ; eyebrow and sides of face ashy, minutely spotted with 

 dusky-brown ; lores and base of forehead more hoary ; cheeks 

 and throat whitish, minutely spotted with dusky ; fore-neck and 

 chest closely barred with dusky-blackish and white, the bars 

 irregular in shape, but mostly circular ; remainder of under sur- 

 face white, with a few dusky streaks on the abdomen ; the sides 

 of the body and flanks thickly freckled with wavy lines of 

 dusky-blackish ; under tail-coverts black ; under wing-coverts 

 and axillaries pure white ; bill black ; feet orange, almost the 

 whole of the web black. Total length, 19 inches; culmen, 

 1*6; wing, 10-5; tail, 3*5; tarsus, i'5. 



Adult Female. Different from the male. General colour 

 above brown, with edges of sandy-buff and irregular bars and 

 frecklings of the same colour ; the wings as in the male, but the 

 black of the greater wing- coverts much reduced in extent and 

 the white speculum not so large ; the chestnut patch on the 

 median-coverts entirely absent ; tail mottled with irregular 

 bars of brown and buff; head rather darker than the back and 

 more uniform ; eyebrow, sides of face, and throat buff, minutely 

 lined with streaks of blackish-brown ; the lower throat and fore- 

 neck more rufescent, as also the sides of the body, flanks, and 

 under tail-coverts, all these parts being strongly mottled, with 

 blackish centres to the feathers ; the rest of the under surface 

 white, more minutely spotted with dusky; under wing-coverts 

 and axillaries white. Total length, 19*5 inches; wing, 9*9. 



Young Males. At first resemble the old females, but are 

 more barred on the back and not so streaked with sandy-buff. 

 They are densely spotted with brown on the under surface, and 

 niny be distinguished by having a little chestnut on the greater 



