144 ALLEN'S NATURALIST'S LIBRARY. 



Adult Male in Breeding-Plumage. General colour above mottled 

 with black, golden buff and ashy-whitish markings; scapulars 

 and wing-coverts more distinctly notched and barred with 

 golden, the markings less distinct on the lesser coverts, which 

 are brown, the median and greater series with many golden 

 bars ; quills dark brown, with whity-brown bases to the 

 secondaries, the innermost of which are notched or barred 

 with golden; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts like the 

 rest of the upper surface, but more plainly mottled with 

 golden bars ; tail-feathers brown, barred with lighter brown or 

 golden, the outer ones externally notched with white, the light 

 bars tinged with golden ; head like the back, with a white fron- 

 tal band and eyebrow, extending down the sides of the neck 

 and joining the white on the sides of the body ; base of fore- 

 head, lores, sides of face, ear-coverts, and throat smoky-black; 

 centre of fore-neck, breast, and abdomen deep black, flanked 

 with white for their entire length, though the golden and 

 black plumage of the sides of the neck descends on to the 

 sides of the breast ; thighs black ; under tail-coverts white, 

 marked with black on the vent; under wing-coverts white, 

 mottled with ashy-brown round the bend of the wing; axillaries 

 pure white ; bill, feet, and claws nearly black; iris dark hazel. 

 Total length, 10 inches; culmen, ro; wing, 7 -45; tail, 2-9; 

 tarsus, i '6. 



Adult Female in Breeding-Plumage. Similar to the male, but 

 never having the black so uniformly distributed on the breast, 

 but always more patchy. Total length, 10 inches; wing, 7*4. 



Winter Plumage. Differs principally from the summer plum- 

 age in wanting the black breast and the black on the face. 



Young Birds. Resemble the winter plumage of the adults, 

 and have consequently no black on the face and breast. They 

 are rather more plentifully spangled with golden on the upper 

 surface, with the crown somewhat blacker ; the throat white ; 

 the lower throat, fore-neck, and breast ashy-brown, mottled 

 with edges and bars of pale golden-buff, with triangular dusky- 

 brown spots on the lower throat and fore-neck ; the breast and 

 sides of the body ashy-brown, with dusky-brown bars ; abdo- 

 men and under wing-coverts white, the lower primary-coverts 

 ashy-brown ; axillaries white. 



