146 A MANUAL OF THE BIEDS OF AUSTRALIA. 



Adult male in summer-plumage. Head and hind -neck cinnamon -rufous with 

 dark brown shaft-streaks to the feathers ; upper back and scapulars dark with white 

 and buff marginal spots to the feathers ; the feathers of the lower back pale brown 

 fringed with white these edgings becoming rufous on the short upper tail-coverts, 

 the long ones barred with rufous and brown and tipped with white ; tail pale browc, 

 barred and tipped with white ; lesser, median, and greater wing-coverts brown, 

 fringed with white ; bastard-wing and primary -coverts uniform dark brown ; 

 primary-quills also dark brown, paler on the inner webs and mottled with white 

 towards the base, the shafts conspicuously white ; the inner primaries and secondaries 

 pale brown and edged with white ; tail brown, tipped and barred with white ; 

 a short white line immediately below the eye ; eyebrow, throat, breast, abdomen, 

 and under tail -coverts cinnamon -rufous, some of the under tail-coverts have dark 

 brown bars ; under wing-coverts white with a subterminal brown bar ; axillaries 

 white barred with brown ; bill blackish, pale at base of lower mandible ; iris brown ; 

 feet blackish. Total length 373 mm. ; culmen 83, wing 224, tail 78, tarsus 51. 



Adult female. Similar to the male but larger. According to Middendorff, 

 coloration appreciably different. 



Adult male in winter-plumage. Top of head and hind -neck ash-grey with narrow 

 pale brown streaks to the feathers becoming darker on the back and scapulars, some 

 of the feathers of which are dark brown fringed with white ; upper tail -co verts 

 brown barred and fringed with white, the long ones barred with brown and white ; 

 tail dark brown mottled with white towards the base, some of the middle feathers 

 subterminally barred with white, the shafts of the feathers white at the base and 

 brown near the tips ; lessei, median, and greater wing-coverts pale brown with 

 whitish margins like the secondary-quills ; bastard-wing and primary-coverts 

 uniform dark brown ; primary -quills dark brown on the outer webs and at the tips, 

 paler brown on the inner webs and mottled with white towards the base, the shafts 

 conspicuously white; an ill -defined white eyebrow; sides of face dusky-white; 

 with minute dark shaft-lines, an indistinct line in front of the eye and the ear-coverts 

 a shade darker than the rest of the face ; a narrow white line immediately below 

 the eye ; throat dull white ; lower throat and breast ash-grey with narrow blackish 

 shaft-lines on the lower throat and fore-neck ; the feathers of the breast, sides of 

 body, and under tail-coverts more or less barred with pale brown ; abdomen and 

 vent whitish ; axillaries brown, barred and margined with white ; under wing- 

 coverts pale brown barred and margined with white. 



Immature. Top of the head brown with pale tips, the back of the neck greyish- 

 brown with paler tips ; the upper back tipped with broader edges, giving a scalloped 

 appearance ; the rump and tail barred, the feathers with whitish tips ; the wing- 

 coverts with long whitish edges ; there is an ill-defined superciliary line of whitish ; 

 throat whitish, the lower throat and chest fawnish -white, abdomen dirty white ; 

 indefinite brownish flank stripes ; under wing-coverts brown with white bases and 

 broad white edges ; axillaries white barred irregularly with pale brown. 



Nestling in down. Rufous-brown above with black blotches, rather irregularly 

 placed so that linear arrangement is not easily seen ; a black frontal line spreading 

 out into an irregular black blotched cap ; a pronounced white superciliary succeeded 

 by a black loral line passing through the eye ; cheeks and all under-surface pale 

 bufry-red, the thighs tinged with yellow ; the winglet brown edged with paler buffy 

 centre. 



Nest. A depression in the grass. 



Eggs. Clutch, four ; ground-colour deep greenish-drab to pale drab ; the 

 markings are scattered in the form of irregular blotches of a dilute umber. In some 

 the markings are more pronounced and more aggregated towards the larger end 

 and of a much deeper shade of umber ; axis 57 mm., diameter 36-37. 



Breeding-season. In Siberia, June and July. 



