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of dull white; bristles as in the male. Crown and back of 

 the head, reddish brown, edged with a lighter shade; neck, 

 brown; nape, brown, edged with yellowish white. Chin and 

 throat, light yellowish rufous; breast, light reddish brown, 

 streaked with a darker shade. Back, dark brown, the feathers 

 margined with ferruginous. Wings, as in the male, in propor- 

 tion; greater and lesser wing coverts, as the back; primaries, 

 secondaries, and tertiaries, dusky; greater and lesser under 

 wing coverts, brown. Tail, dark brown on the centre feathers, 

 the side ones barred with two shades of reddish brown, except 

 the outer, which are barred with reddish brown and white. 

 Tail coverts, brown, mixed with a little white. Legs and 

 toes, yellow; claws, black. In advanced age the whole 

 plumage becomes lighter. 



The young male in the first year has the head and neck 

 ferruginous, each feather streaked with dark brown; chin, 

 throat, and breast, uniform reddish brown. In the young 

 female the breast is without the streaks; back, dark brown, (in 

 my specimen nearly all the feathers are margined with light 

 rufous;) greater and lesser wing coverts, the same, margined 

 with ferruginous; wings underneath, as the breast; primaries, 

 secondaries, and tertiaries, dull black; both the latter tipped 

 with rufous. Tail, with five bands of dark ' and four of 

 greyish brown; underneath, dull reddish white, with four or 

 five bands of brownish grey; tail coverts, white tipped with 

 rufous; under tail coverts, as the breast. In the next stage 

 the head is brown and rufous; chin and throat, light grey; 

 breast, white. Greater wing coverts, dark brown; lesser wing 

 coverts, lighter brown, varied with rufous and grey; primaries 

 and secondaries, blackish brown. Tail, except the two middle 

 feathers, barred with brown and rufous; the middle ones have 

 the outer webs light grey; the inner grey, with five dark 

 brown bands; underneath it is barred with greyish white and 

 brown. Under tail coverts, white, with a rufous streak on 

 the centre of each feather. 



These birds vary extremely in plumage, the males occurring 

 in every stage of gradation from the garb of the female to 

 their own perfect hue; some even vary on different sides. I 

 have seen two in the collection of Mr. Chaffey, of Dodington, 

 Kent, and have heard of another, of a uniform dark colour, 

 almost black. A fourth, a similar variety, is described in the 

 'Zoologist,' as having the nape irregularly marked with white. 



VOL. I. K 



