136 TURNIC1M. 



parents and lived together ; whilst the old birds had just 

 begun to breed again, when they fell victims to an accident. 



The usual note of the old birds when calling to their 

 young is a crrou, crrou, crrou, but at daybreak and towards 

 sunset the male, and sometimes the female, utters a mournful 

 sound similar to the "booming" of the Bittern. This is 

 well known to the Andalusian peasant, and has procured for 

 the bird its name of Torillo, or " little bull." 



The adult female, which is considerably larger than the 

 male, has the bill horn-coloured, lighter at the angle of the 

 under mandible ; iris pale hazel ; top of the head mottled- 

 brown with a central buff streak descending to the nape ; 

 the cheeks pale buff, barred with black ; the feathers of the 

 upper parts rufous-brown, thickly covered with blackish bars, 

 and margined with pale buff; wing-coverts spotted with 

 black, chestnut, and huffy- white ; quill-feathers dull brown, 

 with a light-coloured line along the edge of the outer web ; 

 chin white ; throat and upper breast pale chestnut, passing 

 into buffy- white on the abdomen ; sides of the breast and 

 flanks spotted with black and brown on a buff ground ; 

 under tail-coverts chestnut ; legs light brown. Total length 

 about eight inches ; from the carpal joint to the tips of the 

 first and second primaries, which are the longest in the 

 wing, three inches and a half. 



An adult male obtained at Malaga on the 2 3rd of Sep- 

 tember, 1872, had the testes largely developed, although the 

 plumage was in partial moult. The markings resemble 

 those of the female, but the general tone of the upper parts 

 was much greyer, and the chestnut of the under parts less 

 vivid. Total length six inches and three-quarters; wing 

 three inches. 



