112 GEEAT CRESTED GEEBE. 



above, orange buff of a paler or richer tint, which fades after 

 death; below, silvery white, the sides dashed with brown and 

 chesmit. Back, dusky grey, with here and there green and 

 purple reflections. 



The wings expand to the width of two feet six inches; 

 lesser wing coverts, dusky brown; primaries, dull black; 

 secondaries, white, forming an oblique bar across the wing 

 when closed, but most visible when the wings are extended; 

 tertiaries, buff orange, of a paler or deeper hue: they have 

 on their outer webs a narrow black edge. Tail, short, and 

 dusky greyish brown. The legs are deep greyish green on 

 the front, and behind pale yellowish green, the scales forming 

 a double ridge. The full plumage and crest are not acquired 

 until the end of the third year. 



In the female, which is not so large as the male, the 

 bill is dull vermilion at the base; the crest is a little smaller. 

 Head on the back, the feathers being long, loose, and some- 

 what hackled, crown, and neck, reddish brown; chin and 

 throat, white; breast, yellowish white above, grey on the 

 sides, below yellowish white, but sometimes tending to 

 orange buff. The greater wing coverts are broadly tipped 

 with white; primaries, greyish black; secondaries, partly 

 white, exhibiting a speculum of that colour; tertiaries, deep 

 greyish black; the shafts black. Legs and toes, dull reddish 

 orange. 



The young are at first clothed in reddish brown and 

 greyish white down. Mr. Yarrell says 'For some time after 

 they are hatched, the young chicks have their bills mottled 

 black and white; the head and neck ornamented with long 

 dark stripes on a ground colour of dull greyish white; the 

 upper surface of the body dark brown, with longitudinal 

 stripes of light brown; the whole under surface white.' 



In the immature plumage, the eye is yellow; there is but 

 little crest under two years; the forehead is white, and on 

 the front of the head and the neck are numerous dusky 

 zigzag lines; the red about the head is wanting, and there 

 is a dusky streak in front of and under the eye; the sides 

 are dashed with yellowish brown. 



