Q2 BRITISH BIRDS. 



with a dull cinnamon colour, and sparingly and 

 irregularly marked with black spots, reflecting a 

 purple gloss : shoulder and scapular feathers black, 

 edged with pale rust, and having the same glossy 

 reflections as those on the breast: tertials nearly 

 of the same length as the quills, and marked like 

 the first annexed figure : ridges of the wings 

 brownish ash ; coverts, back, and rump nearly the 

 same, but inclining to olive, and the middle .of 

 each feather of a deeper dusky brown : primary 

 quills deep olive brown : exterior webs of the 

 secondaries also of that colour, but lighter, edged 

 and tipped with white, and the inner webs are 

 mostly white towards the base : tail coverts glossy 

 black, edged with pale rust, and tipped with white; 

 but in some of them a streak of white passes from 

 the middle upwards, nearly the whole length, as 

 in the second figure. The tail feathers are lightish 

 brown, except the two middle ones, which are 

 barred with large spots of a darker hue : the 

 belly and vent white: legs bare above the knees, 

 and red as sealing wax ; claws black. The female 

 is less than the male, and her plumage more dingy 

 and indistinct: an egg taken out of her, previous 

 to stuffing, was surprisingly large, considering her 

 bulk, being about the size of that of a Magpie, 

 of a greenish white colour, spotted and blotched 

 with brown, of a long shape, and pointed at the 

 smaller end. 



The foregoing figure and description were taken 

 from a pair, male and female, which were shot 

 on Rippengale Fen, in Lincolnshire, on the i_j.th 

 of May, 1799, by Major Charles Dilke, of the War- 

 wickshire Cavalry, who also obligingly pointed 



