294 Mr. Percy R. Lowe : 



I tliiuk tliere can be no doubt that anyone examining this 

 juvenile example of Ortalis vetula, offhand and without any 

 previous knowledge of what it actually was, would be struck 

 at once with its striking resemblance to the young chick of 

 a '* game-bird/^ and more especially as regards its wings to 

 that of a Pheasant. 



A slightly more critical examination would produce the 

 impression that it was a young "■ game-bird^' whose wings 

 and tail had outgrown, so to speak, the rest of its body, or, 

 in other words, whose remiges and rectrices had far out- 

 stripped the rest of its plumage in development towards an 

 adult condition. 



The head, neck, and body generally, both above and below, 

 are covered with a thick, soft, long and closely disposed down. 



This downy plumage on the underparts is more or less 

 uuicoloured, the coloration merging from a deep rufous tint 

 on the foreparts of the neck and breast into a pale whitish 

 buff or buffy white over the abdomen and crissum. 



The upper parts, on the contrary, present an appearance 

 which we are accustomed to associate with a coloration 

 adapted for purely protective purposes, as is seen in nestlings 

 which are uidifugous and whose parents lay their eggs on the 

 ground (Game-birds, Plovers, Gulls, etc.). 



Thus there is, running along the top of the head in the 

 median line, a long stripe of pure black, which extends from 

 the frontal region to well down upon the back of the neck 

 and thence down the median line of the body. 



There is a tendency to longitudinal striping on the sides 

 of the head, and the same tendency, but in a more marked 

 degree, is seen upon those parts which are covered by the 

 Avings when folded. 



The ground-colour in these latter parts is of a light buffy 

 tone, with a tendency to a deep reddish brown along the 

 middle of the lower third of the back. 



The seven innermost primaries, the secondaries and tail- 

 feathers, in marked contrast to this general downj' plumage, 

 are, as v.e have previously mentioned, relatively greatly 

 advanced in development, and as regards the general 



