1 52 FICID^E. 



bright scarlet ; nape of the neck black, this colour pass- 

 ing forward, above a white spot, by a narrow stripe, which 

 at the side of the neck divides, one stripe passing forwards 

 to the base of the beak, the other backwards towards the 

 wings ; the back, rump, and tail-coverts, black ; the sca- 

 pulars white, forming an elongated patch ; the smaller and 

 the outer larger wing-coverts black ; the inner larger 

 wing-coverts white, and partly hid by the scapulars ; the 

 quill-feathers black, with from two to five well-defined, 

 rather elongated white patches on the outer web of each 

 feather, and rounded patches of white on the inner web, 

 the two middle tail-feathers the longest, and wholly black, 

 pointed, and somewhat worn at the ends ; the two next 

 in succession, on each side, also black, tipped with white 

 at the end, and similarly pointed ; the next black and 

 white, with some black forming bars on the white ; the 

 outer feather on each side with the ends rounded and en- 

 tire. The throat, neck, breast, and belly, dirty white ; 

 vent and under tail-coverts red. 



The whole length of an adult bird nine inches and a 

 half. From the carpal joint to the end of the wing five 

 inches and a quarter : the first feather very short ; the se- 

 cond shorter than the seventh, but longer than the eighth ; 

 the third, fourth, and fifth, as long as the seventh ; the 

 sixth feather the longest in the wing. 



The adult female has no red colour on the head or 

 occiput. 



The young birds of the year, of both sexes, are a little 

 smaller in size, and though not differing in plumage from 

 the parent birds in other respects, they have the top of 

 head red, the occiput black, and these colours they retain 

 till their first moult, which probably from the observation 

 of Mr. Selby, is not completed till late in the year. This 



