398 TETRAONID^E. 



States in considerable quantities, both alive and dead. 

 Their flesh is white, tender, and delicate, and is accord- 

 ingly very much in request. 



The adult male has the beak almost black ; the irides 

 hazel ; upper part of the head dark chestnut brown ; these 

 feathers occasionally elevated, forming a crest ; from the 

 forehead to the eye, and from thence over and behind the 

 ear-coverts, a band of pure white, below this a band of 

 dark chestnut brown and black, which reaches the sides of 

 the neck, where the brown feathers are white in the mid- 

 dle ; the upper part of the back and the wing-coverts red- 

 dish brown ; lower part of the back, rump, and upper tail- 

 coverts, a mottled greyish brown, with a few spots of dark 

 brown ; wing-primaries greyish brown ; the scapulars and 

 tertials very dark brown, with buff-coloured margins ; tail- 

 feathers bluish grey ; chin and throat white, with a gorget 

 of black below ; breast and belly buffy white, with trans- 

 verse bars of black ; sides, flanks, and under tail-coverts, 

 varied with reddish brown and buffy white ; legs and claws 

 reddish brown. 



Whole length rather more than nine inches. From the 

 carpal joint to the end of the wing, four inches and a half : 

 the wing in form rounded ; the first and the eighth feathers 

 of the same length ; the second equal to the sixth ; but not 

 so long as the third, fourth, or fifth, which are nearly equal 

 in length to each other, but the fourth rather the longest 

 in the wing. 



The female is rather smaller than the male ; the band 

 before and behind the eye is less conspicuous, the light- 

 coloured edges of the scapulars and tertials are more white 

 than buff-coloured ; the chin and throat are pale buff 

 colour ; the breast is nearly white, with much less of the 



