PTEROCLES VARIEGATUS. 



AvES. — ^Plate X. (Male.) — Burchell.* 



Mas. P. fronte nigra ; capito supra nchreo, nigro brunneoque varicgato ; mento, capitis lateribns stria- 

 que superciliari argenteo-griseis; collo supra, dorso, humerisque olivaceo-brunneis guttis albis sparsis ; 

 hunierorum plumis quibusdam subrufis ; corpore subtus rufo-brunneo abdomine pallidiori ; gutture 

 pectoreque guttis albis variegatis; tcctricibus primariis reniigibusque brunncis, borum interioribus 

 albo-terminatis ; rachidibus ad apicom brunncis, versus basin albis; rectricibus duabus intermediis 

 olivaceo-brunneis, pogoniis externis rufo-albo-subfasciatis, reliquis bnmneo-nigris ; pogoniis externis 

 rufo-albo-subfasciatis ; apicibus omniljus pallide ochreis ; rostro unguibusquo nigro-brunneis ; oculis 

 brunneis ; pedibus livido-brunneis. 



Fern. Jlento, capitis lateribus striaque superciliari pallide ochreis ; abdomine pallide nifo-brunneo, albo 

 fasciato ; rectricibus nigro-l:>runneis sordide albo-subfasciatis : coloribus reliquis fere ut in man. 



Colour. — Feathers immediately behind nostrils black ; f upper surface of 

 head mottled with longitudinal stripes of ochry-yellow and dark umber- 

 brown ; chin, sides of head, and a stripe over each eye, silvery-grey ; bare 

 space round eye light yellow. The upper surface of the neck, the back, the 

 upper tail coverts, and the shoulders, light olive-brown, with a strong shade 

 of yellow, and freely sprinkled with small round white spots, — one spot on the 

 margin of each web ; some of the shoulder feathers, particularly towards the 

 wing coverts, intermediate between gall-stone yellow and reddish orange. 

 The feathers of several of the parts enumerated are towards their bases either 

 a light brown or an umber-brown, more or less glossed with grey, and it is 

 only towards their tips that they exhibit the olive-brown tint. Primary wing 

 coverts, and the primary and secondary quill feathers light umber-brown ; all 

 the primaries excepting the two or three outermost, tipt with white ; some of 

 the innermost tertiaries and the scapulars brown, glossed with grey, and tipt 

 with greenish yellow, each vane marked with a round white spot ; the shafts of 

 both primaries and secondaries pure white, except towards their points, where 

 they are of the same colour as the webs of the feathers. Secondary quill co- 

 verts wood-brown, glossed with grey, and tipt, and partially edged with white. 

 Under-surface of the neck and the breast rufous brown, sparingly spotted 

 with white ; belly and inner surface of shoulders, and a stripe behind each eye, 

 the same colour as the breast, only much paler ; legs and under tail-coverts 

 pale ochre-yellow. The two centre feathers of the tail olive-brown, partially 

 barred with tawny white, the remaining feathers brownish black, with one or 



* Travels in South Africa, vol. ii. p. H5. 



t In some individuals the black is less intense, but in all the adult specimens of the species I have 

 seen, it has always been very distinct. 



