THE ISLANDS OF THE BAY OF BENGAL. 277 



light, somewhat dull, cherry red to a bright brick red ; irides 

 light brown or hazel brown. 



In, what I take to be, the old bird, the feathered por- 

 tion of the forehead, and the central portion of the crown, 

 is a rather pale olive brown ; the sides of the crown from 

 behind the eyes, the occiput and the sides of the head 

 behind the ears, is a very pale French grey. The whole 

 of the rest of the upper surface is a nearly uniform olive 

 brown, with a rnfescent tings, strongest on the outer webs of 

 the quills, the inner webs of which are darker and browner ; 

 the few feathers of the chin are whitish ; the sparse feathers 

 of the throat and sides of the neck pale French grey ; the 

 breast pale hair brown tinged with grey, more and more as it 

 approaches the abdomen, which with the sides, and the rest of 

 the lower parts, are a pale very grey brown, but browner and not 

 so pale as the occipital band ; the flank, feathers and lower 

 tail-coverts are somewhat browner. 



In the less mature adult the crown and rest of the top of 

 the head is a rufous brown, the whole upper surface is some- 

 what more rufescent ; there is only a faint trace of a narrow 

 grey occipital band. On the lower parts, the chin and throat 

 alone are greyish, and the whole of the rest of the lower 

 surface is a rich rufescent brown, a sort of snuff color without 

 the slightest trace of grey. We were inclined at one time to 

 believe that this difference was sexual, because all the four 

 females that we first shot had the grey lower surface, but 

 amongst our numerous males we have both the above stages 

 of plumage represented, together with several intermediate 

 stages, and subsequently we obtained a female in the entirely 

 brown plumage, with scarcely even a trace of a grey occipital 

 band. 



These birds are always dusty and dingy, and the feathers of 

 the neck and throat are so sparse and tender that it seems 

 impossible ever to make a really fine specimen. 



The quite young bird, when rather less in size than a quail, is 

 a uniform snuff brown all over, everywhere densely feathered, 

 even about the throat and neck, and with the feathers of the 

 forehead and the top and back of the head, much longer, actually 

 and not merely relatively, than in the adult; no bare space in 

 front of or round the eye, no tail developed, only a large bunch 

 of fur like feathers, but the wings large, strong and well 

 formed -, the bill very short. One such bird measured 5*5 in 

 length, had a wing of 4 inches; tarsus, 1*1; and bill at 

 front, 3. 



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