518 NOVELTIES. 



with pale brownish yellow ; the lesser coverts immediately 

 along the edge of the wing white ; the rest of the lesser 

 coverts, and the basal portion of the median ones, velvet black, 

 the latter with broad pure white tips ; the greater coverts 

 dark hair brown, broadly margined on the outer webs with 

 rufescent fawn, and tipped, those of the primaries, very nar- 

 rowly, those of the secondaries broadly, with slightly rufescent 

 white ; primaries and secondaries pale hair brown, conspicu- 

 ously margined on the outer webs with yellowish fawn colour, 

 and the tertiaries very deep brown, broadly fringed everywhere 

 with a more rufescent fawn, or pale reddish buff, which however, 

 just at the tips of the feathers, becomes almost white. 



A male, killed in the middle of December, has all the black 

 and ferruginous feathers of the head tipped with pale fawny 

 brown; it is more of a creamy Avhite below, and has the tail 

 leathers, especially the central ones, paler, and the latter more 

 overlaid with a fawny tinge. 



In other specimens, the eye streak is barely perceptible ; 

 the ear-coverts are white, or nearly so ; the rufous band does 

 not run down the neck behind them ; the rufous nearly meets 

 on the occiput, and there are signs of a broad black nuchal half 

 collar below this, much obscured by fawny brown tippings to 

 the feathers. 



The female, killed at the close of February, has only an 

 indication of the black throat stripe, the feathers being broad- 

 ly fringed with pale brownish white ; the whole top, back, 

 and sides of the head are pale brown, unieolorous with the 

 lower back, only on the forehead and above the eyes there is 

 an indistinct, ill-defined slightly rufescent fawny band. There 

 is no rufescent tinge on the interscapulary region, and the 

 velvet black of the shoulder of the male's wing is replaced by 

 dark brown, the feathers so broadly tipped with fawny brown 

 as to leave but little of the darker colour visible. The rest of 

 the plumage is similar to that of the male, but is everywhere 

 paler and duller. 



A female, killed in the middle of December, has the crown 

 and forehead a rather darker brown, and exhibits absolutely 

 no trace of the black throat streak. 



