IN JERDON OR STRAY FEATHERS. 437 



Although with this explanation it may be hardly necessary, I 

 yet quote full descriptions of the present species taken from 

 Dresser :■ — 



" Adult Male in Summer plumage. — Upper surface of the body 

 black, spotted all over with golden and white, but the latter in a 

 less degree ; the nape rather paler and less varied with black ; 

 wing-coverts dusky brown, sparingly spotted with golden 

 and white ; the greater coverts more conspicuously notched with 

 white ; the primary coverts dusky brown with white tips ; 

 quills dusky brown ; the shafts white in the middle, with a patch 

 of white also visible at the outer base of the lesser primaries ; 

 the secondaries black, marked with oblique golden bars ; upper 

 tail-coverts black, irregularly barred across with golden ; tail 

 blackish, with transverse markings of whitish, and a slight 

 tiuge of golden here and there ; sides of the face, throat, breast 

 (naiTowing on the upper part) , and belly black ; forehead, a 

 spot below the eye, eyebrow, extending down the sides of the 

 neck and bordering the black chest right down to its extremity, 

 white ; the sides of the upper part of the breast black, varied 

 with golden ; flanks slightly mottled with dusky ; centre of the 

 under tail-coverts black, the sides white ; under wing-coverts 

 white, marked with dusky brown on the edge of the wing; 

 axillary plumes pure white ; bill black ; feet bluish grey ; iris 

 dark brown. Total length, 7*8 inches; culmen, 1*0 ; wing, 7*1; 

 tail, 3-4 ; tarsus, 1-6. 



" Adult Female. — Similar to the male, but has the black breast 

 somewhat tinged with brown. 



" Male in Winter plumage. — Upper surface of the body black, 

 mottled with golden, exactly as in summer ; forehead buffy 

 white ; eyebrow whitish, distinctly washed Avith golden, and 

 minutely spotted with dusky brown ; cheeks whitish, washed 

 with golden, and more plainly spotted with dusky brown ; 

 feathers round the eye white ; throat and lower breast and 

 abdomen pure white ; chest and sides of the body mottled with 

 greyish brown, and distinctly washed with golden ; under tail- 

 coverts white in the centre, the outermost mottled with dusky 

 brown and washed with golden ; under wing-coverts white, 

 thinly marked with greyish brown ; axillary plumes pure white. 



" Observations. — Specimens vary very much in the amount of 

 golden colour which they have in the winter plumage, some 

 of them being very much brighter than others ; and the amount 

 of dusky brown on the breast is also a character which varies a 

 great deal." 



56 



