272 Contributions to tlie Ornithology of India, 8fc. 



The bill is yellow^ red near tlie tip of tlie lower mandible^ but 

 ill the winter they are a very dnll yellow^ whitish at the tip, with 

 a dark spot near the tip on both mandibles, and an orange spot 

 in the tip of lower mandible ; other specimens had the greater 

 part of the bill pale greenish yellow, but all have a dusky spot or 

 bar towards the tip on both mandibles, turning to orange red on 

 the lower mandible near the angle of the gonys ; the irides of 

 all I examined were a very pale yellow or yellowish white, and 

 the eyelids orang-e red. 



In the young the legs and feet are a sort of pale, dingy dove 

 color ; the bill blackish horny, greyish white on culmen, and at 

 base of lower mandible. As for plumage, the whole lower parts 

 are dull white, streaked with brown on the base of the neck in 

 front, and more or less broadly spotted or mottled with this same 

 color on the sides of the breast, body, and flanks, and with 

 faint traces of similar spots on many parts of the abdomen. 

 The axillaries are white, barred with brown ; the wing lining is 

 a somewhat darker brown, mottled with white ; the forehead, 

 lores, chin, and upper throat, purer white, and in all my specimens 

 unstreaked; crown, occiput, nape and back, and sides of the 

 neck, white or brownish white, with pale brbwn streaks, broader 

 on the neck, and narrower on the crown and occiput, from 

 which places they first disappear as the bird advances to maturity. 

 The back and mantle, mottled darker and lighter brown ; the 

 feathers tipped with brownish or greyish white ; the quills and 

 the primary greater coverts, hair brown, darker on the primaries, 

 with narrow white tippings to the secondaries, and the greater 

 primary coverts, and traces of the same on the last two or three 

 primaries. The rump and upper tail coverts are mingled brown 

 and white ; the tail feathers with nearly the terminal two-fifths 

 of the central feathers and a lesser portion of the lateral ones 

 dark brown ; the basal three-fifths brown also, but mottled more 

 and more with white towards the bases. There is not the least 

 trace of the pale blue grey that characterises the plumage of the 

 adult in the quite young bird. As the bird grows older, the 

 markings disappear entirely from the under surface, the striae 

 on the head grow fainter and fainter, the mottling at the base 

 of the tail increases in extent, and the feathers of the mantle 

 begin to take on a pale French grey shade, the brown disappearing 

 from it, and so by degrees the bird assumes the adult plumage; 

 but long after all the other changes are complete, an irregular im- 

 perfect blackish brown mottled bar remains at the tip of the tail, 

 the first five or six primaries still want their white tips ; the 

 second primary exhibits no trace of a white band, and two or three 

 scapulars, still more or less mottled with brown, may. be detected. 



