458 ERISMATURA LEDCOCEPHALA. 



Moreover it seems to me just possible that it may be found 

 to occur as a straggler during the cold season in both 

 Sindb and the Punjab, west of the Indus ; and it is therefore 

 necessary to give a full description of it ; I quote Dresser : — 



" Adult Male (Zdh, Transylvania, 16th May). — Crown black ; 

 forehead, sides of the head, including the space above the eye, 

 chin, and nape pure white ; below this white the neck is black, 

 •with a few buffy brown dots on the forepart ; lower neck to the 

 forepart of the back, except in the centre, chestnut-red ; this 

 colour extending to the foreneck and upper breast, where it is 

 delicately marked with buffy white ; back and scapulars ochre- 

 ous or reddish buff ; rump darker, brownish, all finely vermicu- 

 lated with blackish ; lower rump and upper tail-coverts chest- 

 nut-red ; quills greyish black, the secondaries extei'nally and the 

 laro-er wing-coverts greyish buff, vermiculated with blackish 

 grey ; lesser coverts dull ashy, but slightly vermiculated ; tail 

 long and stiff and blackish in colour ; underparts below the 

 breast buffy white, obscurely marked with reddish brown ; flanks 

 dull chestnut brown, tinged with warm buff, and vermiculated 

 ■with darker brown ; bill much swollen at the base, pale ultra- 

 marine-blue in colour ; iris dark brown ; legs dull blackish 

 plumbeous. Total length about 17*5 inches ; culmen, 1*9 ; gapOy 

 1*82 ; wing, 6*3 ; tail, 4*3 ; tarsus, 1-35. 



^' Adult Female {Zdh, \<Qth i/a?/.)— Differs from the male in 

 lacking the clear white on the head, and in being much more 

 rufous in plumage ; crown and nape blackish brown, with a 

 chestnut-tinge ; sides of the head similarly coloured, but mark- 

 ed with white ; a white streak passes below the eye nearly to the 

 nape ; and the chin and upper throat are white, slightly dotted 

 with blackish brown ; general colour of the upper parts darker 

 than in the male, being deep ehestuut-red ; underparts as in the 

 male; bill dull plumbeous; iris dark brown; legs plumbeous 



" Young {vide H. Otto, ' Ibis,' 1875, p. 428.)— Beak bluish 

 black, wMth a swelling at the base ; feet of a similar colour ; 

 plumage brown-black ; from the base of the bill, under the eye, 

 and continued over the ear, a white stripe ; chin with a broad 

 outward curve back under the cheek white, so that the brown 

 cheek appears bordered underneath by this curve, and above by 

 the eye-stripe ; belly dirty white, which colour loses itself in the 

 sides ; under the shoulder a light spot on both sides, which 

 hardly shines through, and in mauy specimens is wanting ; tail- 

 feathers slit up and spread out like a fan." 



A. 0. H. 



