14 A FIRST LIST OF THE BIRD3 



The bird above described, and which I take to be the perfectly 

 adult female, was shot in January in the Bootan Doars, aud has 

 the wing 14'8, aud the tarsus 3'3. 



I may here mention that the tarsi are measured in front 

 from the nick of the tibio-tarsal articulation to the nick of the 

 articulation of the mid toe. 



All have been measured in precisely the same way, but these 

 dimensions are not necessarily comparable with those given 

 by other writers, as, in many cases, I find that the tarsus is 

 measured at the back to the sole of the foot. 



At an earlier stage the female has the tail pale brown, with 

 a greyish shade, and with the transverse bars less well marked ; 

 the brown of the back and scapulars somewhat lighter, and 

 with less of the rich clove tint that characterises the adult ; 

 the patch along the ulna and at the carpal joint is very much 

 marked, and mingled with pale rufous. The feathers of the 

 head are brown much more broadly margined with rufous, and 

 the whole of the sides of the head, chin, throat, and breast are 

 white, with more or less of a creamy or pale fulvous tinge, 

 each feather narrowly streaked with brown. 



In a younger stage still there is a great deal more rufous 

 buff, mingled with the head, neck, throat, and breast; there is 

 much less grey on the wings, and no grey at all on the tail, 

 the bars on which are much less conspicuously marked. 



I cannot positively affirm that all these are females, some of 

 them are certainly so, the sexes having been ascertained by 

 dissection ; I conclude the rest to be so by their similarity of 

 coloring, and this view is confirmed by the constant large size 

 of the tarsus. It is possible that the male also at times assumes 

 this same style of plumage; but it does not always do this, 

 and my own impression now is that it never does so. I have 

 one undoubted young male sent from Cachar by Mr Inglis ; 

 tarsus, 2 95 ; wing, 13-25. 



The whole of the head, back, scapulars, wings are an almost 

 perfectly uniform umber brown, only the white bases of the 

 feathers shewing through a good deal at the nape, and (and this 

 is the remarkable point) t\so or three feathers of the forehead, 

 two feathers on the occiput, one feather in the interscapulary 

 region, and one of the lesser scapulars on either side, newly 

 moulted and pure black ; upper tail-coverts and two central 

 tail feathers which are still a good inch short of the rest of the 

 tail, precisely that of the perfect adult, the rest of the tail 

 feathers pale drab brown with four broad darker brown bars. 



Chin, throat, breast, similar to the upper parts, but somewhat 

 paler, but some of the feathers of the chin newly moulted and 

 black, and a whole patch of feathers at the base of the neck on 



