THE GAME BIRDS OF INDIA, BURMA AND CEYLON. 429 



Adult femcde. — Crown vinous buff, each feather with a central 

 streak of black ; lores, snpercilinm and round, the eyes grey, with 

 fine black striae ; chin, throat, foreneck and sides of the head ochreous 

 yellow, less vivid than the male and spotted with black, much so in 

 young birds, scantily so in those fully adult; the yellow is produced 

 round the hind neck as a rather indistinct collar. Whole upper 

 surface dull, sandy buff, each feather barred with black, those of the 

 upper back being also sub-edged black, and having a small black 

 centre spot. Inner secondaries and coverts like the back but with 

 the ground a clearer buff; primaries and primary coverts coloured 

 like those of the male ; underwing coverts and axillaries white. 

 Breast dull buff, each feather sub-edged black forming crescentic 

 bars which gradually become less and less defined, becoming mere 

 dots on the stomach and thighs and disappearing altogether on the 

 undertail coverts and tarsi, the feathers round the vent and the 

 extreme bases of the undertail coverts are dull reddish-brown. 



The extent of the yellow on throat and neck varies equally in both 

 sexes, otherwise Asiatic females vary above very little inter se and 

 this only as regards the general tone, some birds being darker than 

 others, caiisedby the amount of black marking being more numerous, 

 and again some birds being very lightly marked on the abdomen. 

 Western female birds are distinguishable as easily as the males hav- 

 ing a beautiful vinous pink tinge above and below with fewer black 

 bars and spots. 



The females in the Tring Museum shew the differences, if any- 

 thing more than the males. 



The females average slightly smaller than the males. Asiatic spe- 

 cimens, wing 7-24" (= 21-8 mm.); tarsus -87" (= 183-8 mm.) 

 and bill at point -44" (= 11 mm.). African specimens have these 

 parts averaging 7-41" (^ 18-8 mm.), 1-01" {= 25*6 mm.) and 

 •49" (^= 12*1 mm,) respectively. Ogilvie-Grant gives the average 

 of the wings of the females in the British Museum as 6-6" (^ 167'3 

 mm.) only. 



The Tring Museum has more African specimens of the Coronetted 

 Sand Grouse than the British Museum and these have been placed 

 at my disposal by the Hon. Walter E-othschild for examination. 



In 1902 Dr. Ernest Hartert described, in the bulletin of the 

 British Ornithologist's Club for February, our Indian bird as a sub- 

 species of Ft. coronatus and gave it the name of Ft. coronatus atratus, 

 and this is the name our bird will have to bear. 



An examination of all the material available to roe seems to show 

 that this species is divisible into three races or sub-species. 1 have 

 examined in Tring and the British Muiseum 39 Asiatic birds and 

 15 African birds, besides a further considerable series in India of 

 both sexes, for the difference in the three races is as marked in the 

 females as in the males. 



