PERDIX PERSONATA. 



tail, and in the slenderness of the claws ; but the naked area about the eyes is com- 

 paratively small. The distribution of the white plumes over the face and neck, gives 

 to our bird in some degree the appearance of wearing a mask : the name of personata 

 is therefore now applied to it. In the Systematic Catalogue of Javanese Birds, 

 printed in the Linnean Society's Transactions, it was named orientalis; but the latter, 

 being a topical name, is not admissible, according to the present views of ornitholo- 

 gists: I therefore make use of the opportunity still afforded me of proposing a name, 

 against which this untoward objection does not lie. On each side of the biU, behind 

 the nostrils, rises a small tuft of half erect plumes, of a white colour, which is con- 

 tinued backward as a superciliary line, and after several interruptions, gradually dis- 

 appears on the sides of the neck : the throat, the cheeks, and the anterior and lateral 

 parts of the neck are covered with plumes of the same colour, which are regularly 

 bounded and encircled at the sides and before, with the dark brown plumage of the 

 neck and breast, which also passes upwards in a narrow band, encircles the eyes, and 

 meets the base of the bill. The upper parts of the head and neck are very dark 

 brown, inclining to black. The general colour of the plumage is brown ; it is dark 

 brown, with a faint tint of olive-gray above ; underneath it passes into blueish-gray. 

 The colour is uniform on the back, on the superior extremity of the wings, and on 

 the tail ; the scapulars and the lower portion of the wings are variegated with black 

 and chestnut : the greater coverts have, in many cases, a broad black band near the 

 extremity, which marks the vanes unequally ; on that vane which is directed upward, 

 it is defined by an oblique line extending towards the point ; on the opposite vane it 

 foUows the shaft, and occupies a greater portion of the feather : a chestnut band, 

 about one line in breadth, crosses the black band near the extremity. On several of 

 the interior of the secondary quill-feathers, and on the scapulars, a chestnut ground 

 occupies the extremity, which has a rhomboidal mark on the shaft, and a black band 

 at the extremity, with several indistinct dots of the same colour : several of the tail- 

 feathers are also marked with dotted bands of black. On the lower part of the 

 breast the brown colour assumes a blueish cast, which becomes gradually fainter 

 towards the abdomen, the lowest part of which, with the vent and thighs, is dirty 

 white. The plumes of the hypochondrise and the vent-feathers are transversely 

 marked near the end, (which has a brown band), with a broad black band, which in 

 many cases is arched and semilunar. The colour of the feet and of the irides is pale 

 reddish-yellow ; on the claws the tint is yellowish-white. 



This bird inhabits the elevated woods of the Province of Blambangan, near the 

 eastern extremity of Java, and was once only observed during my travels. 



