PLUMED PARTRIDGE 227 



SEND, and as it proved a female, I made a drawing of the male from a 

 superb specimen now in the Museum of the Zoological Society of Lon- 

 don. 



Perdix plumifera. 



Adult Male. Plate CCCCXXIII. Fig. 1. 



Bill very short, stout, higher than broad, its dorsal outline decurved 

 from the base, the ridge narrow, the sides sloping and convex, the 

 edges sharp and overlapping, the tip rather obtuse but thin-edged ; 

 nostrils basal, oblong, operculate, in the fore part of the wide nasal 

 groove, which is partially covered with feathers ; gape-line a little 

 arched ; lower mandible with the angle short and rounded, the dorsal 

 line ascending and slightly convex, the ridge broad, the sides convex, 

 the edges sharp, the tip obtuse. 



Head of moderate size, ovate ; neck short ; body full. Feet of mo- 

 derate length, stout ; tibia covered to the joint ; tarsus rather short, a 

 little compressed, edged behind, covered all round with angular scales 

 of which the anterior are very large ; toes four, the first small, and 

 placed higher than the rest ; the anterior long, rather slender, the fourth 

 considerably longer than the second, the third much the longest ; all 

 scutellate above. Claws long, rather slender, compressed, arched, ra- 

 ther acute. 



Plumage full, firm, blended. Feathers generally oblong, on the 

 sides very large. On the top of the head are two linear-lanceolate, de- 

 curved feathers having their webs deflected, and three inches and three- 

 quarters long, in the midst of a tuft of smaller feathers. Wings short, 

 convex, much rounded, the fourth quill longest, the third and fifth 

 scarcely shorter, the second four-twelfths shorter than the third, and 

 five-twelfths longer than the second. Tail rather short, much rounded, 

 of twelve feathers. 



Bill black, " iris red," feet dull yellow, claws brown. The upper 

 part of the head, the hind neck, the fore part of the back, the lower 

 part of the fore neck, and part of the breast, greyish-blue ; the feathers 

 round the base of the bill white ; the elongated feathers on the head 

 black, the throat bright chestnut, margined on each side by a black 

 line, succeeded by a band of white an inch and a half in length, passing 



