134 FIN-TAILED SAND GROUSE. 



fawn, finely barred and pencilled transversely with black. The greater 

 wing coverts lighter olive green, with a more decidedly marked black 

 border, while the lesser wing coverts are of a rich maroon, distinctly 

 bordered with white. Primaries grey, with black glossy shafts; 

 secondaries grey, bordered with white; tertiaries dark brown, with 

 white inner webs, and also distinctly edged with white. Tail feathers 

 grey, barred with dusky, and shaded with fawn-colour on the outer 

 web, while the extremity of each feather for about half an inch is 

 pure white; the long filiform middle tail feathers partaking of the 

 olive green colours of the back, while below they share with this 

 aspect of the tail feathers their rich dark brown. Side of the head 

 and a band across the crop, upwards of an inch broad, rich dark 

 fawn-colour, the latter being edged above and below by a line of 

 black, which separates it above from the light olive greenish brown 

 neck, and below from the pure white of the abdomen, flanks, and 

 under tail coverts; shewing in a marked manner the sharply-defined 

 colours in contrast, which gives to this bird a peculiarly beautiful 

 appearance. The throat is black, sometimes, as in my specimen, 

 which is in autumn plumage, mottled with white. The tarsi are 

 thickly clothed with short white feathers, which, like the colours of 

 the other parts, are sharply contrasted where they terminate with the 

 horny brown of the toes; beak horny brown; claws black. 



The female differs from the male considerably. The head, nape, 

 back, and upper tail coverts, are clearly barred with black and fawn- 

 colour, broader on the back, and narrower but more thickly on the 

 tail coverts. The throat is white, the collar round the neck lighter 

 and more mottled with brown, while the band across the crop between 

 the two black lines is much broader, and lighter in colour. The side 

 of the head is mottled like the back of the head and neck. The 

 white tips to the tail feathers are smaller, and the finely-extended 

 middle tail feathers rather shorter. In other respects like the male. 



The young of the year resemble the female, but are smaller. The 

 crop shaded with greyish and russet, with spots and brown zigzags. 



My figures of the male and female of this bird are from specimens 

 kindly sent me by Canon Tristram. The egg is from a specimen 

 in my own collection: it was taken in S^^ain, and was sent to me 

 by Moeschler. 



It has also been figured by Brisson, Ornithologia, vol. i., pi. 19, 

 male and female; Buffon, pi. enl. 505 male, and 506 female; Roux, 

 Ornith. Prov., pi. 247, adult male, pi. 248, fig. i. female adult, fig. ii. 

 head of female of the year; pi. 249, fig. i. young just after leaving 

 nest, and ii. male of year; Gould, pi. 258. 



