NORTHERN BLOOD PARTRIDGE 39 



ventral green area is stained with buff or even crimson. The under tail-coverts are 

 brilliant crimson tipped with white. 



I have never seen this species in life, and so have to trust to published articles 

 and labels for data as to the colour of flesh and eyes. The need for more accurate 

 observation is well instanced by the labels on the skins of sijunsis, on which we read 

 that the eyes are ''yellow," ''red brown," "white yellow," and "gelbgriin" ! As to 

 length we may take our choice, in birds of equal age, of 16*2 inches, 17, 18 and 20 

 inches ! Of the other measurements of adult males I can furnish more reliable data, 

 taken at first hand, as follows: bill from nostril, 11 ; wing, 206; tail, 178; tarsus, 65; 

 middle toe and claw, 61 mm. Almost fifty per cent, of the males have two spurs on 

 each leg ; the remainder having a less number in various combinations. 



Adult Female. — The female Northern Blood Partridge possesses a number of 

 characters intermediate between cruentus and geoffroyi, with a strong tendency toward 

 the former. The head all around is decidedly ashy grey, becoming bluish on the crest, 

 and with the elongated feathers of the rear crown dull black. These become more and 

 more mottled with ashy as we pass downward on the side of the head, until the side, 

 neck and throat show only a cold monochrome hue. 



The upper parts are greyish buff, quite intermediate between the cold tint of 

 geoffroyi and the warm buff of cruentus. The scapulars are very finely vermiculated 

 with dark brown, this pattern changing into a coarser mottling as we pass backward. 

 The tail-coverts merge insensibly into the pattern of the rectrices, gradually losing all 

 trace of buff, the latter feathers being coarsely mottled with brown and whitish. Some 

 of the rectrices have, as a constant character, a decided rose or even crimson tinge along 

 the margins. The wing-coverts are like the back, with the mottling becoming more and 

 more coarse on the secondaries and all but disappearing on the primaries. All these 

 feathers, however, retain the buff hue. The under parts are pale sandy, and, like 

 cruentus^ lack vermiculation on the breast. 



A certain proportion of females possess the interesting character of faint but 

 distinct crimson markings on the breast feathers. These, in situation and pattern, 

 correspond perfectly with the 'pectoral spots of male cruentus cruentus, consisting of 

 two roundish spots, one on each side of the shaft about midway on the visible portion 

 of the feather. 



While such characters as these are not found in every specimen and are not 

 necessary in a general summing up of the species, they are well worthy of record 

 as showing how impossible it is to define exactly a species. They show how a 

 character, dominant in the male birds of a Nepalese species, is to be found in the 

 females of a supposedly entirely distinct species inhabiting central China. The 

 females average: bill from nostril, 10; wing, 189; tail, 155; tarsus, 61; middle toe 

 and claw, 58 mm. 



Natal Down. — The chick in down is very distinct from cruentus. The head 

 and neck, with the cold grey, almost whitish and black markings, are similar, but the 

 down of the entire body, above and below, is very much colder and greyer. Instead 



