302 



Adult Male. Head blackish brown, but so thickly covered with white spots as to appear to be really of the 

 latter colour with blackish markings ; forehead almost entirely white ; on the fore part of the head the 

 white markings take the form of spots, generally rather heart-shaped, and becoming broader towards 

 the nape, until this latter part appears almost entirely white, with narrow shaft-lines and indistinct 

 margins of brown ; sides of the nape blackish ; the hinder part of the neck, forming a kind of wig, is 

 rather paler brown, irregularly marked with white, which occupies the basal portion of the feather, and 

 then forms another band higher up, gradually narrowing out into a pointed shaft-line towards the apex 

 of the plume ; interscapulary region umber-brown, with obsolete pale edgings to the feathers and con- 

 cealed white spots near the base of the plume ; scapulars pale brown, like the back, marked on both 

 webs with large spots of white, the brown part of the feather being reduced to narrow bars and an 

 irregular spot near the apex ; lower part of the back pale brown, the rump mottled with white, and the 

 upper tail-coverts rather broadly barred with the latter colour; wing-coverts brown, a little darker 

 than the back, the least ones margined with white, the greater ones marked with a large oval-shaped 

 blotch of white on the outer web, the primary coverts spotted with white and narrowly margined with 

 the same colour towards the apex of the feather ; quills pale brown, the shafts slightly rufescent, the 

 primaries spotted with white on both webs, those on the inner web being the largest, the secondaries 

 also marked with white, but the spots on the outer web very much smaller than in the primaries, and 

 rather taking the form of notches; on the inner secondaries the spots are rather larger, taking the 

 form of a complete band across some of the innermost small dorsal quills; tail-feathers pale brown, 

 barred with whitish brown on the outermost ones, the bars becoming purer white towards the centre of 

 the tail, where they are rather conspicuous, though not very broad, all the feathers tipped with white ; 

 frontal plumes with thin black shafts ; a narrow ring round the eye and a small spot in front of the 

 same black ; ear-coverts and cheeks silvery white, with long hair-like black tips, which are not at first 

 seen, as they overlap the black ring of feathers which runs down behind the ear-coverts ; no facial disk, 

 but a crescentic line of blackish feathers drawn from the hinder part of the eye and broadening out 

 behind the ear-coverts on to the sides of the neck, the rest of this latter part not occupied by the 

 blackish feathers just mentioned being white varied with brown cross lines ; throat whitish, mottled 

 with dusky brown, which becomes less distinct towards the upper part of the breast, so that this part is 

 almost entirely white, with only a few marks and indistinct cross bars ; the rest of the under surface of 

 the body whitish, everywhere narrowly barred with dark brown, the bars on the under tail-coverts being 

 somewhat broader ; under wing-coverts coloured exactly in the same way, but the bars broader and 

 more zigzag in shape ; beak light yellow ; claws blackish brown, soles of feet yellow ; eye bright yellow. 

 Total length 14 inches, culmen 0-9, wing 8 # 8, tail 7-0. 



Adult Female. Does not differ from the male in any great degree, but is rather darker in plumage, so that 

 the contrast between the brown colour and the white markings is more strongly pronounced. Total 

 length 14-5 inches, culmen 09, wing 9 - 2, tail 7 - 5. 



Young Female. Similar to the adults, but having the feathers of the head more fluffy, pale brown in colour, 

 narrowly tipped with a whitish apical bar ; on the back of the wig a few basal markings of white are 

 apparent on disarranging the feathers ; in other respects the upper plumage is very similar to the adults', 

 but is more dingy, and none of the white spots on the scapulars or wings are so large or distinct ; the 

 bars on the centre tail-feathers are whitish brown, and not pure white ; the throat and sides of the face 

 are buffy white ; there is no distinct white pectoral band ; and the bars on the breast are more tinged 

 with brown; the tarsi are not so thickly feathered. Total length 13 - 2 inches, culmen - 8, wing 9 2, 

 tail 7-0. 



Obs. The above description is taken from a young female procured by our friend Mr. Meves on the 16th 



