96 



BOBONID^. 



Cheeks and featters under the eye greyish white excessively finely 

 and indistinctly barred with brown. The lores and stripe running up 

 from them to the top of the eye creamy white. The longer feathers that 

 meet over the base of the upper mandible tinged brownish, a few tiny 

 dark brown feathers on the eyelids. Chin and throat creamy white, with 

 very narrow central shaft-stripes towards the tips and excessively 

 finely verraicillated with brown. Feathers of the ruff, which is incon- 

 spicuous, Very pale buff, narrowly edged with dark brown. The 

 whole of the forehead, crown, back of head, back and sides of neck, 

 back scapulars, wing-coverts, rump, and upper tail-coverts, very pale 

 buff or creamy white, so minutely and closely powdered with pale 

 brown, that looked at fi-om a little distance, the feathers appear to be 

 a uniform pale earthy brown. Every feather has a narrow central 

 dark-brown stripe, some of the outer scapulars have inconspicuous 

 patches of buff on their outer webs, and the ground colour of the feathers 

 on each side of the crown immediately above the eye is slightly paler; 

 but beyond this the whole of the upper plumage above described is 

 singularly uniform in tint and appearance, and is absolutely devoid of 

 those white spots and blackish brown or buff dashes and streaks so 

 characteristic of the other Indian species. The primaries are pale 

 dingy buff, with broad transverse brown bars, which towards the^ tips 

 are with the ground colour mottled and freckled over, the ground colour 

 with brown, and the bars with dingy fulvous. Nearer the base of the 

 feathers, the light bars are on the exterior webs pure- pale buff, while 

 the dark bars continue freckled as already described. On the inner 

 Webs, the dark bars are nearly uniform and unmottled, while the light 

 bars are pure and unmottled towards the edge of the webs, and suffused 

 with brown towards the shafts. The tertiaries and the tips of the 

 secondaries approximate closely to the plumage of the back and 

 coverts. Of the breast and abdomen, the ground colour is similar to 

 that of the upper parts, but the brown powdering is coarser, so that 

 more of the ground colour is seen, and the dark brown central shaft- 

 stripes are somewhat broader ; towards the vent, on the flanks and 

 lower tail-coverts, the ground colour becomes almost pure white and the 

 brown powdering very sparse, while the shaft-stripes are reduced as 

 on the back and wing-coverts to well-marked dark lines. The short 

 dense tibial and tarsal plumes are brownish white, each little feather 

 with its dark central shaft-stripe. The axillaries and wing lining are 

 cream-coloured or yellowish white, entirely unstreaked and unmottled. 



The legs and feet, including the base of the toes, densely feathered, 

 terminal portions of toes with small transverse scutse, slate coloured ; 

 claws black, well curved, slender, and very sharp ; toes very slendei-, 

 but pads largely developed, so as to make a broad sole ; exterior toe 

 more or less versatile j irides bright yellow ; bill dusky. 



Male, Length.— -9 inches, expanse 22 inches, wing 6-4 inches, tail 

 3-25 inches, tarsus 1-45 inches, foot greatest length VBI inches, 

 greatest width 1-75 inches, mid-toe to root of claw O'S inch, its claw 

 straight, C-39 inch, hind toe 0-35 inch, its claw straight, 0-28 inch, 

 inner toe 0-67 inch, its claw straight, 0-4 inch. Bill straight from 



