206 



Puttus supra luteus : dorso et uropygio rufescente lavatis et conspicue nigro lentiginosis : alis ferrugineis, 

 nigricante maculatis, fasciis duabus isabellinis transverse notatis : subtus pallide luteus, pectore pallide 

 ferrugineo lavato. 



Adult Male (St. Petersburg). General colour rich black, with blue reflections on the head, neck, back, and 

 rump; over each eye a large red warty comb, extending in front of the eye almost to the base of 

 the bill ; quills blackish brown on the outer web, washed with dull grey, shafts white ; secondaries and 

 larger wing-coverts white on the basal portion, the former constituting a conspicuous white alar bar, 

 the latter having the white portion almost concealed by the lesser coverts, which are black, not, 

 however, glossed with blue like the back ; inner secondaries rather dull black ; tail black, the outer 

 rectrices much elongated and curved outwards ; underparts black, on the thighs and lower part of the 

 abdomen varied with greyish white feathers ; under wing-coverts pure white ; under tail-coverts white, 

 with a few blackish brown marks ; feet dark brown ; bill black ; iris dark brown. Total length 

 22 inches, culmen 1 - 1, wing 10 - 4, tail, in the middle, 4*2, outer rectrices 8 - 5, tarsus 1'8. 



Obs. According to Von Wright the old male bears a somewhat different plumage during the summer 

 season, from June to August, the head and neck being then rusty grey and black mixed, the throat 

 white, marked with black ; a broad black band passing under the eye from the bill backwards ; speci- 

 mens he kept in confinement also underwent this change. 



Adult Female. Upper parts rich rufous, slightly washed with grey, all the feathers banded or marked with 

 black ; head more rufous than the rest of the upper parts, and the rump darker ; quills dull brown, on 

 the outer web marbled with rusty yellow; secondaries dull blackish brown, marbled with yellowish 

 rufous, at the base and tip white, forming two indistinct white bands across the wing ; tail forked, the 

 central feathers being almost three quarters of an inch shorter than the outer ones, in colour black, 

 marbled with rufous brown, and tipped with dirty white ; underparts rufous, banded and marked with 

 black; breast most rufous, and less marked with black than the other parts; centre of the abdomen 

 marked with greyish white, most of the feathers being tipped with that colour ; feathers on the thighs 

 and legs greyish white, indistinctly marked with dull brown ; under tail-coverts white, banded with 

 brown and black, and broadly tipped with white; under wing-coverts white, barred with blackish 

 brown; soft parts as in the male. Total length 15 inches, culmen 12, wing 8 - 8, tail 3 - 3, tarsus l - 85. 



Obs. Sterile females are by no means uncommon, and are distinguishable by their darker colour and longer 

 and to some extent curved tails, which resemble those of the males in shape though not in colour. 

 Two unusually fine and old specimens, obtained at the St.-Petersburg market, are in my collection ; and 

 one of these I have figured. This bird has the head and neck much darker than in the adult female 

 above described, some of the feathers being bluish black towards the tip ; the back is much greyer than 

 in the ordinary female, and the rump glossed with purplish black ; tail shaped like that of the male, the 

 outer rectrices dull black, marbled on the outer web with rufous, the inner ones marbled on both webs 

 with rufous and grey, all being tipped with white ; wings much greyer than in the adult female, and 

 the white bands much more fully developed ; chin white, marked near the base of the mandible with 

 black, throat and fore part of the breast rufous grey, barred with glossy steel-black ; rest of the under- 

 parts dull blackish, most of the feathers with a grey central line, and tipped with that colour ; flanks 

 indistinctly marbled with grey ; legs and thighs as in the adult female ; under wing-coverts white, 

 barred with black near the edge of the wing ; under tail-coverts white, sparingly marked with brown. 



Nestling (Wermland, Sweden, July 1872). Upper parts sulphur-yellow, on the back and rump washed with 

 rufous, and conspicuously blotched with black ; wings rufous, marked with blackish, and having two 



