LOPHOPHORUS NIGELLI. 



dark portion of the feather is paler, with a cinereous tinge : the feathers 

 of the side above the thighs are like those of the breast, but are margined 

 on each side by an elongated spot of pale yellowish-brown, passing into 

 brownish-black : the thigh feathers are cinereous, mixed with pale brown : 

 the spurious wing-feathers are of a dusky bluish-black : the secondaries 

 are white at the base, but bluish-black, sprinkled with minute pale brown 

 spots towards the terminal or exposed portion : the primaries are white, 

 with obscure bluish-black tips, and slightly streaked with black on some of 

 their inner webs : the four central tail feathers, which exceed the others in 

 length, are composed of minute, irregular zig-zag alternate bands of bluish- 

 black and pale brown ; the rest are bluish-black, tipped and partly mar- 

 gined externally with a mixture of brown and black : the under tail-co- 

 verts are white : the legs are short and strong ; they are now discoloured, 

 but seem to have been brownish-yellow in the living state : the claws are 

 long and blunt, of an obscure black or deep horn colour : the tarsus mea- 

 sures a little more than two inches long : the bill measures about an inch 

 and a quarter from the tip to the termination of the gape ; it is at present 

 of a horn colour, but presents the remains of a yellowish hue. This bird 

 measures in total length about 20 inches. 



" The species now described evidently belongs to the genus Lophophorus, 

 with which it agrees in all its essential particulars. The upper mandible 

 is less strongly developed towards the tip than in Loph. refulgens. The 

 cheeks and orbits are feathered, but there is a bare triangular space behind 

 the posterior angle of the eyes. That the specimen now figured is a fe- 

 male, is evident from the want of spurs and crest. There is, however, a 

 slight fulness, or tendency to elongation in the feathers on the occipital 

 region. The male is not yet known in this country. The plumage is said 

 to be brighter, and more strongly contrasted than that of the female. We 

 may add, in regard to this genus, that the position of the tail-feathers in- 

 dicates the want of those muscles which render the tail vertical in the 

 Cocks, and vaulted or arched in the Pheasants." 



