CURSORIUS BICINCTUS. 



The total length is about nine inches and a quarter, and the whole bird is 

 of rather a stouter make than the others of the genus. The bill is short in 

 proportion, being only half an inch in length to the forehead, and scarcely an 

 inch to the extremity of the gape. The entire plumage, with the exception 

 of the back and wings, is bright reddish wood-brown, inclining to white on 

 the throat, and palest on the under parts. The feathers on the head are 

 marked on the middle with umber-brown : those on the throat and neck 

 have a narrow stripe along the shaft of each nearly black, while those on 

 the breast and belly have the shaft alone black, which appears distinctly 

 from the pale colour of the rest of the feather. A double collar of shining 

 black girds the breast, running rather upwards upon the sides of the neck : 

 the lower band passes in a line with the shoulders, and is about half an 

 inch in breadth : the upper one passes a little higher ; it is about half 

 the breadth, and extends farther round upon the back. The ground co- 

 lour of the back is umber-brown ; but each feather is bordered with a nar- 

 row margin of yellowish wood-brown : the umber coloured part of the fea- 

 ther is considerably darker where it joins the pale border. The four first 

 quills are black, tinged with pale reddish-brown on the inner webs ; the 

 others are reddish-brown, darkest on the outer edges : the secondaries are 

 also reddish-brown. The upper and under tail-coverts, and the outer fea- 

 thers of the tail, are pure white : the remainder of the tail is deep umber- 

 brown, inclining to pale reddish-brown on the tips of the feathers, and is 

 there barred or waved with a deeper shade. The tarsi are about two 

 inches in length, and with the feet and legs appear to have been greenish- 

 yellow. The toes are short and strong, and the centre claw is pectinated, 

 as in the genus Caprimulgus. 





