310 Catalogue of Nepdlese Birds. [No. 136. 



slightly empurpled dusky, laterally somewhat broadly margined with 

 bright rufous, which fades considerably as the feathers become old ; 

 head dull rufescent-brown, margined paler, with a vague whitish streak 

 over the eyes, enlarging beyond them; feathers of the nape pointed 

 and slender, white at base, with dusky terminal thirds edged laterally 

 with rufous ; those of the sides of the neck rufescent with dusky shafts, 

 and edged laterally with whitish or hoary ; throat white, with narrow 

 dusky shafts, and the rest of the under-parts fulvous-white, with mot- 

 tled dusky-and-rufous blotches on the feathers, inclining to form a 

 sort of gorget on the breast, and always presenting a broad dark 

 abdominal band, more or less developed (as in B. lagopus) : length- 

 ened tibial plumes dusky, tipped with dark rufous, or in some speci- 

 mens of the latter hue, with merely dusky shafts : tertiaries and greater 

 wing-coverts hair-brown, the former more or less distinctly barred on 

 their inner webs, upon a whitish ground in some ; the tips of the pri- 

 maries and secondaries empurpled dusky, and the outer webs of the 

 exterior primaries greyish to near the end ; underneath, the wings dis- 

 play a very large white patch, constituted chiefly by the inner vanes of 

 the primaries as far as their emargination, and the fore-part of the 

 wing is dusky, broadly edged with rufous, of which colour are also the 

 axillaries: tail rather faint rufous, with a nearly obsolete subterminal 

 dark bar, its basal portion, and the exterior webs of all the outer fea- 

 thers, dashed with cinereous. Other specimens have merely narrow 

 mesial streaks of rufous, with dusky shafts, to most of the feathers of 

 the under-parts, and the abdominal band paler and chiefly rufous ; tail 

 with little or no ashy tinge, indicating that such are less advanced in age. 

 The immature plumage is of a generally more dingy cast, with no 

 rufous below, even on the tibial plumes ; the dorsal feathers are scarcely, 

 when at all, margined with faint rufous ; and the primaries and tail are 

 minutely mottled and numerously banded : but these also vary in the 

 amount of developement of their markings, both as regards the extent 

 and depth of colouring. 



According to Mr. Hodgson — " These birds are very common in 

 the central and northern hilly regions of Nepal ; but I never," he 

 remarks, " procured one from below. The species appears to be an 

 oriental analogue of B. vulgaris. It adheres to the woods when the 

 crops are up ; but, after harvest, comes into the open country, and is 



