BOHEMIAN CHATTERER. 165 



horn towards the base ; the oval shaped nostrils are covered 

 by short bristles. The iris of the adult bird is nearly blood 

 red ; that of young birds chesnut brown. 



The legs and feet are strongly made ; the part above the 

 knee covered with feathers ; the tarsus measures full eleven 

 lines in length, the middle toe, including the claw, the same ; 

 and the hinder toe seven lines and a half; the front of the 

 tarsus and upper part of the toes are scaled ; the colour of the 

 legs and feet black. 



On the top of the head the Chatterer is adorned with a tuft 

 of silky feathers of nearly an inch and a half in length, which 

 lay backwards, and can be raised to a crest at pleasure ; its 

 colour is reddish grey, or roan. On the forehead and top of 

 the head these feathers lay smooth, but towards their tips 

 they are very loose and divided. The entire colouring of the 

 head is also reddish grey, which extends over the neck, back, 

 and breast, below which it changes to a mellow silvery grey, 

 which extends over the belly and thighs. The upper part of 

 the back and wing-coverts are brownish-ash colour ; the rump 

 is clear ash, becoming more pure on the tail-coverts. 



The bristles that cover the nostrils, a band across the fore- 

 head, the lore, and a streak through and beyond the eye, also 

 the throat, are jet black, the edges sharply defined. On the 

 forehead above the black is a border of rust red, which de- 

 creases in intensity as it passes backwards. At the base of 

 the lower mandible, and below the eye, are spots of pure 

 white, which are separated from the cheek by a soft shading 

 of rust red. 



The primary and secondary quill-feathers are black, the 

 first two or three entirely so, the rest marked upon the shaft 

 near the tip with a line of bright lemon yellow, in some 

 specimens the feathers are tipped with the same ; three or 

 four of the secondary quills, and as many of the tertials, are 

 tipped with a wax-like appendage, or prolongation of the 



