CREAM-COLOURED COURSER. 175 



six inches ; the tarsus two inches three lines ; the naked 

 part of the tibia nearly one inch. 



The plumage of this species is soft and close; the forehead 

 and top of the head are yellowish rust-colour ; the hinder 

 part of the head pearl-grey ; over the eye begins a white band, 

 that surrounds the nape below the grey colouring, and from 

 the eyes runs another very ornamental velvet black band 

 to the nape ; over this black on the nape is a triangu- 

 lar black spot on the white, which enhances the beauty of 

 the head very much ; the chin, throat, breast, belly, vent 

 and under tail-coverts are all white, with a tinge of yellow 

 rust or cream-colour ; the upper parts are the same as the 

 forehead ; all the tail feathers are tipped with white and 

 marked with a lancet shaped shaft streak of dusky colouring, 

 except the two middle feathers, which are of a uniform 

 colour like the back feathers, The quills are dusky, the 

 beak is dusky at its tip and buff coloured at the base, the 

 eyes are brown ; the legs are cream coloured, and grey at 

 the joints and soles of the feet. The male and female are 

 alike. 



Young birds are transversely marked with dusky on several 

 parts of the plumage, the black ornamental band about the 

 head is narrower, of a dusky tint, and irregular. 



