488 Dr. N. Severtzov on some 



ground-colour along the shafts of all quills is black, yet this 

 black occupies on the feather less space than the white. Tail- 

 feathers black, only the two outermost with larger fulvous 

 markings on the terminal half, the third with a very small ful- 

 vous tip only ; these light markings are somewhat individually 

 variable in shape, but always lighter fulvous, and occupying 

 less space on the feather than those of P. major. The under- 

 pays almost pure white, slightly tinged with straw-yellow ; 

 the abdominal red reaches to the upper half of the sternum ; 

 the 3rd quill shorter than 6th, the 1st quill abortive, about 

 as long as its coverts, longest 4th = 5 th > 6th > 3rd > 7th > 2nd 

 > 8th, &c. The white cheeks are separated by a black trans- 

 verse bar from the white sides of the neck ; the scapulars are 

 white, as in P. major, to which, except in the above particu- 

 lars, this bird has a strong resemblance in general colouring 

 and sexual difference, the adult male having also a red bar 

 across the nape, the female none, and the young male a red 

 patch on the crown. The size is generally smaller. 



Males : — length 10-10"7 inches, expanse 15"8-16*4, wing- 

 s' 1, tail 4-2, bill 1 -2-1-3 long from forehead, and 0*25 high 

 at the forehead. The female is somewhat smaller, and has a 

 shorter bill, only 1*1 long and 025 thick at front; general 

 length 9|-10, expanse 15-15|, wing 4*7, tail 37. Old spe- 

 cimens of both sexes, but the females more rarely, have some- 

 times some slight indications of a narrow light vermilion band 

 across the breast, between the ends of the black neck-bands. 



/3. Var. leucoptera: Resembles the typical P. leptorhynchus, 

 but has more white on the wing, especially on the secondary 

 quills, which are sometimes almost completely white, with a 

 sinuated black band, or even a series of black central spots 

 along the shafts, as shown in the following cuts (p. 489) . 



I have observed many intermediate quill-colourings between 

 figs. 2 and 3, but never between figs. 2 and 1 ; and therefore 

 the var. leucoptera of P. leptorhynchus is only a variety, not a 

 species, though it widely differs in wing-colour (but nothing 

 else) from the typical P. leptorhynchus. 



P. major, it may be remembered, has a stout hill, four small 

 white markings on the edge on each web of the secondaries, 



