MALAYAN CRESTLESS PIREBACK - 107 
masculine characters, such as colour in general and extent of bare facial area, the 
spurs are well developed in this sex. They differ from those of the male, however, in 
being almost or quite straight, and average 9 mm. in length. The well-developed, 
carunculated facial area is blood red; eyes hazel, legs and feet blue-grey. Measurements 
are, bill from nostril, 16; wing, 221; tail, 142; tarsus, 71; middle toe and claw, 
46 mm. 
JUVENILE PLumAGE.—The general colouring of this age recalls the corresponding 
plumage of Lofiura, and indeed of the females of that genus; black and varying shades 
of chestnut and rufous, the latter colour being confined more or less to the terminal 
parts of the feathers in the form of mottling or bands. In the succeeding moult this 
is eliminated from the plumage, except on the back and rump of the male, where it 
increases in area and assumes the fiery iridescence of those regions. The chin and 
upper throat are pure white, and the face is thinly feathered, and dull pinkish 
in hue. 
First YEAR Matse.—The species attains the general adult colouring at the first 
annual moult, but just as the breeding season varies so widely in various localities, 
so the condition of the bird at this moult shows unusual variation. In a typical male 
bird of four or five months of age the spurs are already 7 mm. in length. The papille 
on the bare facial area are scarcely apparent, being represented by rectangular scales 
or flattened nodules. There is a scanty growth of very short, minute, but perfectly 
formed black feathers over this area. On the body plumage as a whole there is 
considerably less steel-blue gloss than in the adult, the under-parts being almost wholly 
plain dull brown. ‘The outer primaries are delayed, and show considerable buff mottling 
along the margins. The feathers of the back are very impure in colour, much mottled 
with black, and the fiery hue is almost absent, rather a dark chestnut or maroon. The 
rump is still darker. Of especial interest is the abundant white freckling on the breast, 
and the unusually white shafts of the ventral plumage, although even at this age this 
character is exceedingly variable. The tail moult produces extremes in colour and 
pattern, from a first-year set of rectrices which are almost wholly black, to the clear, 
pale buff of the adult. Almost invariably, however, the two central pairs, coming in 
later than the others, show a closer approximation to the specialized colouring of the 
adult. The young of this undergrowth-haunting bird seems to suffer the loss of many 
wing and tail feathers, so that we find them in all stages of half-growth. At this moult 
the measurements average, bill from nostril, 16; wing, 227; tail, 145; tarsus, 79; 
middle toe and claw, 50 mm. . 
EARLY HISTORY 
Sir Thomas Raffles described a collection of animals and birds from Sumatra made 
through the East India Company, and read the paper before the Linnzan Society of 
London, December 5, 1820. This was the first authoritative description of this species. 
Subsequently many new generic and specific names were founded on misconceptions 
of the status of male and female birds, and disregard of previous appellations. 
