CHATTERER, 179 



black ; the feathers being of this last colour, the tips only blue 

 green, so that the colours, unless the feathers lie perfectly smooth, 

 appear mixed ; chin, throat, and neck before, most beautiful purplish 

 crimson ; greater wing coverts black, edged with blue ; quills the 

 same; tail and legs black. 



The young male is uniform, pale brown, on the throat, and 

 neck before ; but the upper parts of the body, wings, and tail, deeper 

 brown; in some the feathers have the margins much paler; breast 

 and belly dirty white, the middle of the feathers dusky; vent white; 

 some of the wing coverts edged with ferruginous ; the greater quills 

 dusky black; tail ash-colour. 



The male, when of middle age, has the blue feathers breaking 

 out among the brown, and a slight tincture of the approaching red 

 on the throat. M. Levaillant says, the male has the gaudy dress 

 only during the time of incubation. 



The female is smaller than the male; the general colour dusky 

 brown, with a slight tinge of green in some parts; but the greater 

 wing coverts are black brown, fringed with pale rufous ; the prime 

 quills dusky, with greenish edges ; the secondaries with pale rufous ; 

 the under parts grey brown, shaded with light green on the throat 

 and breast, and on the belly a greenish tinge; tail brown, feathers 

 fringed with greenish, inclining to rufous near the ends. 



These are common at Guiana, and particularly at Cayenne, but 

 few of the young birds or females are sent to Europe. 



6— BLUE-BREASTED CHATTERER. 



Ampelis tersa, Ind. Orn. i. 365. Gm. Lin. i. 841. 



Le Tersine, Biif. iv. 446. 



Blue-breasted Chatterer, Gen. Syn. iii. 95. Shaw's Zool. x. 432. 



IN this, the bill and legs are dusky brown ; upper parts of the 

 head, shoulders, quills, and tail black ; outer edge of the quills 



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