grous. 257 



crossed with a band of black ; back varied with brown and ferru- 

 ginous ; belly, thighs, and quills, black ; wing coverts ferruginous, 

 beneath them white ; tail cuneiform, cinereous brown, the outer 

 feathers tipped with white; vent white, with ferruginous spots; legs 

 cinereous, hairy on the fore part, and furnished with a spur behind. 



The female has the breast grey, and the black band narrower. 



These inhabit the neighbourhood of Saragosa, in Aragonia, 

 particularly about Epila. They make the nest on the ground, and 

 lay four or five testaceous coloured eggs, spotted with brown; the 

 name they are known by is Churra. It may be observed, that what 

 is here called a spur, is no other than a fourth, or hind toe, with a 

 sharp claw, which is also the case with the Sand Grous, but whether 

 the female is without the spur or claw is not mentioned; and besides 

 this, the figure engraved in Faun. arag. answers so nearly to my 

 drawing of Var. A. that I cannot but esteem it a further Variety of 

 the male bird, independent of the yellowish spots on the back and 

 coverts, which appear to be less defined. 



22 — SURINAGUR GROUS. 



SIZE uncertain. Bill black; top of the head dusky pale blue; 

 over the eye a pale yellowish streak ; through it a broader, dusky 

 one, bounded beneath with white, passing toward the nape; chin, 

 throat, and neck behind, rufous, the latter much darker ; across the 

 middle of the neck a dusky blue band, and on the breast a second of 

 the same; between which the breast is dusky white; below the band 

 the remainder of the breast is ferruginous, and from thence to the 

 vent black, mottled with white on the vent; the upper part of the 

 body and wings are pale bluish Dove-colour, the coverts much paler, 

 and the feathers of the back marked with a yellow brown patch in 

 the middle ; the second quills have the margins and ends brownish, 

 with a ferruginous tinge ; quills black, and reach three-fourths on 



VOL. VIII. L L 



