THE SEESEE. 49 



I HAVE MEASURED a great number of these in the flesh ; the 

 following are the dimensions : — 



Males. — Length, 9*5 to iro ; expanse, i6'0 to 1675 ; wing, 4*9 

 to 575 ; the third, or occasionally the third and fourth, primaries 

 are the longest ; tail from vent, 2*o to 2*5 ; tarsus, ri to V2 ; bill 

 from gape, 0*67 to 077 ; weight, 7 to 8 ozs. 



Females. — Length, 90 to 975 ; expanse, 15*0 to 16*25 ; wing, 

 4*9 to 5 'i ; tail, 2*0 to 2*5 ; tarsus, n to i"2 ; bill from gape, 0*62 

 to 071 ; weight, 575 to 8 ozs. 



Legs and feet pale dingy wax yellow, in some greenish, in 

 some dusky yellow ; claws pale brown ; the irides vary a good 

 deal : they are generally either bright yellow, orange, or orange 

 brown ; but in some specimens they were dull red, and in some a 

 bright brown ; the bill is generally orange, somewhat dusky on 

 the culmen ; in some, however, it is a brownish orange red, and 

 in the females, especially, often brown above and orange below, 

 or even yellowish brown or ripe olive ; the cere is generally a 

 hoary orange red, sometimes only brown. 



The plate is most unsatisfactory. In the male the legs are 

 utterly wrongly coloured, and the colours of the plumage are 

 entirely misrepresented. The head is not a clear greyish blue, 

 but a dull grey ; there is not really a vestige of lake about the 

 throat ; the breast is a delicate vinous fawn, not brick red ; the 

 white spotting on the sides of the neck is much better defined than 

 is here indicated. The female ought to be very much browner, 

 and is altogether so bad that it is useless saying more about it. 



Only one other species of this genus is known, A. heyi (not 

 hayi, as Heuglin gives it), from Western Arabia (extending 

 just into Palestine near the Dead Sea), from both coasts of the 

 Red Sea, and generally Egypt and Nubia, in suitable localities, 

 as far South as the 18 or 19 of N. Lat. 



