146 
SPOTTED BEDS HANK. 
above the knee for about an inch and a half, are as the toes, 
dark transparent red in summer, in winter red. Claws, black. 
The female is rather larger than the male. 
In the young of the year the bill is brownish black, the 
base of the under mandible red; between it and the eye is a 
patch of white, and below it is another of brown. The head 
on the sides is mottled with dusky and white in streaks, on 
the crown as is the neck on the back, tinged with olive 
brown, generally without spots, but sometimes with a few 
white edges to the feathers; nape, greyish brown, with pale 
rusty streaks and spots; chin, white; throat, greyish, with paler 
rusty streaks or spots. The breast is clouded and spotted or 
crossed with grey, dusky, and rufous, on a dull white ground; 
the back above is tinged with olive brown, the margins of 
the feathers having small triangular spots of white; below it 
is white. Greater and lesser wing coverts, deep brown, with 
large triangular-shaped spots of white, or the dark colour may 
be considered as forming the spots; of the primaries, the first 
feather has the shaft white, the. others brown; the inner webs 
of the first five are mottled toward the base with grey and 
dusky, which colouring terminates in triangular-shaped spots 
towards the centre and tips; secondaries, dusky, the borders 
of the feathers darkest, and reflected with pale green and 
purple, and these also still more mottled with grey and 
dusky; tertiaries, the same, but much darker. Tail feathers, 
dusky black with black shafts, and darkest towards their 
edges, barred with greyish white; it is of a double wedge- 
shape, the middle and outer feathers being the longest; upper 
tail coverts, white barred with dusky; under tail coverts, dull 
white, spotted and barred with pale grey, dusky, and rufous. 
The legs and toes, yellowish orange red, the colour varying 
with age and season. Claws, black. 
