196 
FRANK FORESTER’S FIELD SPORTS. 
tip, the sides convex. Nostrils situated in the basal membrane, 
oblique, linear, covered above by a cartilage. Head small, flat¬ 
tened above with a conical, pendulous, erectile caruncle on the 
forehead. Neck slender, body robust. Feet longish and strong; 
tarsus covered anteriorly with numerous transverse scutella, 
scaly on the sides, scutellate behind. Toes scutellate above, 
scabrous, papillar, and flat beneath; hind toe elevated, half the 
length of the lateral toes, which are nearly equal, and much 
shorter than the middle toe; claws slightly arched, stfong, con¬ 
vex above, obtuse, flat beneath. A conical rather obtuse spur 
on the tarsus, about two-thirds down. 
“Conical papilla of the forehead rugose, sparsely covered 
with bristles. Head bare, and corrugated, the skin irregularly 
raised, and covered with a few scattered bristles. External ear 
margined with short and slender thin feathers. Plumage in 
general short, compact, glossy, with metallic reflections. Fea¬ 
thers double, as in other gallinaceous birds, generally oblong 
and truncated. A pendulous tuft of long bristles from the upper 
part of the breast. Wings shortish, convex, rounded, the fourth 
and fifth quills longest. Tail rather long, ample, rounded, con¬ 
sisting of eighteen broad, rounded feathers, capable of being 
erected and expanded in a permanent manner, when the bird 
is excited, and reaching nearly to the ground, when the bird is 
standing erect. 
“ Bill yellowish-brown. Frontal caruncle blue and red. Ru¬ 
gose and carunculated skin of the head and neck of various tints 
of blue and purple, the pendulous anterior caruncles of the lat¬ 
ter, or wattles , bright red, changing to blue. Iris hazel. Legs 
and toes bright purplish-red, claws brown. Upper part of the 
back and wings yellowish-brown, with metallic lustre, changing 
to deep purple, the truncated tips of the feathers broadly mar¬ 
gined with velvet black. On the middle and lower back, the 
black terminal bands of the feathers almost conceal the bronze 
color. The large quill coverts are of the same color as the back, 
but more bronzed, with purple reflections. Quills brownish- 
black, the primaries banded with grayish-white, the secondaries 
