UPLAND SHOOTING. 
87 
shorter than the fourth, the third much longer and exceeding 
the tarsus in length; all scutellate above, marginate, flattish, 
beneath. Claws very small, arched, acute, that of the hind 
toe extremely small, of middle toe with a thin inner edge. 
“ Plumage very soft, elastic, blended ; of the fore-part of the 
head very short; of the neck full. Wings short, rounded ; the 
fourth and fifth quills about equal and longest, the first three 
extraordinarily attenuated, being in fact sublinear, narrower be¬ 
yond the middle, the inner web slightly enlarged toward the 
end, the first as long as the seventh. Secondaries broad, the 
outer a little incurved and rounded, the inner tapering and 
elongated. Tail very short, wedge-shaped, of twelve narrow 
feathers, which taper toward the rounded point. 
“Bill light yellowish-brown, dusky toward the end. Iris 
brown. Feet flesh-colored ; claws brownish black. The fore¬ 
head is yellowish-gray, with a few dark mottlings in the centre. 
On the upper part of the head are two blackish-brown broad 
transverse bands, and on the occiput two narrower, separated 
by bands of light red ; a brownish-black loral band and a narrow 
irregular line of the same across the cheek, and continued to the 
occiput. The upper parts are variegated with brownish-black, 
light yellowish-red, and ash-gray. There are three broad, lon¬ 
gitudinal bands of the first color, barred with the second, down 
the back, separated by two of the last. The inner wing co¬ 
verts and secondary quills are similarly barred ; the outer, pale 
grayish-red, faintly barred with dusky. The quills are grayish- 
brown, tipped with dull gray, the secondaries spotted on the 
outer web with dull red. Upper tail coverts barred ; tail fea¬ 
thers brownish-black, their tips gray, their outer edges mottled 
with reddish. The sides of the neck are gray, tinged with red ; 
the lower parts in general, light red, tinged with gray on the 
breast, on the sides and lower wing coverts deeper; the lower 
tail coverts with a central dusky line, and the tip white. 
“Length to end of tail, 11 inches; to end of wings, 9| ; 
wing from flexure, 5}; tail, 2j \; bill along the ridge, 2j s ; along 
