38 BLUEDREAST. 
the base; the feathers about its base are yellowish white; 
iris, dark brown, over it is a pale whitish streak; bristles 
surround the base of the bill. Head, crown, neck on the 
back, and nape, brown; chin, throat, and breast on its upper 
part, bright blue, with a silky white spot on its centre; below 
the blue is a black streak, then a line of white, succeeded 
by a broad band of bright chesnut, below which it is dull 
white, and on the sides light reddish brown or buff; back, 
brown. 
The wings have the first feather very short, the second 
equal to the sixth, the third, fourth, and fifth nearly ‘equal, 
but the fourth the longest in the wing; greater and lesser 
wing coverts, brown, the margins paler; primaries, secondaries, 
and tertiaries, brown, the outer edges of the two latter 
lighter brown. The tail, which is rounded at the end, extends 
one inch beyond the tips of the closed wings; the two middle 
feathers brown, all the others bright chesnut on their basal 
half, and the outer half nearly black; under tail coverts, light 
reddish brown, inclining to grey; legs, pale brown; toes and 
claws, dusky brown. 
Female; iris, dark brown, over it is a yellowish white line; 
chin and throat, on the upper part, white, bounded by a 
erescent-shaped patch of dull blue mixed with some black, 
the horns of the crescent directed upwards; this is followed 
by pale reddish brown, and lower down by dull white, which 
also prevails on the sides. Tail, not so bright as in the 
male. 
Some old females almost equal the male in the brilliancy 
of their colours. 
The young are at first brown, mottled with a paler shade. 
Head, crown, neck on the back, and nape, dusky, with oval 
spots of reddish brown along the shafts of the feathers; chin, 
the same. The throat in the male has a large pale brown 
patch, indicative of the future white one; breast, dusky, with 
oval spots of reddish brown along the shafts. Under tail 
coverts, whitish. 
The young male resembles the adult female, the blue colour 
advancing by degrees. 
Individuals vary very considerably in colour, the tints being 
more or less bright, no doubt according to age. 
