ODONTOPHORUS SPECIOSUS, Tschudi.
Rufous-breasted Partridge.
S p e c if ic C harac t er .
“ 0 . pileo plumis elongatis obscure fu s c i s ; regionibus superciliaribus nigro et albo maculatis;
gu la aterrima; dorso Jusco, lineolis obscuris transversalibus numerosis; plumarum scapo albo y
remigibus nigris ; parapteris nigro et flavo maculatis y crisso e t uropygio dorso dilutioribus y
pectore ahdomineque cinnamomeis.”—Tschudi.
Crown o f the head very dark brown ; over the eye an interrupted line o f white streaks; throat
black; back brown with numerous transverse indistinct lines or freckles of black, and with
a line of white down the centre; wings similarly marked, and with an oval spot of
buff, bounded posteriorly with black at the tip o f each o f the coverts; primaries dark
brown, freckled with deep sandy b u ff; scapularies black, broadly margined on their inner
webs with deep buff; chest and abdomen cinnamon-red; rump and thighs brown, freckled
with black ; bill black; feet lead-colour.
Total length, 10* inches; bill, 3.; wing, 5±; tail, 2a ; tarsi, 2 ; middle toe and nail, 23.
Odontophorus speciosus, Tschudi, in Wiegm.Archiv. Naturg. 1843,p.387-—lb . Fauna Peruana,
p. 281. Taf. xxxiii.— Gray and Mitch. Gen. o f Birds, vol. iii. p. 513, Odontophorus, sp. 8.
T his species, like the 0 . pachyrhynchus, was discovered by the celebrated Peruvian traveller M. Tschudi,
who has thus added two highly interesting species to this section of the family. It is distinguished from all
the others by its richly coloured chest of cinnamon-red, with a throat mark of the deepest black; it is about
the size of 0. Guianensis, and like that bird dwells in the midst of the hottest forests ; but even there, says
M. Tschudi, it is seldom met with.
In a fine example from Peru, now in the possession of the Earl of Derby, the black of the throat extends
over the eye, obliterating the white streaks above that organ, but leaving them very apparent posterior to it.
Habitat. The hot forests bordering the rivers Aynamayo and Chauchomayo in Peru.
The figures are of the natural size.