is only when the bird is more or less excited that the horns
are raised, or the apron-like lappet extended. Both are of course
absent in females, which, moreover, have no naked skin round
the eye.
Females.—Length, 24 ; expanse, 3 2 ; wing, 1 0 ; tail 9. Legs
and feet greyish ashy.
Wilson says :—" The young male for the first year is scarcely
to be distinguished from the female ; the second, the red feathers
on the neck and throat and the white spots begin to make
their appearance ; the third, he gets the handsome plumage of
the adult males. The flesh is tender and well flavoured."
As to this last, tastes differ ; I should say that they were,
as a rule, much like a common village fowl ; no better, and often
a good deal worse.
T H E PLATE, though really very good in other respects, has the
legs of the female wrongly coloured, the eye piece of the male too
pink-, the bill too light coloured, and omits the blue edgings and
markings on the lateral portions of the gular apron.
Some females arc coloured nearly as in the plate, but the
majority are altogether greyer.