506 «®#K Of THE PLAIN«.
Plumage dense,'soft rather compact, the feathers• m.genera]i broadly •
orate*,Mhose on the <head..vei>y short, ®n the sides, of the neck anteriorly
at its lower part and across the fore part of the breast, «mall, row short;
bBbad, stiff, afid imbricated like, s c a l e s ' h i g h e r up. op the sides, of the
neck a tuft of feathers haying' their shafts elongated^ bristle-liie4 and
terminated by a few! filaments On each, side of the. lower part of the
. neck in front is a'large bare space capable of being inflated! into a'
hemispherical sac- On the fin» .pact of the ibreast the feathers,, although
long, have the shaft thickened and elongated; -therest of the feathers
are of ordinary .steucture, <• Wings rather short, concave, much rounded,
the primaries stiff and very narrow,,so as to W e a large krteraaljsvhen
tffi wing is extended ; the third, iouuHi, and fifth .quills longest Tail
Slong, .graduated, of twenty stiffish feathers, each tapering to a f a y
«lnngatcid |".iint.
BiU black; iris .light hazel; .Mijmr.-.iliary mmnbnuu, vomiilion; toes
brownish-gifcy-; .claws brownish-black. ' The upper parts are light yellowish
brawn, variegated with brownish-blaicb and yellowish-white!'
the father s of the -head «nd neck transversely barred,,®f tlie back
barred, undulated and dotted, with a whitish longitudinal line along
the shafts, of the wing'feathers Tie quills chocolate-brown, their
outer webs and part of their inner margins inottlod with yellowish,
white.. Tail with about ten bands of yeliowish-wMte on the outer webs,
which are otherwise variegated 10^ fhe back, the ,inner webs nearly
plain brown. The throat and fore part of neck whitish, longitudinally
i i » « 4 S « t h brownisk-blaibb ¡;. a narrow white band across the throat;
the sides of the neck and fore part of the breast white, the elongated
shafts of the tuft-feathers,, black; the sides variegated like the back
with a broad line »('white along ttib'rniddlo of each feather; the axillars
and! lower wing-covertsfjniro white; the hindpartof the. breast
and the abdomen,; brownish-black; the sides of thejsliAp like the back,
t f t lower taiiLcoverts .brownish-black, largely tipped with. white, th®
feathers of the tibias and tarsi pale brownish-grey, faintly barred with
-brown.
ILength p end of tail 30 inches ; extent Of wings 3« ; wing frum
flex'Ae 13: tail 12: shortest fathers 7;, bill along the ridge 1 al„„.,
the edge of lower mandM® ; tarsus 2 i ; hind toe & its claw ^
middle toe 2:,.its. claw ¡V
COCK OF THE PLAINS.
Adult IV.male. • Plate CCCLXXI. Fig. 2.
TlriwfVmale is mu.-li smaller than the male, and differs in being destitute
of' the bare skin oil the fore neck, in having the superciliary
membranes smaller,SM plumage entirely of ordinary texture; the
tail less:elongated, witlHthe feathers less narrow and ending in a
rounded, point. All the upper parts, foré neck and sides are variegated
with brownish-black, yel|owish-grey and whitish disposed nearly as in
the male ; thethroat- whitish, th®, fere part of the breast white, the middle
part l.nnvtfish-lilack, the "legs and tarsi as in the male, as are the
(^¡ifcÄijfi»tail-feathers mottled like the back and tipped with white.
I . c n g t h . to end of tail 22 inehesf wing from flexure lûjr ; tail 7 | ;
hill along the r idg. r l , ' , ; tarsus-lf| ; middle, toe 1 its ulaw A-
. . S t s Ä e of this ; Species has been exaggerated, it having been by
some, compared to the Turkey, and bv others to the Great Wood (irons
of.Europe, Tetra» Ufogallus, whereas, in fact, it seems not much to exl'.
èfid Tclruo hybrids. In some .individuals, as I am informed by Dr
TOWNSEND, the hair-like shafts of the feathers on the sides of the neck,
are..considerably longer than in my figure of the male.