with fluctuations in either direction, dark or light, it does represent the common form. Nevertheless, it is both light and varied compared with the extreme or uniform dark brown form beside it (No. 8), which appears to me to be the least common one of all, less so than the extreme light one (No. 1) at the other end. (N.B.—When I say uniform, I do not mean to include the crown of the head or tips of the wings, which are always darker than the rest of the plumage.)
(10) A bird that from the dark crown of the head to the dark tips of the wings is, above and below, a uniform dark browny dun, yet some washes lighter than the uniform brown one (No. 8) that I have spoken of.
(11) A bird that from the dark crown to the dark wing-tips is, above and below, a uniform light fawny dun.
(12) A bird that would be the extreme light form (No. 1) that I have first described, were it not that both on the throat and breast the cream is encroached upon by cloudy barrings of a soft greyey-brown, which extend also over the under surface of the wings. Moreover, a toning of the darker colour of the general upper surface encroaches a little upon the cream of the nape.
(13) A bird exhibiting the uniform dusky dunnish colour (a shade lighter, perhaps, on the under surface), but with a cream patch on each side of the neck just below the head. These patches are not, perhaps, of the brightest cream, but they are very conspicuous, whether the bird is seen standing or flying—in fact, the conspicuous feature.
(14) A bird that would be the extreme light form (No. 1), but for a distinct collar of soft brown dividing the cream of the neck and throat from that of the breast.
(15) A bird that is yellowish dun on the neck and throat, mottled brown on the breast, and a fine cream on the ventral surface.
Moreover, all these birds differed, to a greater or less extent, in those lighter markings of the quill-feathers, both on the upper and under surface, some being lighter and some darker, following in this respect the general colouring. This feature, however, is only apparent when the birds fly, and I found it too laborious to include.
So far as I can be sure—judging by the lance-like projecting
