Page:Condor11(2).djvu/8

 42 THE CONDOR VOL. XI markings consist, on the individual feather, of a double row of round white spots on a dark background, in the juvenile there is a similar double row of black spots on a light colored feather. The median line of the breast is suffused with cinnamon and the lower abdomen and crissum are dull black. Number 2 shows a few white-spotted feathers at the upper end of the pectoral tracts, while the remainder of the series illustrates the downward extension of this growth. New, glossy black feathers are beginning to appear on the flanks at the same time that the spotted breast feathers are sprouting; but the rich chestnut of the center of the breast is the last of the body plumage to be acquired, even num- ber 8 (otherwise in perfect plumage except for the head), showing a line of the pale colored juvenile feathers. The changes in the upper parts are much less ap- parent, number 1 being streaked above, practically like the adult, tho on close examination it is seen to lack, to some extent, the exquisite markings and delicate FIG. 2.--MEARNS QUAIL: NO. 1, MALE JUVENAL; NO. 2, MALE ADULT; NO. 3, FEMALE JUVENAL; NO. 4, FEMALE ADULT pencillings possessed by the latter. It lacks also the black spotted tertials, and blue greater wing coverts, these being nearly perfect in the stage reached by num- ber 8. I secured no specimens illustrating the acquisition of the conspicuous and curious facial markings, and it seems remarkable that the plumage of the other parts, body and wings, should be entirely renewed before there is the beginning of any change on the head. In the young of both sexes the head is marked practi- cally as in the adult female except that the occiput is transversely barred, while in the latter it is marked with longitudinal streakings. There is a rounded occipital crest, similar to that of the adult tho not as full. In those birds which have nearly or quite completed the change in the body plumage, there is a line of pin feathers appearing on the center of the occiput, the beginn{ng of the change on the head.