Note 355 — PART I.

The kata (See plate IX.) is about the size of a partridge, and its shape between that and a pigeon. The bill is of a light colour, tipp’d with black, short, and thick; the legs white, covered with short feathers on the fore-part; three toes stand forward, and a small spur behind. There is a good deal of variety in their plumage. The bird now described is one of the most beautiful. Round the eyes, and the fore-part of the neck (except under the throat, where it is black), the feathers are of a bright colour; the tips being black, form a sort of ring on the upper part of the breast, which is of a cinnamon colour, terminated at the lower part by a ring of black, like the former. The belly is white. The back, and that part of the wing next to it, is of a mouse-colour, with most of the feathers tipp’d with a bright yellow. Of the same colour is the tip of the pinnion; but the short feathers under it are broad, and tipp’d with black, or a coffee-colour, with a narrow rim of white at the very extremity, having the appearance of so many half-moons. The long feathers of the wing are of a mouse-colour, with the quill black. The feathers on the rump are agreeably variegated with black, white, and yellow. The tail, which is short, like that of a pigeon, ends in two long, very narrow, black feathers or quills, running out near three inches beyond the others, and ending in a point. These birds are in such plenty in the months mentioned in the text, that a whole ass-load has often been taken at once shutting of a clasp-net.