| Description:
Adult
male: The forehead, top of head, nape
and back of neck are bluish-grey.
Display feathering on the sides of
the neck and on the upper mantle are
glossed with bright violaceous to
golden-green iridescence. The mantle,
scapulars and lesser wing-coverts
are pale grey edged with greyish-brown
wash. Tertials and lower scapulars
are more greyish-brown. The secondaries
and primaries are blackish-brown with
narrow white edge to the outerweb
and a narrower, pale buff edging to
the innerweb. The greater and median
wings-coverts are pale grey. The outer
lower scapulars, tertials, inner three
greater and inner five or six median
wing-coverts are all with blackish
subterminal spots on the outerwebs,
giving a distinctive wing pattern.
The back and rump are darker bluish-grey,
grading to more greyish-brown on the
uppertail-coverts and inner two pairs
of remiges. The outer air of remiges
are white with black subterminal spots
on the innerwebs. The next four pairs
of outer retrices are pale grey with
small blackish subterminal spots.
The chin and throat are bluish-grey
continuous with face and crown giving
a blue-grey head. The throat and breast
are rich pinkish-rufous becoming paler
pink on the belly with white undertail-coverts.
The undertail is entirely white with
black spots apparent only on the innerwebs
of the outer remiges. the wing linings
are greyish-white. The underside of
the secondaries and primaries are
blackish-brown. Iris is carmine-red
and there is a narrow purplish-red
eye-ring. The bill is black. The legs
and feet are bright coral-red.
Adult female: Females are generally
browner above and paler below with
much reduced bloom to plumage when
breeding. The wings, back and tail
are similar to the male, except that
the primary outerwebs edged buff or
rufous-buff. The forehead, top of
head and nape to scapulars are greyish-brown.
The sides of the neck have reduced
greenish-golden iridescence. The lower
throat and breast are buff-brown,
grading to whitish-buff on the belly
and white underatail-coverts. The
bare-part colors as in the male but
generally duller.
Juvenile: Overall, like the female,
but the wing-spots are obscure or
absent. The head, neck, inner scapulars
and breast darker are ashy brownish-grey
with pale greyish-buff fringes. The
outer scapulars and wing-coverts are
fringed with distinct pale buff-brown.
The tertials are brownish-black with
a rufous wash on the outerweb and
buff edgings. The secondaries are
brownish-black with pale edgings to
the outerwebs. The primaries are blackish-brown
edged broadly on the outerwebs and
tip rufous-brown. There is no iridescence
on the back of the neck and the orbital
skin is colored dull reddish-purple.
The feet and tarsi are dull red.
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