| 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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