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ALBERT R. MANN
LIBRARY
AT
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
CORNELL UNIVERSITY
1BRARY
Cornell University
The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.
There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.
htto://www.archive.org/details/cu31924051794786
THE
FAUNA OF SOUTH AFRICA
EDITED BY
W. L. SCLATER, M.A., F.Z.S.
Director of the South African Museum, Cape Town.
THE
BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA
COMMENCED BY
ARTHUR STARK, M.B.
VOL. IV.
GAME-BIRDS, SHORE-BIRDS AND SEA-BIRDS
WITH 163 ILLUSTRATIONS
BY
W. L. SCLATER, M.A., F.Z.S.
Director of the South African Museum, Cape Town
London
R. H. PORTER
7, PRINCE’S STREET, CAVENDISH SQUARE, W,
1906
LONDON
PRINTED BY
JOHN BALE, SONS AND DANIELSSON, LTD.
83-91, GT. TITCHFIELD STREET
w.
PREFATORY NOTE.
THE present volume concludes the account of the birds
of South Africa. In it are described 251 species of the Game-,
Shore- and Water-birds, making 814 species in all for South
Africa. It had been my intention to add a supplement, giving
accounts of the species described since the issue of the first
volume, with other corrections and additions. The supple-
ment, it was found, would contain so large a number of pages
that 1 was forced to abandon it. The material collected for
this purpose, however, has been published in the ‘“ Annals of
the South African Museum” (vol. ii, part 8, 1905), and can
be easily obtained by any one who wishes to consult it.
As in the case of the third volume, I am alone responsible
for the contents of this, although I have made some use of
Dr. Stark’s notebook. I have to thank my numerous South
African correspondents for much information and help freely
given; among them I should like specially to mention Mr.
A. D. Millar, Major Sparrow, Mr. G. A. K. Marshall, Dr.
Stoehr, Mr. J. G. Brown of Port Elizabeth, Mr. Haagner, Dr.
Howard and Mr. Gilfillan.
As before, the illustrations, with a few exceptions, have
been specially prepared for this volume by Mr. Gronvold, to
whom I am greatly indebted for the pains and trouble he has
taken to carry out my wishes. Mr. H. HE. Harris has kindly
allowed me the use of five of the blocks prepared from his
own photographs and used to illustrate his ‘* Hssays and
vi. PREFATORY NOTE
Photographs,’ while I have to thank Mr. R. H. Ivy for
the photographs of the Cape Redwing, on p. 204, and the
Ostrich, on p. 527, and Mr. Austin Roberts for that of the nest
of the Goliath Heron on p. 57.
I am in hopes of being able to continue this series with a
volume on the South African Reptiles.
W. L. 8.
Fig. 1.
i 2.
Fe 3.
a 4,
a 5.
" 6.
is 7.
‘6 8.
23 o:
3 LO.
gus tall
ie
oe 1B.
» 14,
» 165.
» 16.
a At
5 18:
» 19.
3 «20.
ee
22
» 23.
» 24.
» 28.
» 26.
ay OT:
yy 228i
w 29.
» 80.
31.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT.
PAGE
Right foot of Phalacrocorax capensis .......ccc0c ces 3
Head of Phalacrocorax capensis .....cccccceecseececeuss 6
Anatomy of the neck of Plotws ...........cccccccccceceues 12
Had Of Plotus (Ups cass sivysxsacameseenenraiiaece: 13
dint gp PULA COP OTSS* “eas cea tapnisin vigesticanavee tants a een eee 16
Colony of Malagashes, on Bird Island in Algoa Bay 18
Head of Pelecanus rufescens ..........c0ccc ccc ceeee scenes 28
ve. 9p AOR ObAIMAG we, gecnrecmnaaraweqcessausssen one 33
Tail of Disswra microscelis........c.ccccccc ccc ece eee neenes 35
Head of Disswra microscelis ....... 0. cecccceecccneeececees 36
se py OC ONTO DA cae carrcce erase temmdicue dana Suances 38
» 57 Anastomus lamelligerus .......ceceeeeeeeceee ees 42
» 9 EBphippiorhynchus senegalensis ............... 44
» 955 Leptoptilus crumeniferus........0..0 0000 cece 47
so 99, Lseudotantalts O18 vcicesccsececcecceseaesesnece 50
SCOPUS UMOKCLL A: cawceiens ga cuentas eA RASE Oar deden eens 53
Nest and eggs of Ardea goltath..........0..ccce cece 57
Head of Ardea melanocephala 1.0.00. ..c.cecccee cece 61
vi yy, Hherod tas Garcebtatesicces ve cewraiasressnacs eionwens 69
we. py DBalbuleus bts cccczaycecesk omen nar vsaiges bade sbews 74
Left foot of Butorides atricapilla ... 1.0... ceca 79
Head of Butorides atricapilla 1.0... cece ec ee ees 80
ay yp NY CLICONUN: GTISENS sis eutwron poaeancdesirieots 83
Left foot of Botawrus capensts oo... cece cceeceeeeee eee 91
Head of Botawrus capensis. ciccecceeccceeececee eee ens 92
ii apr LOWS UMMONICO: wonton veperramenmensesmeuennctior seta: 95
ah. gy, GLONOWLICUS! CALYUSiiwies vexw conensexvanaemein ven: 98
» 9) Hlagedashia hagedash 11... 0... ce cece ec tc eee ees 101
a xp Pht olew alba wccancusciseews eessov bane oon 106
v9, PReenwopterus TOSCUS oo... eee ceee eee teeeeees 109
yy 99 PhEMicopberWs MANOT ..cevececvicceveceseeeee nes 112
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
49.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
ol.
52.
53.
o4.
5d.
56.
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
62.
63.
64.
65.
66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
71.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT
PAGE
Bend of the wing of Plectropterus gambensis, show-
ing the carpal SpUL..........--2cese reset ee eee eee etee es 115
Head of Plectropterws gambensis ........secescreeeeeeees 116
Left foot of Sarcidiornis melanonota ... .sssereseeeees 119
Head of Sarcidiornis melanonota ....-..eeereeeerereeees 120
yo 97, NGbLOPUS GUTTEUS . 0. ccc cecrse nee eee eens eeen eens 122
yy ny Dendrocycnd viduata .cicceccsececrvensenereeees 125
Left foot of Alopochen @gyptiacws ....s.cceerereerseees 128
Head of Alopochen @gypttacus .....cecrerseseeeeenereeees 129
a pp COSAHOE: CONE cetendadticcnacnsmancaaaea teeta tae 132
sy aha TGS TALC EG hic in nis Sash argent oncecnd ease aT 135
43) 9p SPATULA COPCISIS sccataiicnensa visa peladentncaere ts 146
Left foot of Nyroca erythrophthalma ..........sereeee 147
Head of Nyroca erythropthalma ........0 cee vereee neces 148
» 99 Lhalassiornis leuconota: casicercasecssagicons vas 151
Tail of Hrismatird MaCCOd we. ecesceceec cece eeeceee eee ees 153
Head of Hrismaturd Maccod ....ccccccee cee eecenere ences 154
Left foot of Vinago delalandit .......60.6 cece 157
Head of Vinago delalandtt.........ccccce cect cece e cence nee 158
Left foot of Columba ph@onota .........cce cic eee ces 160
Head of Columba ph@onota .... 0. .cccececc cece cece ee ees _161
Left foot of Turtur capicola oo... ccc cece cee ce eens 166
Head of Turttr capicola ....ccceccce cecceseveee eu neeeees 170
Tail of Gina capensis, from below .............00.eeeee 174
CERO COPENSIS! sxancaraneriacit te sancaai guccme cn tus desoaeaes 176
Wing of Tympanistria bicolor, from below ............ 178
Head of Tympanistria bicolor... .cece cei ceeeeeeeees 179
yy 99 Haplopelia larvata vicceecccececccesecee ec ence ees 183
Left foot of Pterocles bicinctus ..........cccecee ee eee eee 185
Head of Plerocles bicinctus ........ccceceeeecceceeeeeee es 189
Tail of Plerocluriis namaque ........cccee cee ee cece ceases 191
Head of Pleroclwrus mamaqua .....cecec cc ccccecce ees eues 192
Left foot of Francolinus capensis .......cccccceeceeens 196
Nest and eggs with female of the Cape Redwing ... 204
Head of Francolinaus capensis .......ccceecceccececeeeees 211
ao ony PLCYNISECS SWAINSONE .ecceeccceccecececeneeeeeee 218
Left foot of Coturnix africana .....6.ccccceccece cee ceeees 220
Head of Cotwrnim africana wo... cece ccc ee ccce eee eeeee 221
yong Nemida Coronatea oo... 0.0 occ cece eceeneeeeees 229
» 9 Numida papillosa
» 9» Numida mitrata
72.
73.
74,
70.
76.
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83,
84.
85.
86.
87.
88.
89.
90.
91.
92.
93.
94.
95.
96.
97.
98.
99.
100.
101.
102.
103.
104.
105.
106.
107.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT 1x.
PAGE
Head of Guttera edowardt ...... cc... cece ccc veces neta es 235
Left foot of Turnix lepurand.... cc. ccccececceceeeeeeeeenee 237
Head of Turnix lepwrana ......... cece cece cece eee een es 239
Left foot of Rallus ce@rwlescens ....cceccccceceeeeeeeees 243
Head of Fallus caerulescens .......2cccccecssseeecesenenee 244
i jp CVO PTALCIUSIS accenoeszine cm. cexvanven ren tea uesaNet 247
yy 97 Ortygometra pusilla... cece cece een eee 251
Tail of Sarothrura rufa, slightly schematised to
show the decomposed feathers...............:00086 253
Head of Sarothrura rufa ciccccececcccensceneeseenceeneees 256
is gp COTUITICOPS WYPEST- sence candinchesarwinus vansntie 257
Fe gy LDUMO COTO IGE oc vscive cousnesed sas vaesananneds 260
Left foot of Gallinula chloropus 10... cesccececeeeeeeees 262
Head of Gallinwla chloropus.........cccecceeesee eee eeeees 263
199 Lorphyrio madagascaricnsts ........cceee econ 267
Left foot of Puslica cristata ......cccccceee cecec eee eee es 270
Head, of FUhied Crista ce sie vase cis sass wave sien « evea ve an 271
DAIL OE. OL UCD CLC IS cscs: sivs ie aie val ates wa he EN es ga 274
Head. Of PORICU POleh Se sip sie sais vais cies av aegis ey aie oats 275
ry gy) Bugeranus carwunewlatus 0.2.0... cee cece 279
ng Letrapberyx PAradised......cccccccec cc seeeeeens 282
1999, Baleartca regwlorumn oo. ccccccecscsceceseeeeeees 285
BOLEATICH FOG ULOP UM sa vets sede suss sas seinenan crane sBsiisateee os 287
GEE LOOL Ob Olts GIF Oi sies ase sss ton werzctgu nas gos ani sun aes an oa 289
lead. Of Otts Gf: sy ssisanssasss amsemranveuean sea veeewn ves 293
OS CLUES COILS: seater wed rte Sx Wen ties om HEA Render Oa Aen 804 306
Head Gf Otis; KOpt ssesansuceans answerer oman eseae ae 310
Front halves of the skulls of Gdicnemus and of
Nuwmeniws, from above, to show the difference
between holorhinal and schizorhinal nostrils...... 314
Left foot of Gdicnemus capensis together with the
claw of the middle toe, from above, enlarged to
show the- dilation. sss.sccveavassvs cas won vas ine ow. 008 cies 315
Head of Gidicnemus capensis .....cceececeeeeeeeenen eens 316
Right foot of Dromas ardeola, from inside ............ 320
Head of Dromas ardeola ..... ceceeaeee eee eene ceneenees 321
Right foot of Cursoriis rufus ..cccccceciicceceeeeeceee es 322
Head of Cursortus rufus .icccciccccscceeececneeesnvenenes 324
Head of Rhinoptilus chalcopterws.. .........cececeeee ees 329
Tail of Glareola melanoptera, from below ...... ..... 332
Head of Glareola melanoptera .....cccceseeceeeneeeeeeees 334
x.
Fig. 108.
109.
110.
111.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT
PAGE
Left foot of Actophilius africanus ......c606.. eevee es 338
Head of Actophilus africanus .......ccccceeeeeeeee eens 339
Left foot of Arenarta interpres ..........cceceeeeeee eens 343
Heads of Arenaria interpres, in non-breeding and
breeding plumages ..............cceceeeceneneeeeeenen eens 344
Bend of the right wing of Lobivanellus lateralis, to
show the carpal spur...............cccseeee eee eeseeeees 345
Head of Lobivanellas lateralis .......0.c cc ccee cence ee ee ee 347
Left foot of Hoplopteris armvatus .........0cceceeceeeeees 351
Head of Hoplopterts Armatus ..cccccecccc ccc eeeeneeeeees 353
yy ony Shephanibyd COVONALUS.... 0. ccccccecccceeee eens 356
ny. 9 Aigialitis Miaticola ........ccsceces: ceeeeecceees 365
Afgialitis tricollaris, and nest with two eggs......... 368
Ajgialitis marginata, and nest with two eggs ...... 872
Agialitis pecuarta, adults and nestlings............... 375
Left foot of Hematopus moquint ... 6.0.6 cecceeeeee eee 378
Head of Hematopus moquini ...cccccescecceccceeeeeeees 379
» 99, Himantopus candtdus .........ccccceeseeeesee ees 381
Left foot of Recwrvirostra avocetta ..........ccesee eens 382
Head of Recwrvirostra avocetta...ccccccccccseceeeee ese ees 384
Left foot of Namenius arquatus ......cccccceeeeeee ces 385
Head of Numeniwus arquatus .......ccccecceeece eee ee eens 386
Left foot of Totanus glottis ....cccceccecseeeeeeeeeeeeees 390
Head of Totanats glottis ......cceccceecce ec ceee ee eeeenenee 393
ny ony LTUNGH SUDATQUALA voice cece eee eeee ecto eee 409
Left foot of Calidris arenaria ........ cee ceceee sence ees 410
Tails of Gallinago major, and Gallinago nigripennis,
from above, to show the difference between the
LWOLB PE CIOS so sciiidnicta.sroe wath bine ats saratecgenna ean grideishorean Beraa’s 413
Head of Gallinago major ........ccceceeceec ee eeaeenen cues 415
Right foot of Larus hartlawbi, from inside ............ 423
Head of Larus hartlaubi ...... Ai gga ded bandas ati ey a 426
Tail of Hydrochelidon hybrida 1... 6.0... eee ce cece ee ees 429
Left foot of Hydrochelidon hybrida, from above...... 430
Tail of Storm vittata ......cccccccccessceceeeteeeatseeeses 433
Head of Sterna vittata, in breeding dress ............ 440
yy o9y Lthynchops flavirostrts ..ceeecececececcseeu ens 449
by y9, SECVCOTATIUS ANFATCLICUS 00... ccccccccceeeccuees 452
Left foot of Oceanites ocemivicus .....eceeceeeeeccesee eee 458
Head of Occanites oceanicis .........ecec cc cccceeeee ca eee 459
Fig. 145.
146.
147.
148.
149.
150.
151.
182.
153.
154.
155.
156.
157.
158.
159.
160.
161.
162.
163.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT
Left foot of Procellaria pelagic .....6....cccccc cee cee ee
Head of Priofintus cimerets.....c.ccccccccc cence e ee seeew eens
yong Aleagaquertis @quinoctialis ........ccce cece eee ees
wa op Cl Str eldta, MOUS soe weser ga vagaes versa ey en oes
iy yn OSS84fT AGO GiGaMbed «wwe wesserecsracearers eceses
Deeptvon: CU penises’ sey saz exe vas sion oa vei yon cok a wes 4s Hes eH ts
Bills of Prion desolatus, Prion banksi and Prion
wattatas; LrOmt MDOVE~ wecasze oes ee 203 canes UAK aks memes
Head of Diomeded exwlans..........ccccccececeeses eee eee es
Diomedea exulans, flying ..........c ccc cece eee ees
Left foot of Thalassogeron chlororhynchus ............
Bills of Thalassogeron culminatus and Thalassogeron
chlororhynchus, from above ..........60cceecc eee eeees
Foot of Podicepes cristatus ......cccccclesccceeeeeeeeenes
Head of Podicepes cristatus .........:ccccece 6 ceveeees
yng Sphentscrs demursus .....cccccccvececseereneens
Spheniscus denuwrsus, from a photograph taken
APO: NLS prscavcas ems snd jones nsusen acuiaepuseie easdne sen busta
Jackass Penguins on Dyers’ Island.....................
Head of Struthio australis, after Wolf ...............
Hen Ostrich sitting on its nest, from a photograph
Nest of an Ostrich with the eggs just hatched out,
and the cock bird in the distance. From a
PHOCOR TAP oie ccseecsies oma seannenaseseasielinr dae anied whbbau se
SYSTEMATIC INDEX.
PAGE PAGE
Order VI. STEGANOPODHS. ...... 1 Genus I. Abdimia .........0... c+ 32
576. abdimii (Licht.\... ......-0-- 32
Family I. Puavacrocoracipz ... 2 Genus IL. Dissura .........0.0e 34
. : 577. microscelis (Gray) .........6 35
Subfamily I. Phalacrocoracing ... 2 @eeus TIT Ciena 37
Genus I. Phalacrocorax ............ 2g 578. alba, Bechst. Sihawteinceice atclaeds a
564, lucidus (Licht.) voc. 4 579. nigra (Litt.) ......cccccceer ees 39
565. capensis (Sparrit.) ......... 5 Genus IV. Anastomus a1
566. neglectus (Wahlb.)..... es 580. lamelligerus, PON: wesaeicae 41
567. africanus (Giel.) wi... g Genus V. Ephippiorbynchus ...... 43
581. senegalensis (Shaw) 43
Subfamily II. Plotin@ ...........00. 11 Genus VI. Leptoptilus ............... 45
582. crumeniferus, Less. ......... 46
Genus I. Plotus ........: cece il Genus VII. Pseudotantalus ......... 48
568. rufus Lacep. d Daud. ...... 13 ! 583. ibis (Linn)... ccccceeeees 49
Family IT, SULIDA ose seeseeeess. a6 | Family I. Scopipai oo... eens 51
Gens V.. Sula: ....cscoescemecin.uss 16
ss rh See aba ie Genus L.. SCOPus weisesswnsvaasa sacar ses 51
569. capensis (Licht.) ........... 17 584. eietta Feeney eee 51
570. cyanops (Sundev.) ......-.066 20 BOS PPV nne onde
571. leucogastra (Bodd.) ......... 21 Family III. ARDEIDE 0... 00.0 Bd
Family III. Freeatip ............ 24 Il se niye Te Ardea, csanoatraieevecGacae 55
Genus I. Fregata 1.0... 22 i Soraty pagal ;
BTA: anita (Be, Vecrsommneversen 22 ud arses aged ce
ala 587. melanocephala,
Family IV. PaaitHontip2%......... 23 Childr.... eee .. 60
588. purpurea, Linn. .. 62
Genus I. Phaéthon............0.. 23; Genus II. Herodias .............. ... 64
573. rubricauda, Bodd. ............ 23 89. BUDA (LI senisacsncenaersen cane 65
; 590. brachyrhyncha, Brehm...... 66
Family V. PELECANIDE ............ 24 591. garzetta (Linn.) .........000. 68
Genus I. Pelecanus ..... .........085 24 ts pe Telanophoy= sae ants 70
574. roseus, Gel. 0.0.0... 5. se 25 593. es ued oe see :
575. ruf Gel. veces he ele aa OU OLDS
cinerea, at Genus IV. Bubuleus ......... ........ 72
Order VII. HERODIONEG..... ... 99 594. ibis (Linn)... eee 72
Genus V; Ardeolay x. casscsctenies veel 75
Family L.. CICONTID SB... sais sen cos ses 32 595 ralloides (Scop.) ............ . 75
SYSTEMATIC INDEX
PAGE
Genus VI. Erythrocnus ............ 17
596. rufiventris (Suwndev.)......... q7
Genus VII. Butorides snes TD)
597. atricapilla (Afzel.) ............ 80
Genus VIII. Nycticorax ............ 82
598. griseus (Linin.) wo... 82
599. leuconotus (Wagl.) 85
Genus IX. Ardetta........... se 86
600. payesi (Hartl.) 86
601. minuta (L207.) 88
602. sturmi (Wagl.) 89
Genus X. Botaurus ......... 91
603. capensis (Scileg.) 91
Family IV. Iprpipas ou... 94
Genus TD, Ths: sivssce sssansncanwmenenna 94
604, sethiopica (Lath.) ... 94
Genus II. Geronticus ... 97
605. calvus (Bodd.,)....... 97
Genus III. Hagedashia ...... 100
606. hagedash (Lath.) . 100
Genus IV. Plegadis ......... ... 102
607. falcinellus (Linn.) ..........0 103
Family V. PLATALEIDE ............ 104
Genus I. Platalea ..............cee 104
608. alba, Scop. scciccssseerssavenees 105
Order VIII. ODONTOGLOSS/... 107
Family I. PHai:NICOPTERID: ...... 107
Genus I. Pheenicopterus ............ 107
609. roseus, Pall. wo... ee 108
610. minor, Geoffr... ...... ce 111
Order IX. ANSERES .............4. 112
114
Family I. ANaTIDz
Genus I. Plectropterus ...............
611. gambensis (Linn.)......
612. niger, Scl.
Genus II. Sarcidiornis ...............
613. melanonota (Penn.) ........
Genus III. Nettopus ..................
614. auritus (Bodd.)
Genus IV. Dendrocyena ...
615. viduata (Linn.)
616. fulva (Gmel.)
PAGE
Genus V, Alopochen ................. 127
617. egyptiacus (Linn.) ......... 128
Genus VI. Casarca..............0608 6
618. cana (Gmel.)
Genus VIT. Anas... eee
619. undulata, Dubois ... Fr
620. sparsa, Smith oo...
Genus VIII. Nettion ............ 00...
621. capense (Gimel.) ........ eee 138
622. punctatum (Burch.) ......... 139
Genus IX. Peecilonetta ............... 141
623. erythrorhyncha (Gmel.) ... 141
Genus X. Spatula oo. ee 143
624, clypeata (Lin.)......... 0.0. 144
625. capensis (Smith)...
Genus XI. Nyroca .......... cee
626. erythrophthalma (Wied) ... 147
Genus NII. Thalassiornis... ........ 150
627. leuconota (Smith) ............ 150
Genus NIIT. Erismatura ............ 152
628, maccoa (Smith) ......0..0. 153
Order X. COLUMBA ............. 155
Family I. TRERONIDH ............... 156
Genus Te Vinag: sysgsisicigdies vecersierses 156
629. delalandii (Bp.) ...........0... 157
630. schalowi (Reichw.).. ..... ... 159
Family II, CoLuMBID# ............... 159
Genus I. Columba .............0..005 160
631. pheonota, G. R. Gray ...... 160
632, arquatrix, Temm. & Knip... 163
Genus IT, Turtureena................. 164
633. delagorguei (Delagorgue) ... 165
Genus LIL. TUrtue sasiasssesncnsemais vn 166
634. semitorquatus (Rilpp.) ...... 167
635. ambiguus, Boe. ............... 168
636. capicola (Sundgv.).......0.... 169
637. capicola damarensis, Finsch
EAT Hira nisacsinaec vac cedeniaer 171
638. senegalensis (Linn.) ......... 172
Genus IV. Gina ... ee 174
639. capensis (Linn.)...... 174
Genus V. Tympanistria 177
640. bicolor, Reichenb. ... case LTB
Genus VI. Chalcopelia ..... ......... 180
641. afra (Liir.).cccccccceeeees 180
xiv.
Genus VII. Haplopelia 182
642. larvata (Temm. & Knip) ... 182
Order XI. PTEROCLETEG......... 184
Family I, PreRocbiD® ...........0... 185
Genus I. Pterocles ...... 00......00.... 185
643. variegatus (Burch.) ... ..... 186
644. gutturalis, Smith ............ 187
645. bicinctus, Temm
Genus II, Pteroclurus
Order NIT. GALLINA. ............... 194
Family I. PHASIANIDA ............... 195
Genus I. Francolinus.................. 195
647. coqui (Smith) Ha
648. sepheena (Smith)........ 00... 199
649, africanus, Steph. ...... 0... 201
650. levaillanti (Valenc.) ........ 203
651.
652.
653.
654.
gariepensis, Smith
jugularis, Biittik. ....
shelleyi, Grant 0.00... 0...
adspersus, Waterh.............
655. capensis (Gmel.) ....
656. natalensis, Smith
Genus II. Pternistes
657. nudicollis (Bodd.) ... .
658. humboldti (Peters) ........... 216
659. swainsoni (Smith) ............ 217
Genus ITI. Coturnix 1.0.0... 0.0... 220
660. africana, Temm. & Schleg. 221
661. delagorguei, Delagorgue ... 224
Genus IV. Excalfactoria
662.
Genus V. Numida
663.
coronata, Gray ... 0 0. ee
664. papillosa, Reichw. ............ 231
665. mitrata, Pall......... 232
Genus VI. Guttera .....0.......cccceuee 233
666. edouardi (Hartl.) ........... 233
Order XITI. HEMIPODIL ......... 236
Family I. TuRNICIDAH ............... 236
Genus I. Turnix
667. hottentotta (Temm.)
SYSTEMATIC INDEX
PAGE
6€8, lepurana (Smith) ... ......-- 238
669, nana (Suwdev.) vc. cece 240
Order XIV. FULICARLZ ......... 241
Family I. RaLbIDat oo... eee 243
Genus 1, RAS scimawisniaa seaeriessoe 243
670, ceerulescens, Gimel............. 244
Genus II. Crex 4
671. pratensis, Bechst. .........+4
672. egregia, Peters
Genus ITI. Ortygometra
673. porzana (Linn. )
674. pusilla (Pall.) .........00 6. ue 251
Genus IV. Sarothrura ... ........... 252
675. lineata (Swains.) ........00. 253
676. elegans (Smith)
677. rufa (Vieill.) ......
Genus V. Coturnicops
678. ayresi, Gurney........
Genus VI. Limnobenus
679. marginalis (Bp.)......... 00...
Genus VII. Limnocorax
680. niger (Gmel.)
Genus VIII. Gallinula
681. chloropus (Linn.) 1.0.2.0... 262
682. angulata, Sundev. ............ 264
Genus IX. Porphyrio.................. 266
683. madagascariensis (Lath.)... 266
684. alleni, Thomps. ............... 268
Genus KX. Pulies o..cgcccsggeajsnwns oss ves 269
685. cristata, Gmel. ............... 270
Family II. HELIORNITHID#......... 273
Order XV, ALECTORIDE6......... 277
Family I. GRUIDE ......... cee 277
Genus I. Bugeranus ...............4.. 278
687. carunculatus (Giel.)......... 278
Genus II. Tetrapteryx ........ 281
688. paradisea (Licht.) ... 281
Genus III. Balearica ........... 283
689. regulorum (Bennett) ......... 284
Family, OPIDAG ayescsora.deatactvans 288
SYSTEMATIC INDEX
Genus I, Otis
690.
ruficrista, Smth
691. afra, G@mel o....
692. afroides, Smith ....
693. vigorsi, Smith ......
694, rueppelli, Wahid.
695. ludwigi, Riipp. ..........0.
696. cafra, Licht. ........0.. eee
697. melanogaster, Riipp.......... 302
698. hartlaubi, Heugl.
699. cerulescens, Vieull. ........ 305
700. barrovii, J. H. Gray..... ... 307
TOL. Kori, Burch. sacouessessavasnes 308
Order XVI. LIMICOL/Z. ........... 811
Family I, GipicnEMIp# ............ 314
Genus I, Cedicnemus ............... 315
702. capensis, Licht. ......... 315
703. vermiculatus, Cab. ......... 318
Family II. Dromapipa@ ............ 320
Genus I. Dromas oo... eee 320
704. ardeola, Payk. oc. 321
Family III. GuaRnoLip#............ 322
Subfamily I. Cursoriin@ ............ 322
Genus I. Cursorius
705. rufus, Gould
706. temmincki, Swains. ...... 825
Genus II. Rhinoptilus ............... 326
707. africanus (Temm.) ... 327
708. seebohmi, Sharpe ............ 328
709. chalcopterus (Temm.) ...... 829
Subfamily II. Glareoling ............ 331
Genus I. Glareola ........ ee 332
710. pratincola (Linn.) ........ 333
711, melanoptera, Nordm. ...... 333
Genus II. Galactochrysea ........... 336
712. emini (Shell.) wc, 336
Family IV. PaRRipm oo... 337
Genus I. Actophilus ...........000.... 337
713. africanus (Gmel.) ............ 338
Genus II. Microparra.........
714. capensis (Smith)
XV.
PAGE
Family V. CHARADRIIDAB ............ 342
Subfamily I. Charadriine ......... 342
Genus I. Avenaria ..............60
715, interpres (Linn.)
Genus II, Lobivanellus
716. lateralis (Smith)...........4.-
Genus III. Xiphidiopterus wi
717. albiceps (Gowld) ..........06.
Genus IV. Hemiparra ...............
718. leucoptera (Reichw.)
Genus V. Hoplopterus ...............
719. armatus (Burch.) 0.0.00.
Genus VI. Stephanibyx...............
720. coronatus (Bodd.) ............
721. melanopterus (Cretzschm.) 357
722. inornatus (Swains.) ......... 358
Genus VII. Squatarola ..... ......... 359
723. helvetica (Linn.) ... 359
Genus VIII. Atgialitis ...... 361
724, geoffroyi (Wagl.)... 362
725, asiatica (Pall.) ... ws 863
726. hiaticola (Linn.).....cccce 364
727. alexandrina (Linn.) ......... 366
728, tricollaris (Vieill.) 00.0.0... 367
729. venusta (Fisch. d Reichw.) 370
730. marginata (Vieill.)............ 871
731. marginata pallida (Strickl.) 373
732. pecuaria (Tenum.) 0.0.0.0... 374
Subfamily II. Hamatopodine ...... 377
Genus I. Hematopus............. 0. 377
733. moquini, Bp. we 377
Genus II. Himantopus ............... 380
734. candidus, Bonn.... ........... 380
Genus III. Recurvirostra............ 382
735. avocetta, Linn. ........ccs 383,
Subfamily III. Totanine ............ 385
Genus I. Numenius ................. 385
736. arquatus (Linn.) . 386
737. pheeopus (Lini.)............48. 388
Genus II. Totanus ....... ee 389
738. calidris (Linn.) ... va. 390
739. glottis (Lath.)... ...0... 392
740. stagnatilis, Bechst.
741. glareola (Lini.)
742. ochropus (Linn.)
Xvi.
PAGE
743. cinereus (Giildenst.) ......... 398
744. hypoleucus (Linn.) ........- 399
Genus IIT. Pavoncella
745. pugnax (Linn.) ..
Genus IV. Tringa ........
746. canutus, Linn.
747. bairdi (Cowes) ........ co
748. minuta, Leisl.
749. subarquata (Giildenst.) . ... 408
Genus V Calidtts 242. jescas sens dinte 410
750, arenaria (Linn.) ... cc. 410
Subfamily TV. Scolopacine ......... 412
Genus I, Gallinago..........0.0.00. 412
FHL. Major (GME) cicecesdonined an 414
752. nigripennis, Bp...
Genus II. Rostratula... ....
753. capensis (Lint.)........0..0
Order XVII. GAVIA ow. 421
Family I. LARD seisecseccasranniae 422
Genus. I. Wars sx. cs2sancwes amen 422
754. dominicanus, Licht. ......... 423
755, hartlaubi (Bruch.).... .. 495
756. cirrhocephalus (Vieill.)...... 427
Family II. STERNIDE ow... eee 428
Genus I. Hydrochelidon ............ 429
757. hybrida (Pall.)
758. leucoptera (Meisn.d: Schinz)
Genus II. Sterna
759. caspia, Pall.
760. bergii, Licht. .....
761. cantiaca, Ginel.
762. media, Horsf. ..... .....0....
763. dougalli, Mont. .. oer
764, Wibbahas Gels sencezcanservwuvnd
765. fluviatilis, Nawm.
766. macrura, Naw.
767. balenarum (Strickl.).... 442
768. minuta, Linn. ... ...... 443
769. saundersi, Hume .......... 444
770. fuliginosa, Giel. v.00... 444
Genus III. Anous
771. stolidus (Linn.) .... 446
Genus IV. Micranous ............... 446
772. leucocapillus (Gowld)......... 447
SYSTEMATIC INDEX
PAGE
Genus Vis (Gy BIS: coiode xis cen heen 447
773. candida (Girel.) ..........00 448
Family III, RyncHopip# ........... 448
Genus I. Rhynchops ................55 448
774. flavirostris, Vieill. ........0 449
Family IV. STERCORARIID®......... 451
Genus J. Stercorarius ............... 451
775. antarcticus (Less.)........0.5. 452
776. crepidatus (Banks) ». 453
777. pomatorhinus (Temm.)...... 455
Order XVIII. TUBINARES ...... 455
Family I. OcEANITIDA ............6 457
Genus I, Oceanites................0008 458
778. oceanicus (Awl) .. 459
Genus II. Garrodia.............. .. 460
779. nereis (Goutld) ... . 461
Genus ITI. Fregetta ... 0.0.0.0... 461
780. melanogaster (Gould) ...... 462
781. grallaria (Vieill.)......0....04. 463
Family II. PRocELLARIID......... 464
Subfamily I. Procellariine ......... 464
Genus I. Procellaria .................. 464
782. pelagica, Linn. .. ....... 465
Genus II. Oceanodroma ............ 467
783. leucorrhoa (Vieill.) 0.00... 467
poets 467
Genuis.L. PUPANUS: cssica ce cecenatnanase 468
784. gravis (O’Reilly).............. 468
785. kuhli (Boie).. ........ ... 469
786. assimilis, Gould . 470
787. griseus (Gmel.) 471
Genus II. Priofinus .................. 472
788. cinereus (Gmel.)... 0.0.0.0... 472
Genus ITI. Priocella .................. 473,
789. glacialoides (Smith) ......... 473
Genus IV. Majaqueus ............... 474
790. equinoctialis (Linn.)......... 475
Genus V. Cstrelata .......... 1 ATT
791. macroptera (Smith) ......... 478
792. lessoni (Garnot) .. ............ 479
SYSTEMATIC INDEX
PAGE
793. incerta (Schleg.).....0....0.- 480
794. mollis (Gould).........ccce 481
Genus VI. Ossifraga .
795. gigantea (Gmel.)....
Genus VII. Daption
796. capensis (Linn.) ...... 485
Genus VIII. Prion we 487
797. ceruleus (Gmel.) ..........
798. banksi (Smith)
799. vittatus (Gmel.) ......
800. desolatus (Gmel.)
801. brevirostris, Gould... ........
Subfamily III. Pelicanoidine ...... 493
Genus I. Pelicanoides ............... 493
802. exul (Cab. & Reichw.) ...... 493
Subfamily IV. Diomedeine ......... 494
Genus I. Diomedea..................... 494
803. exulans, Linn. wee 495
804. melanophrys, Temm.......... 499
Genus II. Thalassogeron ............ 501
805. culminatus (Gould) ......... 501
806. chlororhynchus (Gmel.) ... 503
807. layardi, Salvin oo... cee 505
PAGE
Genus III. Pheebetria ........ 0.0... 505
808. fuliginosa (Gmel.) ............ 506
Order XIX PYGOPODHS ......... 507
Family I. PopIcIPEDID# .......,.... 508
Genus I. Podicipes.............. senate 508
809. cristatus (Linn.)...... 509
810. nigricollis, Brehm ............ 511
811. capensis, Licht. .......0..0... 513
Order XX. IMPENNES .. ......... 515
Genus I. Spheniscus ......... 0.0... 515
812. demersus (Linn.) ... va 516
Genus II. Catarrhactes............... 520
813. chrysocome (Forst.) ..... ... 521
Sub-Class II. RATIT ............ 523
Order XXI. STRUTHIONES.. ... 523
Family I. STRUTHIONID&..,......... 523
Genus I. Struthio oe, 523
814. australis, Gurney .......... 525
ADDENDA ET CORRIGENDA.
P. 114.
Before ‘Genus I. Plectropterus,” insert ‘‘ Family I. Anatide.”’
P. 159. For ‘“‘shalowi” read “ schalowi,”’ and for ‘‘Shalow ” read ‘‘ Schalow.”
Pp. 237, 238. For ‘ Quartel ” read ‘‘ kwartel” (as on p. 221).
P. 249, For “ Mr. Alfred Millar’ read ‘‘ Mr, Harry Millar.”
THE FAUNA OF
SOUTH AFRICA.
AVES.
Order VI. STEGANOPODES.
THE members of this Order may be easily diagnosed by a very
obvious external character, recognisable at a glance; the feet
are totipalmate, that is, all the toes, including the first, or hallux,
which is turned forwards more or less parallel to the other toes,
are fully webbed.
Other anatomical characters are—skull desmognathous ; nasals
holorhinal; mandible not produced and recurved behind its articu-
lation with the quadrate; basipterygoid processes absent, or at
any rate rudimentary; oil-gland tufted; ceca small; leg-muscles
varying. The young are hatched blind, either naked or downy,
and pass through a long helpless stage, during which they are
dependent on their parents.
There are five well-marked families constituting this Order,
which contains the birds generally known as Cormorants, Darters,
Gannets, Pelicans, Frigate- and Tropic-Birds. Each family consists
of only one genus, except the first, to which the Cormorants
and Darters are assigned. The relationship of this Order to the
others is rather obscure; most authors connect these birds with
the Birds of Prey, which they here follow; but Garrod and
Beddard consider that the Tubinares are more closely allied to
them.
Key of the Genera.
A. Tail rounded or wedge-shaped; toes fully
webbed.
a. Middle tail-feathers not produced; nostrils
more or less rudimentary.
1 VOL. IV.
y) PHALACROCORACID Ai PHALACROCORAX
a. Bill somewhat slender and _ distinctly
hooked; wings short and rounded ............ Phalacrocorax. p. 2.
b'. Bill very slender and sharp-pointed; wings
Long AVA POMEEM. Kisssenerssesssanseceenrseneers Plotus, p. 11.
c. Bill stout and subcylindrical; nostrils
obsolete in the adults .......ce eee eeeeee eee Sula, p. 16.
ad. Bill long and flattened ; size very large ...... Pelecanus, p. 24.
b. Middle tail-feathers much elongated and
attenuated ; nostrils distinct and pervious;
bill compressed and pointed... ee Phaéthon, p. 23.
B. Tail deeply forked; webs between the toes
CMALPIDAVE: snacectwnsd vsarasarimonnndsasauaitemnadsmenss Fregata, p. 22.
Family I. PHALACROCORACIDA.
The Cormorants and Darters are diving birds with long flexible
necks and generally of black or sooty plumage. The nostrils are
small and not pervious, and the cervical vertebre are twenty in
number; the furculum is not fused to the keel of the sternum; the
tongue is very small, almost rudimentary in Pletus ; the skin is not
emphysematous, that is to say there are no air-spaces within it;
the pterylosis is nearly uniform, the feathering very thick, the
apteria or bare spaces being reduced to a very narrow tract on the
breast and another on the back between the shoulder blades.
The two genera comprising this family are very distinct in many
respects, especially anatomically. They certainly form two sub-
families.
Subfamily I. PHALACROCORACINA.
Genus I. PHALACROCORAX.
Phalacrocorax, Brisson, Ornith. vi, p. 511 (1760).
Bill subcylindrical and somewhat slender, the upper mandible
strongly hooked towards the tip; a long groove separates the culmen
from the side pieces of the bill; nostrils rudimentary ; wings rather
short and rounded, the first three primaries about equal, the third
usually slightly the longest; tail of twelve or fourteen feathers
rather short and stiffened, rounded or cuneate; tarsus short and
compressed, all the toes well webbed, the claw of the middle one
pectinate.
PHALACROCORACIDE PHALACROCORAX 3
This is a large genus, containing some forty species, which are
found throughout the whole world except, perhaps, in the Central
Pacific. Four of these occur within our limits.
Fic. 1.—Right foot'of Phalacrocorax capensis. x 2
Key of the Species.
A, Tail with fourteen feathers.
a. Larger, wing over 12:0; fore-neck and chest white P. lucidus, p. 4.
6b. Smaller, wing less than 11:0; fore-neck and
chest black, like the back............c.ceeeeeeeeeeee P. capensis, p. 5.
B. Tail of twelve feathers, plumage black throughout.
a. Larger, wing between 11:0 and 12:0; skin of
throat black ass cencncsccoscnssaaseenamenwasissawesnrinaeaas P. neglectus, p. 8.
b. Smaller, wing 8:0 to 9:0; skin of throat yellow P. africanus, p. 9.
The common Cormorant of Europe (P. carbo) has been stated
to occur in South Africa on the authority of Messrs. Layard and
Andersson, and I unfortunately confirmed what I now believe to
have been an error in a paper in the Ibis (1896, p. 522). The
example there alluded to as referable to P. carbo is undoubtedly
only P. lucidus in full breeding plumage, and I think it highly
improbable that P. carbo ever comes so far south as Cape Colony.
4 PHALACROCORACIDZ PHALACROCORAX
564. Phalacrocorax lucidus. White-breasted Duiker.
Halieus lucidus, Licht., Verz. Doubl. p. 86 (1828).
Graculus lucidus, Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. ii, no. 10, p. 56 (1858)
[Knysna]; Layard, Ibis, 1868, p. 120; Pelzeln, Novara Reise, Vog.
p. 158 (1865).
Graculus carbo (nec Linn.), Layard, B. 8S. Afr. p. 880 (1867) ; ? Gurney,
in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 867 (1872) ; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 214.
Phalacrocorax lucidus, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8S. Afr. p. 779 (1884) ;
Swinburne, P. R. Phys. Soc. Edin. ix, p. 201 (1886); W.L Sclater,
Ibis, 1896, pp. 521, 1904, p. 84; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 160 (1896) ;
Grant, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 851 (1898); Woodward Bros., Natal B.
p. 203 (1899); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 268; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i,
p. 89 (1900); Oates, Cat. B. Eggs. ii, p. 199 (1902).
Description. Adult—Crown, back of the neck, middle of the
back, rump, upper tail-coverts, and body below from the middle of
the breast to the under tail-coverts black, slightly glossed with
green; scapulars and wing-coverts bronzy-brown edged with black ;
wing-quills and tail blackish, slightly glossed with silvery-bronze ;
the throat, sides and front of the neck, upper chest and a patch
on the flanks white; tail of fourteen feathers; head with a few
elongated crest feathers.
Tris green; upper mandible black, lower mandible becoming
dull white towards the base; pouch mottled greenish and yellow;
a yellowish patch below each eye; legs black.
Length about 35:0 ; wing 12°75; tail 5-0; culmen 3°75; tarsus 2°5.
A young bird is much browner above owing to a number of
narrow whity plumes being mingled with the black, especially on
the head and neck; the scapulars and wing-coverts are silvery
rather than bronze-brown, and the white of the lower surface
extends back to the under tail-coverts, but the flanks and thighs
are black, the latter being sometimes slightly mottled with white.
Albino varieties are sometimes met with.
Distribution.—The White-breasted Cormorant is found along the
coasts of Cape Colony throughout its extent, and is probably the
bird alluded to under the name of Graculws carbo by Andersson as
occurring in Walvisch Bay, as it has been met with further north,
at Landana, in Angola, by Anchieta, while Alexander found it not
uncommon in the Cape Verde Islands; up the east coast it occurs
as far as Socotra and the Abyssinian coast. Though more usually
confined to the coast, it is sometimes met with inland.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony — Port
PHALACROCORACID AS PHALACROCORAX 5
Nolloth (S. A. Mus.), Lambert’s Bay, Berg River Mouth and Hoetjes
Bay (Stark), Dassen Island, Table Bay (S. A. Mus.), Knysna (Stark),
Port Elizabeth (Brown), Port St. Johns (Shortridge); Natal—
Hight miles off mouth of Ifafa River (Woodward); Orange River
Colony—Kroonstad (Barratt), Vredefort Rd. (B. Hamilton), Beth-
lehem, breeding in May (Sparrow); Rhodesia—Umfuli and other
Mashonaland Rivers (Marshall).
Habits.—Though not nearly so common as the next species
(P. capensis), the White-breasted Duiker cannot be called a scarce
bird. It is generally seen singly or in pairs flying along with the
characteristic flapping flight of all the Cormorants, or sitting on
a rock on the edge of the sea drying and sunning itself.
It breeds on most of the islands round the coast of the Colony,
noticeably so on Dassen Isle and Marcus Isle at the entrance of
Saldanha Bay, also at Dyers Isle off the coast of Bredasdorp, and on
a rock just outside the Knysna Heads. The breeding season seems
by no means uniform, as the birds were nesting on Dassen Island
when I visited it in July, while Stark (according to his note-book)
found young birds as well as eggs on the rock off Knysna in
February.
The eggs are like those of other Cormorants, differing only in
size ; they are pale blue in colour and covered with a coat of white
chalky matter, which sometimes wears off partially or entirely.
Eggs in the South African Museum are nearly regular ovals,
measuring 2°50 x 1:60.
Major Sparrow found a pair of this Duiker nesting in a willow-
tree on the shore of the lake at Bethlehem, in the Orange River
Colony, on May 16th. The clutch consisted of four eggs.
565. Phalacrocorax capensis, Zvek Duiker.
Pelicanus capensis, Sparrm. Mus. Carls. iii, pl. 61 (1788).
Graculus capensis, Grill, K. Vet. Akad, Handl. Stockh. ii, no. 10, p. 56
(1858) [Knysna]; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 380 (1867); Gurney in
Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 368 (1872) ; Holub d Pelzeln, Orn, Siid-
Afr. p. 842 (1882); Butler, Feilden & Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 429.
Phalacrocorax capensis, Gurney, Ibis, 1864, p. 355 [Durban] ; Sharpe,
ed. Layard’s B.S. Afr. p. 780 (1884) ; Swinburne, P. Rh. Phys. Soc.
Edin. ix. p. 201 (1886); Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 879; W. L.
Sclater, Ibis, 1896, pp. 521, 522, 1904, p. 82; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p.
160 (1896) ; Grant, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 352 (1898) ; Woodward Bros.
Natal B. p. 208 (1899); Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 92 (1900);
6 PHALACROCORACIDE PHALACROCORAX
Hellmayr. Journ. Ornith, 1902, p. 236 [Zwartkops] ; Oates. Cat. B:
Eqs, ii. p. 199 (1902).
“ Cape Cormorant” of some authors.
Description. Adult.—General colour above and below throughout
black, slightly glossed with purplish ; the feathers of the sides of
the back and wing-coverts bronzy-greenish, edged with black; chest
and fore-neck paler than the other parts of the body, of a dark
sepia brown ; tail of fourteen feathers.
Fic. 2.—Head of Phalacrocoraz capensis. x 3
Tris green ; bill slaty-black; naked skin of the throat and round
the eye yellow ; legs black.
Length about 25:0; wing 10°75; tail 4-5; culmen 2:5; tarsus 2:0.
Young birds are paler throughout, the foreneck and chest being
very pale brown. The iris is greyish at first but gradually becomes
green.
Distribution.—The Trek Duiker is found all along the coasts of
Southern Africa as far north as the Congo on the west, but not
beyond Durban on the east so far as we at present know. It is
most abundant on the western coast from Table Bay to Walvisch
Bay, and is found nesting on the following islands commencing in
the north. From all these islands guano is collected after the birds
have finished breeding. Mercury Isle (25° 49' 8. lat.), Ichaboe and
Possession (only a few), Pomoma and Sinclair on the coast of
PHALACROCORACIDZ PHALACROCORAX 7
German South-west Africa, Elephant Rock off Oliphant’s River
mouth, Islands in Lambert's Bay, Paternoster Isle, Marcus, Jutten
and Foundlings Islands near Saldanha Bay, Dassen Island, Dyers
Isle, near Danger Point in the Caledon division. Beyond this point
Trek Duikers have been observed at Knysna (Victorin), Port Eliza-
beth and East London (Rickard), Port St. Johns (not plentiful,
Shortridge), and about Durban Harbour.
Habits —The Trek Duiker is extraordinarily abundant about
the coast of Western Cape Colony; they are found along the shore
and never inland ; even in the harbour of Cape Town they may be
seen sitting in long rows about the jetties and piers, especially in
the less busy parts where there are fewer people about. They fly
to their fishing grounds in a long line, sometimes in small parties
of three or four, sometimes in enormous flocks, which must often
contain millions of birds; their flight is straight and not high above
the water or very rapid, and they flap their wings all the time.
Their food consists chiefly of fishes, but also of mussels and other
marine animals, and during the course of the year they must be
responsible for the destruction of enormous numbers. They swim
and dive with great facility ; when diving they jump up clean out of
the water and then plunge down head first. The nesting season ig
from December to July, though a few birds can be found breeding
at all times of the year. The nests are chiefly placed on the ground
in the interior of the little islands off the coasts of German South-
west Africa and of the Colony ; they are built up of sticks and stalks
of the low plants and grasses growing on the islands with little or
no lining; the eggs, usually four, but varying from two to five in
number, are of the usual Cormorant type, oval and pale blue with
a chalky white covering ; they are usually much soiled after they
have been laid for a short time, and measure about 2:15 x 1:35.
It is from this bird and from the Malagash (Sula capensis) that
the chief supplies of Colonial guano are obtained. After the birds
have left the islands this is collected from the nests on the rocks
and ground around. The amount varies very considerably from
year to year, but is usually at least 5,000 tons, and is often more.
Quite half of this amount is produced by the present species ; this
will perhaps give some idea of the enormous numbers of these birds
along the coast.
8 PHALACROCORACID/ PHALACROCORAX
566. Phalacrocorax neglectus, Bank Duiker.
Graculus neglectus, Wahlb., Oefvers. K. Vet. Akad. Forh. Stockh., 1855,
p. 214; Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 369 (1872).
Phalacrocorax neglectus, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 779 (1884) ;
Fairbridge, Ibis, 1898, p. 278; W. L. Sclater, Ibis, 1896, pp. 521, 2,
1904, p. 82; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 160 (1896) ; Grant, Cat. B. M. xxvi,
p. 874 (1898); Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 91 (1900).
Description. Adult——General colour throughout black, slightly
glossed with greenish, especially below ; sides of the back and wing
coverts bronzy brown edged with black; round the neck a few
scattered white plumelets giving a speckled appearance, and on the
rump a few white feathers sometimes very conspicuous, especially
when the bird is flying. Tail with twelve feathers only. Sides of
the face and throat much more feathered than in the other species ;
the feathers on the forehead can be erected at will to form a crest.
Tris light brown ; sometimes green on the lower half; bill black,
greyish at the tip of the upper mandible; naked skin of the eyelid
and at the base of the mandible as well as the legs black.
Length of a male (in the flesh) 30-0; wing 11-75; tail 5-5; culmen
2-5; tarsus 2:5; the female is smaller, length 27:0; wing 10°5;
culmen 2:25. The young bird is browner throughout. The white
feathers on the rump vary in development and are probably a sign
of an adult breeding bird.
There is a curious pied variety of this cormorant in the South
African Museum in which the head, upper part of the neck, wings
and tail are mottled black and white, while the upper and lower
surfaces of the body are white with a few scattered black feathers.
Distribution.—The Bank Duiker was first described by the
Swedish collector Wahlberg, who met with it on Possession,
Halifax and Ichaboe Islands off the coast of Great Namaqualand ;
from here its range extends southwards certainly as far as Simons
Bay. It was met with by Stark at Port Nolloth, and breeds on
Jutten Isle at Saldanha Bay and on Dassen Isle.
Habits.—The Bank Duiker has got its name from the fact that
for feeding purposes it chiefly frequents fishing banks where there
is a good deal of seaweed growing, and about which it finds
Crayfish (Palinurus lalandit), and Hottentot fish (Catharus blochi),
which form the bulk of its food.
It is not nearly so abundant as the Trek Duiker, and is generally
found only in small parties of three or four. It probably breeds
on most of the Guano Islands, but has been observed on Dassen
PHALACROCORACID & PHALACROCORAX 9
Island in July, by myself, and in October by Fairbridge, and on
Jutten Island by myself in September, so doing. The nest is quite
different to that of the Trek Duiker; it is formed entirely of
seaweeds—algx, polyzoa, and hydroids, matted together into a flat
cushion, and placed, usually several together, on a smooth rock close
to the sea. The eggs, usually two, sometimes three, in number, are
of the usual Cormorant type, pale blue overlaid with a chalky white
covering; they are larger than those of the Trek Duiker, and
average 2'50 x 1:60, but vary considerably in length.
This bird is extraordinarily tame when nesting, or perhaps
fearlessly attached to its nest, and will often remain there until
caught by the hand. It has a loud, melancholy cry to which it
gives vent when disturbed.
567. Phalacrocorax africanus. Reed Ducker.
Pelicanus africanus, Gmel., Syst. Nat. i, p. 577 (1788).
Carbo africanoides, Smith, Rep. Haped. C, Afr. p. 57 (1836).
Graculus coronatus, Wahlberg, Oefvers. K. Vet. Akad. Forh, Stockh.
1855, p. 214.
Phalacrocorax africanus, Gurney, Ibis, 1862, p. 154; Kirk, Ibis, 1864,
p. 388; Dresser, B. Eur. p. 169, pl. 390 (1876); Ayres, Ibis, 1880, p.
273, 1884, p. 233; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B, S. Afr. p. 781 (1884) ;
Fleck, Journ. Ornith, 1894, p. 879; W. L. Sclater, Ibis, 1896, p.
521, 1904, p. 85; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 160 (1896) ; Grant, Cat. B. M.
xxvi, p. 407 (1898); TWoodward Bros., Natal B. p. 204 (1899) ;
Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 270; Alerander, Ibis, 1900, p. 441;
Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i. p. 98 (1900); Hellmayr, Journ. Ornith.
1902, p. 236 [Pienaars River]; Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, ii, p. 207 (1902).
Graculus africanus, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 381 (1867); Gurney, Ibis,
1868, p. 264; Layard, Ibis, 1869, pp. 77,377; Gurney, in Andersson's
B. Damaral, p. 370 (1872); Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 214; Ayres, Ibis,
1877, p. 854; Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool, 1882, p, 429; Holub
d: Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 341 (1882).
“Crown Duiker ”’ and “ Long-tailed Cormorant ”’ of some authors.
Description. Adult in breeding plumage. — General colour
throughout glossy black; the scapulars and coverts bronzy grey
bordered with black, the quills also slightly washed with greyish,
but not black-edged: a few white plumelets about the sides of the
face and neck, and on the forehead a tuft of rather upstanding
black feathers forming a kind of crest. Tail of twelve feathers.
Iris bright red; bill chrome yellow, a little dusky on the ridge
and more or less barred; bare skin of face yellow; legs black.
10 PHALACROCORACID PHALACROCORAX
Length about 23; wing 8°75; tail 5-5; culmen 1:25; tarsus 15.
The adult in non-breeding plumage is brown above and below, only
the throat being of a dirty white; there are no white plumelets about
the sides of the head, nor is there any trace of a crest. The iris is
light ashy brown according to Ayres. Young birds have the head
and back of the neck brown, the scapulars and wing-coverts silvery,
with anarrow white edging and a subterminal band of black; below
dirty white washed with yellowish, most strongly on the lower neck
and upper breast.
A young nestling is covered with black down except on the top
of the head and on the throat, which are bare and yellow; the iris
is pale blue, the bill and legs black, and the webs between the toes
brown.
Distribution.—This Duiker is found throughout the greater part
of Africa from the Gambia and Upper Egypt (Fayoum) southwards.
It also occurs in Madagascar. Unlike the other African Cormorants
it is by no means confined to the sea coast, but occurs inland along
most of the rivers and on the lakes.
In South Africa the Reed Duiker is generally distributed through-
out the country wherever there are suitable conditions. The
following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Table Bay, Dassen
Island, breeding July, Saldanha Bay, breeding September, Berg
River, breeding September, Port Nolloth (8. A. Mus.), Port
Elizabeth (Brown), Port St. Johns (Shortridge), Grahams Town
(Barber), Colesberg (Arnot), and Kuruman (Exton); Natal—New-
castle, September (Butler), St. Lucia Lake, June nesting (Wood-
ward) ; Transvaal—Potchefstroom, May to July (Ayres), Pienaars
River, April (Penther); Bechuanaland—Lake Ngami (Andersson),
Nocana on the Okovango, July (Fleck); Rhodesia—Zambesi above
Victoria Falls very common (W. Scl.), Shagari, Gurbi and Kirosuro
Rivers in Mashonaland (Marshall); German South West Africa—
Possession Island, nesting (Wahlberg); Portuguese East Africa —
Zambesi (Kirk and Alexander).
Halbits.—This little Duiker is found as a rule along rivers and
about lagoons and lakes, and is by no means confined to the coast.
It is a somewhat solitary bird and has a strong and rapid flight ;
when swimming it floats very low in the water so that little of its
back is visible and only the long neck, craning to and fro like a snake,
can be distinguished ; it dives with great ease and feeds chiefly on
fish, though it will also take insects and mollusca. During the
middle of the day it spends most of its time resting on a bare branch
PHALACROCORACID PLOTUS 11
or on a sand bank sunning itself with outstretched wings drooping
on either side, and is most active early and late.
The Reed Duiker was found breeding on the Berg River in very
large numbers in September by Mr. Layard, and I have myself taken
eggs on Dassen Island in July, and on Schaap Island in Saldanha
Bay in September, while the Woodwards, when at St. Lucia Lake
in Zululand, obtained in June only young birds and no eggs. The
nests are composed of sticks and stalks, and several are often found
so close together as to be partly interwoven; they are placed on
low rocks usually in crevices on Dassen Island, but where there are
trees or low bushes, as at Berg River or St. Lucia, these are made
use of. The eggs are two or three in number and resemble those
of the other Duikers, except that they are a good deal smaller,
measuring on an average 1:90 x 1:27.
Subfamily II. PLOTINA.
Genus I. PLOTUS.
Type.
Plotus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 218 (1766)...... eee P. anhinga.
Bill slender, straight and sharp pointed, the tips of both the
mandibles serrated ; nostrils rudimentary ; head and neck slender
and snakelike; wings long and pointed, the second and third
primaries the longest; scapulars elongate, lanceolate and pointed ;
tail long, of twelve feathers, graduated and rigid, the webs of the
two central feathers being transversely corrugated; tarsus very
short, feet completely webbed, outer toe the longest; claw of the
middle toe pectinated.
The anatomical peculiarities characteristic of this genus and
subfamily are doubtless special modifications correlated with the
curious habits of these birds. The first eight cervical vertebre
(including the atlas and axis) when placed in a natural position
form a strong curve with the concavity directed forwards; the eighth
vertebra, which is very long, is almost parallel with the bill when
held horizontally ; on the dorsal surface of the ninth vertebra is a
transverse loop, termed Donitz's bridge, ossified in all the species
except P. anhinga ; through this passes the tendon of the longus
coli posterior muscle to be inserted in the sécond, third, and fourth
vertebree ; the longus colli anterior is a powerful muscle ending in
12 PHALACROCORACID PLOTUS
a long tendon, attached anteriorly to the hemapophysis of the
eighth, ninth, and tenth vertebre.
The action of pulling the head back preparatory to striking is
effected by the longus colli posterior, the actual striking movement
by the longus colli anterior. Another peculiarity in the organisa-
tion of Plotus concerns the stomach. In P. rufus, the South
African species, the second or pylorie portion of the stomach is
lined all round the opening into the duodenum by a thick coating
Fie. 3.—Anatomy of the neck of Plotws. 1—12 Cervical vertebre numbered ;
l.c.a. Tendon of the Longus colli anterior muscle; l.c.p. Tendon of the Longus
colli posterior muscle ; D. Donitz’s bridge (after Garrod).
of hairs, while extending from near the same opening into the lumen
of the organ is a conical hair-covered process which evidently acts
as a plug or valve to close the entrance into the intestine; the
details of the structure of the stomach are not the same in all the
species of the genus.
Four species of this remarkable type are generally recognised,
spread over Africa, Madagascar, South Asia, the Malayan Islands,
Australia, New Zealand, and tropical and subtropical America.
Only the one species, here described, is found in Africa.
PHALACROCORACIDE PLOTUS 13
568. Plotus rufus. Snake Bird.
Plotus rufus, Lacep. et Daud. in Buff. Hist. Nat. (18° Didot ed.) Ois.
xvii, p. 81 (1802); Grant, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 412 (1898); Oates, Cat.
B. Eqqs, ii, p. 207 (1902).
Plotus congensis, Cranch in Tuchey’s Exped. Riv. Zaire App. 4, p. 408
(1818); Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 378 (1867) ; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 214.
Plotus levaillanti, Licht. Verz. Dowbl. p. 87 (1828) ; Gurney, Ibis, 1859,
p. 251, 1863, p. 3382; Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 388; Gurney in Andersson's
B. Damaral. p- 867 (1872); Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 3891; Oates,
Mutabeleland, p. 828 (1881); Oakley, Trans. S. A. Phil. Soc. ii, p. 85
(1881); Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 8368 [Quaequae River]; Holub § Pel.
zeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 333, 2 plates of skeleton; Butler, Feilden and
Reid, Zool, 1882, p. 429; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 782
(1884); Tristram, Ibis, 1886, p. 41, pl. iii; Symonds, Ibis, 1887,
p. 836 ; Fleck, Journ, Ornith. 1894, pp. 865, 879; Shelley, B. Afr. i,
p. 161 (1896); Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 204 (1899); IJarshall,
Ibis, 1900, p. 268.
Plotus capensis, Layard, Ibis, 1869, p. 77.
Anhinga rufa, Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 95 (1900).
‘‘ Anhinga,” “ Darter’’ and ‘‘ Sweet-water Duiker”’ of some authors.
Fia. 4.—Head of Plotus rufus. x 4
Description. Adult male.—Crown, back of the neck and upper
back dark brown, very finely mottled with dark rufous and black ; the
back with a few white centres to the feathers ; lower back, tail and
wings black; scapulars, lesser and median wing-coverts elongate
and lanceolate in shape, with a median white stripe ; greater coverts
bronzy-brown on the outer web, some of the inner secondaries also
with a median stripe of the same colour; below the throat and neck
rufous ; a very narrow band of feathers bordering the throat, fore-
head and naked skin round the eye and continued for about four
inches along the side of the neck white ; above this latter a broader
14 PHALACROCORACIDS PLOTUS
black band ; lower portion of the neck and rest of the under parts
black. Tail of twelve feathers.
Iris golden-yellow ; bill greenish-silver at the base, yellowish
at the tip; bare skin of throat creamy ; legs brown.
Length (in flesh) 31-5; wing 13:5; tail 9-0; culmen 3-0; tarsus 1:5.
The female has the head and neck much paler than in the male,
both above and below, the throat being nearly white, the black
foreneck and chest are bordered on either side by a rufous band,
which runs on to the shoulder; the skin of the throat is black and
the legs and feet are of a light mud colour, much lighter than in the
male. The dimensions are about the same.
Distribution.—This species is found in Syria, near Antioch,
where it was discovered nesting by Canon Tristram, throughout
the greater part of Africa from Senegal and Suakim southwards,
and in Madagascar ; but it has not hitherto been met with in Egypt
or in Northern Africa along the Mediterranean.
In South Africa the Snake Bird is to be found along the larger
rivers, but does not, as a rule at any rate, penetrate on to the high
veld. Where suitable conditions prevail it is not uncommon. It
appears to be a resident.
The following are recorded localities : Cape Colony—Berg River,
nesting September (Layard and Stark), Zonder Hinde River in
Caledon, Zoetendals Vlei in Bredasdorp (Layard), Zwartkops,
Buffalo and Nahoon Rivers (Rickard), Chalumna near East London
(Barratt), King Williams Town (Bt. Mus.) ; Natal—Umgeni River
(Reid), Ifafa (Woodward); Orange River Colony—Modder River
(Barratt), Valsch River at Kroonstad (Symonds); Transvaal —
Marico River (Oates), Potchefstroom, Lydenburg and Pretoria
(Barratt); Bechuanaland—Lake Ngami (Andersson), Nocana (Fleck) ;
Rhodesia—Quaequae River (Ayres), Zambesi, about the Victoria
Falls very common (W. L. Sclater), Lower Zambesi (Kirk).
Habits —The Snake Bird is usually found along the banks of
the larger South African rivers, generally solitary and seated in an
upright position on a dead stump or branch of a tree, overhanging
some still, deep reach; from here it makes excursions into the
water to obtain its food, which consists almost entirely of fishes.
When swimming, its back and body are so low in the water
that only its long neck can be seen waving to and fro, thus
reminding the observer of a snake swimming, rather than a bird.
It dives with very great ease and dexterity, swimming under water
with wings partially expanded and with a peculiar jerky motion of
PHALACROCORACIDE PLOTUS 15
the neck, something like the poising of a spear before it is thrown.
When sufficiently close to the fish it suddenly throws its whole
head forward and transfixes its prey on its sharp needle-like bill,
both mandibles of which are serrated along their cutting edges. It
then rises to the surface, and after a series of upward jerks of the
head and neck, succeeds in throwing its prey up in the air, and,
opening its bill, swallows it head first. The forward jerk is effected
by a peculiar modification of the vertebrae, muscles and tendons of
the neck; the eighth cervical vertebra is elongated and larger than
the others, and when at rest forms a forwardly directed angle with
the seventh and a backwardly directed angle with the ninth ; this
kink in the neck can be straightened out by the contraction of
certain muscles, so that the head is thrown forwards. <A detailed
account of the whole structure was first given by Garrod (Proc.
Zool. Soc. 1876, p. 335).
In South Africa the Darter has been found nesting only near
My. Melck’s farm on the Berg River, where it was first observed by
Mr. Layard and subsequently by Dr. Stark. The latter’s note-book
contains the following account: ‘On September 9th, 1896, at
Melck’s farm on the Great Berg River I visited a breeding-place of
the Snake Bird on the river just above the farm. There were
numerous nests built on willow tops projecting from ten to fifteen
feet above a still portion of the river. In some places six or eight
pairs of Darters occupied a small group of willows by themselves.
In others their nests were mixed with those of Phalacrocorax afri-
canus, Ardea cinerea, Nycticorax griseus and Herodias garzetta. All
the birds were fairly tame, especially the Snake Birds, whose nests
were about two-thirds of the way up the willows, which were leafless
at that time. The nests were rough bundles of sticks; the birds
sit on the nest horizontally with head and neck drawn in. I waded
across to some trees in which some ten nests were built and climbed
to five from which I took eggs, three to five from each nest. The
nests were constructed of dead sticks roughly placed together in a
fork of the branch; they measured eighteen inches across by nine
inches deep; most of the nests had a scanty lining of green reeds
and weeds; they were coated outside with white droppings and had
the usual cormorant smell.” The eggs taken on that occasion, now
in the South African Museum, are rather smooth and shiny, white
in colour and elongate in shape: like those of the cormorant, they
have the usual underlying bluish layer, and measure on an average
2:20 x 1:40.
16 SULIDE SULA
Family II. SULIDA.
The members of this family, the Gannets and Boobies, are white
and black, or brown birds living chiefly on the open sea and
nesting generally on small islands. The characters are given below
under the description of the only genus.
Anatomical characters are—cervical vertibre, 18; dorsal vertebrae
without ventral processes; clavicle not anchylosed to the sternum ;
ambiens, femorocaudal and semitendenosus muscles only present ;
no syringeal muscles.
Genus I. SULA.
Type.
Sula, Brisson, Orn. vi, p. 494 (1760)... ee 8. leucogastra.
Bill stout and subcylindrical, the culmen defined on either side
by a distinct line ; both mandibles serrated, especially along their
apical halves, the upper mandible bent down at the tip but not
hooked, and with a distinct notch. Nostrils completely closed in the
Fic, 5.—Head of Sula capensis. x 2
adults, minute, rudimentary, and basal in the young; a naked patch
of skin round the eye and about the chin and throat. Wings long
and pointed, first and second primaries the longest. Tail of from
twelve to eighteen feathers, wedge-shaped and strongly graduated.
Tarsus very short, considerably exceeded in length by the first and
second toes, which are sub-equal ; claw of the middle toe broad and
pectinated on the inner side.
SULIDE SULA 17
This genus, containing the Gannets and the Boobies, is found
throughout the temperate and tropical seas of the world; about
eleven different species have been described; only one of these
is at all abundant about the Soutl: African coasts, while two others
probably occur occasionally,
Key of the Species.
A. A narrow bare line of black skin running down
the front of the neck for nearly six inches... S. capensis, p. 17.
B. Throat naked, but with no bare line running
down the front of the neck.
a. Plumage above and below pure white ......... S. cyanops ad. p. 20.
b, Plumage above deep sooty brown.
a, Larger, wing 17 to 18 oo... eee S. cyanops, juv. p. 20.
b'. Smaller, wing 14 to 15 wo. eee eee S, leucogastra. p. 21.
569. Sula capensis. MJalagash.
Dysporus capensis, Licht., Verz. Dowll. p. 86 (1823).
Sula capensis, Layard, B. 8S. Afr. p. 379 (1867); Gurney, in Andersson’s
B. Damaral. p. 865 (1872); Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 87; Butler,
Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 429; Sharpe, cd. Layard’s B. 8.
Afr. p. 775 (1882); Swinburne, Pr. R. Phys. Soc. Edin. ix, p.
201 (1886); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 161 (1896); W. L. Sclater, Ibis,
1896, p. 521; 1904, pp. 81-4; Grant, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 429 (1898) ;
Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 84 (1900); Harris, Essays and Photos.
p. 191, pls. xxi, lii (1901).
“Cape Gannet”’ of some authors.
Description. Adult.—General colour pure white with a slight
straw-coloured wash on the crown, sides of the head and nape;
wing-quills and primary coverts and tail-feathers brownish black,
the latter with white shafts. Tail of twelve feathers.
Iris: whitish; eyelids light blue; bill pale bluish, naked skin
round the eye extending about six inches down the throat as a
narrow band, black; legs black, line of large scales running down
the front of the tarsus, and along the front of the toes pale blue,
claws horny white.
Length (in flesh) 35:0; wing 18°75; tail 8-0; culmen 3-75;
tarsus 2°10.
A young bird is dark smoky brown throughout flecked with
white, each feather*except those of the wing-quills and tail having
a triangular white spot at the tip; in a later stage the feathers
2 VOL. Iv.
SULA
SULIDA
18
*(sLUIv py ULOLy
)
Avg vos[y ur pur
ISL prtg, wo says
aU
Q
oO
v
[ev
Jv Jo Auopog
9 OL
SULIDE SULA 19
of the breast and lower surface are banded with white and brown,
the colours being about equally distributed; gradually the bird
assumes the white plumage of the adult, the back being the last
part to change. In the young bird the bill is brownish-black,
and the legs black. The pure white plumage of the adult is not
attained until the second year.
Distribution—The Malagash is found along the coasts of South
Africa, extending as far north as Loango in French Congoland on
the western, and as Zanzibar on the eastern side.
It is specially abundant on the western coasts of Cape Colony,
and of Damaraland. It breeds on the following islands off the coast
in very large numbers. Hollams Bird Island, Ichaboe, Possession
and Halifax, off the Great Namaqualand coast; Malagash Island at
the entrance to Saldanha Bay, and Bird Island in Algoa Bay in Cape
Colony, while eastwards of this it has been observed at sea off East
London (Rickard), off Port St. John’s (Shortridge), and off Durban
(Reid). It is never met with at sea very far from the coast, nor
does it range inland except accidentally.
Habits.—The Malagash is often seen about Table Bay in con-
siderable numbers when there are shoals of fish about. It is a
powerful bird, and pounces down from a considerable height on to
its prey almost perpendicularly; just before reaching the water it
closes its wings, and dives down under water, where it can remain
for some time; when returning to the surface it seems to come
up as if impelled by a spring from below. It is also a good
swimmer.
At the end of September, or the beginning of October, the birds
in adult plumage resort in countless numbers to the breeding islands
already mentioned; the islands are flat, and are covered almost
everywhere with birds, which sit so close as to be nearly touching
one another. The nest consists of a little mound of mud and
guano, with a slight depression at the top, while everywhere
between the nest the ground is quite bare, and white with the
deposit of excrement. Only one egy is laid, and on this the bird
sits very closely, covering it with its large webbed feet; the eggs are
extremely dirty, even soon after they have been freshly laid. Their
colour is almost pure white, of a chalky texture overlying a pale
blue as in other members of the family. The eggs are almost
regular ovals and measure on an average, 3:12 x 2.
The young when hatched are covered with white down. As
soon as they are able to fly they leave the breeding islands and do
20 SULIDE SULA
not return till they are quite adult. The old birds leave the islands
in April or May, returning again in July or August.
The food of the Malagash consists entirely of fish, which they
must consume in enormous quantities. They have a harsh, raucous
ery “carra carra’’ both when flying and when seated on their
nests.
The guano produced by these birds and by the Trek Duiker,
which as a rule do not nest on the same islands, is collected after
the breeding season is over, every year, and forms a valuable asset
to the Government of Cape Colony. It is sold to the farmers at
about cost price.
570. Sula cyanops. Masked Booby.
Dysporus cyanops, Sundev., Physiogr. Sdllskapets Tidsk. i, p. 218,
pl. v (1887).
Sula cyanops, Grant, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 480 (1898); Reichenow, Vog.
Afr. i, p. 84 (1900).
Description.—General colour white except the quills, greater
coverts and tail-feathers, which are blackish brown ; chin and throat
quite naked, but the bare space not extending as a narrow band
down the front of the neck; tail-feathers sixteen or sometimes
eighteen in number.
Tris yellow; bill horn coloured, yellowish or greenish; naked
skin on the throat bluish-black to dark slate, legs and feet greyish.
Length about 36; wing 17:6; tail 7-3; culmen 4:3; tarsus 2:3.
The young birds are smoky-brown above, with a few white
feathers and pure white below.
Distribution.—This species is found throughout the tropical
portions of the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, and breeds
chiefly on oceanic islands.
Its inclusion in the South African fauna rests on a record in the
British Museum Catalogue in which an example obtained ‘at sea,
off the Cape of Good Hope”’ is noted. It is a common bird on
Ascension and nests on Boatswain Bird Island close by, whence a
series of specimens, obtained by Sir David Gill, is now pre-
served in the British Museum. In the Indian Ocean it has been
found breeding on Farquhar Island between the Seychelles and
Mauritius, by Capt. Farquhar, R.N. (Lbs, 1900, p. 63).
FREGATIDZ 2)
571. Sula leucogastra. Brown Booby.
Pelicanus sula, Linn., Syst. Nat. i, p. 218 (1766).
Pelecanus leucogaster, Bodd., Tabl. Pl. Enl. p. 57 (1788).
Sula sula, Grant, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 486 (1898); Rewchenow, Vog.
Afr. i, p. 85 (1900).
Description.—Above, including the head, neck and chest, dark
sooty-brown, breast and rest of the under parts pure white ; tail of
fourteen feathers.
Iris silvery-white to grey, bill greenish-white, becoming flesh
coloured at the base; naked skin of the throat bluish, greenish or
yellowish, legs pale greenish.
Length about 28:0; wing 15-0; tail 7-7; culmen 4:0; tarsus 1°8.
Young birds are brown above and below but much lighter than
the adults.
Distribution.—The Brown Booby is found throughout the
tropical and subtropical seas of the world, except on the Pacific
coast of America.
As in the case of the Masked Booby, an example taken ‘‘ at sea
off the Cape of Good Hope ”’ now preserved in the British Museum,
constitutes the only record of its occurrence within our limits.
This Booby is well known on the Island of Ascension, and the
skins and eggs brought thence by Sir David Gill some years ago,
are now in the British Museum.
Family II. FREGATIDA.
The Frigate birds are of large size and powerful flight, resembling
in this respect the Birds of Prey. They are oceanic in habit, and
nest only on remote oceanic islands.
Anatomical characters are: cervical vertebr fifteen in number ;
a large vomer present; furculum anchylosed at its dorsal ends to
the coracoids, and at its ventral end to the keel of the sternum ;
nostrils not pervious; ambiens and femorocaudal muscles present ;
syringeal muscles present ; skin slightly pneumatic.
The single genus contains only two species closely allied to one
another.
22 FREGATIDE FREGATA
Genus I. FREGATA.
Type.
Fregata, Brisson, Orn. vi, p. 506 (1760)... eee: F. aquila.
Bill long, slender and hooked at the tip, the lower mandible
also slightly decurved, culmen defined by a line on each side;
nostrils rudimentary, linear and basal; skin of the chin and throat
bare, forming a gular pouch; wings very long and pointed, almost
reaching to the tip of the tail, first primary the longest ; tail of
twelve feathers, very long and deeply forked, the outer feathers
being about twice the length of the central ones; tarsus short and
heavily feathered; toes with the webs deeply emarginate and
reduced ; claw of the middle toe pectinated.
Two closely allied species found throughout the tropical and
subtropical seas of both Hemispheres are generally recognised ; one
of these probably occasionally reaches our coasts.
572. Fregata aquila. frigate Bird.
Pelecanus aquilus, Linn., Syst. Nat. i, p. 216 (1766).
Fregata aquila, Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 160 (1896); Grant, Cut. B. M.
xxvi, p. 448 (1898) ; leeichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 87 (1900).
Description. Mule.—Plumage black throughout, richly glossed
above with metallic purple; tail of twelve feathers.
Iris dark brown; bill bluish-grey; gular pouch scarlet; feet
reddish,
Length about 40:0; wing 22:0; taill4-0; tarsus0°7; culmen 4:0.
Females have the whole breast white, this colour extending back
laterally to the flanks; the back is brownish-black and most of the
wing-coverts have pale brown or whitish edges; there is no gular
pouch, but the skin of the throat is plumbeous.
Distribution. —This powerful flyer is spread all over the tropical
and subtropical seas of both hemispheres, and sometimes wanders
beyond those limits. It is a well-known bird on Ascension, where
it breeds on the Boatswain-bird Islet in company with the Boobies
and Wideawakes. It has also occurred at St. Helena, the Crozet
Islands, Madagascar and Kerguelen.
There is no definite evidence of its being met with on the South
African coasts, but I have had described to me a bird which cer-
tainly appeared to be referable to this species; it was seen by my
PHAETHONTIDE PHAETHON 93
informant on the beach at Hermanus, a fishing village on the coast
in the Caledon district, in February, 1902.
Family 1V. PHAETHONTIDA.
The Tropic Birds are purely oceanic iu their distribution and
are found as a rule only in the warmer portions of the world, as
their name implies ; they combine the structure of the Gannet with
the habits of the Tern.
The chief characters are :—Cervical vertebr fifteen in number ;
palatines not coalesced, so that the palate can hardly be termed
desmognathous ; nasal apertures large and pervious ; vomer large ;
femorocaudal, semitendinosus and accessory semitendinosus present,
ambiens sometimes present, sometimes absent; skin highly pneu-
matic; eggs always spotted.
Genus 1. PHAETHON.
Type.
Phaéthon, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 219 (1766) ............ P. ethereus.
Bill strong and compressed, the culmen evenly curved but not
hooked; the mandibles serrated along their cutting edges. Nostrils
distinct, basal and linear; no naked skin about the eye or throat.
Wings long and pointed, first primary the longest. Tail of from
twelve to sixteen feathers, wedge-shaped, the two central feathers
very much elongated and attenuated. Tarsus short, toes moderate,
fully webbed, fourth toe very much smaller than the others, claw of
the middle toe slightly pectinated.
Six species of this genus, generally known as Tropic Birds, have
been described; they. are confined to intertropical parts of the
oceans of both hemispheres, though doubtless occasionally wander-
ing beyond these limits. One species is recorded from our shores.
573. Phaéthon rubricauda. Red-tailed Tropic Bird.
~
Phaéthon rubricauda Bodd., Tabl. Pl. Enl. p. 57 (1783); Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 775 (1884); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 162
(1896); Grant, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 451 (1898).
Description.—General colour white, tinged with rosy; a patch
in front of the eye and a small streak behind, shafts of the primaries
24 PELECANIDE PELECANUS
and tail-feathers except at the ends and the broad shaft stripes to
the inner secondaries, all black; the elongated and pointed middle
tail-feathers have black shafts and red webs.
Iris black ; bill yellow; legs yellow, becoming black on the webs
and toes. Length (including long tail feathers) about 33:0; tail
about 4:0; the long central feathers 19; wing 13:0; tarsus 1:25;
culmen 2°50. ;
Distribution —The Red-tailed Tropic Bird is found throughout
the warmer portions of the Indian and Pacific Oceans. 1t breeds
on Round Island, near Mauritius. The only evidence yet obtained
of its occurrence along our shores is the finding of an apparently
freshly shed red tail feather on the beach at Port Elizabeth by
Mr. Rickard, as stated by Sharpe and Layard. Captain Turbyne,
however, of the Government Trawler 8.8. Pieter Faure, recently
shot an undoubted example of this species off Mossel Bay, but,
owing to the high sea then prevailing, was unable to secure the
specimen.
Phaéthon lepturus and P. ethereus both breed on Asceusion,
the range of the former extending into the Indian and Pacific
Oceans, while that of the latter, so far as is known, does not reach
the Indian Ocean. It is possible that both these species may be
found as wanderers on the South African coasts. P. lepturus has
the basal portion of the mandible very dark horn colour, and a
white tail with black shafts, while P. @thereus is a larger bird
(wing about 11:5), with a bright coral red bill, and the back and
most of the wing-coverts are transversely barred with black.
Family V. PELECANIDA.
The Pelicans are less purely marine birds than the members of
the other families of the order. The external characters are
enumerated in the description of the genus, to which may be added
the following anatomical peculiarities: seventeen cervical vertebree ;
clavicle anchylosed to the sternum; femorocaudal and semitendinosus
muscles present ; no syringeal muscles.
Genus I. PELECANUS.
Type.
Pelecanus, Linn., Syst. Nat. i, p. 215 (1766) ...... P. onocrotalus.
Bill long and flattened, the culmen forming a rounded ridge
and ending at the tip in a downwardly curved hook ; nostrils very
small and rudimentary at the base of the groove on each side of
PELECANID PELECANUS 25
the culmen; a very large pouch of naked skin depending from
between the two somewhat flexible rami of the lower jaw and
reaching posteriorly some way down the neck; wings long but the
secondaries as long as the primaries; tail very short, of twenty-
two or twenty-four feathers, slightly cuneate; tarsus shorter than
the middle toe, reticulated and sharply ridged posteriorly ; toes
fully webbed, the claw of the middle toe pectinated.
About eleven species of Pelicans are generally recognised, spread
over the tropical and temperate regions of both hemispheres.
Three of them have been recorded from Africa and two from South
Africa.
Key of the Species.
A. Feathers of the forehead terminating in a for-
wardly directed point; general colour white
tinged with rosy pink 0.0.0... ccecceeeeeeeecesaeeeeees P, roseus, p. 25.
B. Feathers of the forehead terminating in a concave
line at the base of the culmen, only the middle
of the back washed with pink ............cccccseeeeee P. rufescens, p. 27.
574. Pelecanus roseus. LHastern White Pelican.
Pelecanus roseus, Givel., Syst. Nut. i, p. 570 (1788); Grant, Cat. B. M.
xxvi, p. 466 (1898) ; Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 101 (1900).
Pelecanus minor, Riippell, Mus. Sench. ii, p. 185 (1837) ; Elliot, Proc.
Zool. Soc. 1869, p. 580; Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 871
(1872); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 161 (1896).
Pelecanus mitratus, Licht., Abh. Akad. Berl. 1838, p. 486, pl. iii, fig. 2
(1838) ; Grill, K. Vet. Ahad. Handl. Stockh. ii, no. 10, p. 56 (1858) ;
Gurney, Ibis, 1861, p. 135 [Natal] ; P. L. Sclater, P. Z. S. 1868, p.
266 [fig. head], Holub & Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 343 (1882);
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8S. Afr. p. 776 (1884) ; Fleck, Journ, Ornith.
1894, p. 380; Woodward Bros., Ibis, 1900, p. 524.
Pelecanus sp., Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 338.
Pelecanus onocrotalus (nec Linn.) Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 881 (1867) ;
Bryden, Gun and Camera, p. 401 (with sketch) (1893) ; id. Nature
and Sport, p. 1 (1897); Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 442.
Description. Adult Male.—General colour white tinged with
rosy-pink; primary coverts and primaries black, the latter with white
shafts; secondaries varying from ashy-black at first to ashy-white
within; breast-patch pale yellow; a very slight occipital crest of
narrow lanceolate feathers; tail of twenty-two feathers (sometimes
twenty-four).
26 PELECANIDE PELECANUS
Iris deep hazel red; bare skin of the face purplish-white ; base
of the upper and lower mandibles pale purplish-white, the midrib
paler at the base, darker in the middle, shading to greyish-pink at
the nail, sides of the upper mandible pale gamboge yellow with
streaks of light red radiating from the edge, which is uniform bright
red; terminal half of the lower mandible pale greyish- yellow ;
pouch gamboge yellow; legs pale pinkish straw-yellow; webs
greyish-yellow.
Length 67:0; wing 27:5; tail 8:0; culmen 16:5; tarsus 4:5.
The female has a much longer occipital crest measuring four or five
inches and is smaller than the male, length about 59:0; wing 26:0;
culmen 13:0.
The nestling is covered with brown down throughout; the bill,
pouch and naked skin are darker brown and the legs bluish pink.
Distribution.—This Pelican, closely allied to the true White
Pelican (P- onocrotalus) found in Southern Europe, from which it
only differs in its smaller size, shorter bill and tail composed of
twenty-two instead of twenty-four feathers, is found in Southern
Asia as far as the Philippine Islands, in Africa and occasionally in
South-east Europe.
In South Africa this Pelican is chiefly found along the coast ; it
has also been met with in the Lake Ngami region in Bechuanaland,
and on the lower Zambesi, but not, so far as I am aware, at other
places in the interior.
The following are recorded localities: Walvisch Bay and Sand-
wich Harbour (Andersson); Lake Ngami, August (Fleck); Botletli
River (Bryden) ; Salt River near Cape Town (8. A. Mus.); Quoin
Rock near Quoin Point in Caledon district, breeding December
and January (W. L. Sclater); Zoetendal vlei (Layard); Knysna
(Victorin); St. Lucia Lake in Zululand (Woodward); lower
Zambesi (Alexander).
Habits.—The best account of the habits of the Pelican in South
Africa is that given by Bryden, who met with these birds in con-
siderable numbers on the Botletli River. He found that they
roosted among the reeds at night, and after fishing for their morning
meal betook themselves with wonderful aerial evolutions to a
neighbouring salt-pan, where they remained during the day, returning
to the river-bed towards evening.
Pelicans are found along the sea coasts, and in the interior only
along the larger rivers and in marshes where there is a plentiful
supply of fish, on which they feed exclusively; they fly well with
PELECANIDE PELECANUS 27
the neck bent and the head close to the shoulders, and often ascend
toa great height in the air; they also swim well and strongly, but
are said not to dive. They pursue their prey in considerable
numbers in a long line, driving the fishes before them in the shallow
water and catching them when floundering. They fill their elastic
pouches beneath their enormous bills with great quantities of
fishes, which they devour at leisure or carry off to disgorge to feed
their young.
This Pelican was found breeding, by Andersson, near Lake
Ngami; he states that the nest is built among the bushes, and that a
single white egg is laid in the month of June. It occurs about
several of the Guano Islands round the coast, but is not encouraged
at all, as it destroys a good many young Duikers. There are
eggs in the South African Museum from Dyers Island, on the
Caledon Coast, but the bird now breeds only on Quoin Rock, an
islet off Quoin Point some distance to the east of Dyers Island.
The eggs in the South African Museum are smooth long ovals of
a white colour, slightly stained with brownish ; they measure about
3°60 x 2:30.
Dr. Kirk found a Pelican, probably of this species, breeding on
a low sand island at the Kingani mouth of the Zambesi; the nests
were slight hollows in the sand with a few sticks as a platform, and
contained from two to four eggs.
575. Pelecanus rufescens. Pink-backed Pelican.
Pelecanus rufescens, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 571 (1788); Cretzschmar in
Riippell’s Atlas, p. 81, pl. 21 (1826); Gurney, Ibis, 1861, p. 185,
1868, p. 264 [Natal]; Layard, B.S. Afr. p. 282 (1867) ; P. L. Sclater
P. Z. S. 1868, p. 267, pl. 26 and fig. 4, 1871. p. 633; Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B.S. Afr. p. 777 (1884) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 161 (1896) ;
Grant, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p 474 (1898); Woodward Bros., Natal B.
p. 205 (1899) ; Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 102 (1900).
Description. Adult im Breeding Plumage. — General colour
throughout white, the interscapular region, middle of the back and
rump, flanks and under tail-coverts washed with pink; primaries
and primary coverts and their shafts black, the secondaries ashy-
black, gradually becoming white; tail-feathers twenty in number,
slightly ashy with dark brown shafts; an occipital crest of narrow
28 PELECANIDE PELECANUS
lanceolate feathers four to five inches long ; on the chest is another
clump of similar lanceolate and pointed feathers.
Iris yellowish-brown mottled darker ; bill yellowish-white, the
nail at the tip of the upper mandible orange; pouch flesh-coloured,
with fine transverse ejuidistant parallel lines ; legs yellowish-white.
Length 56:0; wing 22°5 ; tail 7-5: culmen 13:5; tarsus 3-20.
In the non-breeding plumage and in young birds the wings are
brown throughout, there is no pink wash on the back, flanks and
under tail-coverts, these parts being white; the tail is dark brown
with the base white.
Fic. 7.—Head of Pelecanus rufescens. x 4
Distribution.—The Pink-backed Pelican is confined to Africa and
Madagascar, ranging from the Gambia and Abyssinia southwards to
the Cape.
It is by no means a common bird within our limits, and is much
less often met with than the White Pelican ; in fact, so far as I am
aware, it has only been observed by Messrs. Layard and Ayres, by
the former near Cape Town and at Zoetendals Vlei, in the Bredas-
dorp district, and by the latter in Natal, in Durban Harbour. Mr.
Wood informs me that an example was recently shot about twenty
miles up the coast from Hast London, and is now preserved in the
King William’s Town Museum. )
Habits.—Ayres gives a good account of the habits of this Pelican
as follows: ‘‘ These birds frequent the bay and the mouths of rivers
on the coast; their food, I believe, consists entirely of fish. They
appear to feed in the evening and early in the morning, basking in
the sun during the day. They are gregarious, and may be seen
HERODIONES 29
in flights of from three to thirty, which occasionally come inland.
In their flight they generally form the letter V. They are found
here all the year round more or less, frequenting the most retired
parts of the bay, and are exceedingly shy and wary. These Pelicans
soar to an immense height, wheeling round and round, especially
when coming from a distance.”
T have not heard of the nesting of this species within our limits.
Order VII. HERODIONES.
This Order contains the Storks, Herons, Ibises and Spoonbills.
They are all marsh-loving birds, mostly of large size, and all have
long bills, necks and legs. The lower half of the tibial portion of
the leg is nearly always bare, and the toes are long with only
a small basal web as a rule, while the hind toe is jointed on a level
with the others in nearly every case ; the young are hatched help-
less and are dependent on their parents for a considerable time. The
‘Tbises and the Spoonbills have been considered by some authors,
especially by Garrod and Forbes, to be more closely allied to the
Wading Birds (Limicole), because of their scbizorhinal nasal bones,
but on the whole they seem to be better placed here.
The principal anatomical characters are as follows :—skull
desmognathous; no basipterygoid processes; nostrils pervious;
two carotids ; ceca present, generally small; oil gland tufted.
The Order comprises six families, representatives of five of which
are found in South Africa. The sixth contains only the Whale-
headed Stork (Baleniceps rex), a very curious type found only on
the upper Nile and Victoria Nyanza.
Key of the Genera.
A. Bill long, straight and more or less com-
pressed; only the tip sometimes decurved.
a. A distinct basal web between both the
inner and middle and outer and middle
toes, most developed between the latter ;
claw of the middle toe not pectinated.
a'. Culmen more or less ridged and straight
throughout, not down-curved at the
tip.
30 HERODIONES
a’, Under tail-coverts lengthened and
stiffened to resemble the true rec-
trices.
a, Black tail-feathers slightly forked,
and of about the same length as
the white under tail-coverts ; sides
of the face and upper throat bare Abdimia p, 32.
6%. Black tail-feathers very deeply
forked, clearly exceeded in length
by the stiffened under tail-coverts ;
face and head feathered; neck
covered with woolly down ......... Dissura, p. 34.
&?, Under tail-coverts not stiffened or
elongated to resemble the true re-
trices.
a’, Edges of the mandible meeting
throughout their length.
a', Culmen shorter than the tarsus,
head and neck feathered ......... Ciconia, p. 87.
b' Culmen about equal to the tarsus.
a*®, Head and neck feathered; a
flat frontal plate at the base
OF thie: Oi is ecascirsiren nesinuin deities Ephippiorhynchus, p. 48.
b*, Head and neck bare or with a
sparse woolly covering only;
no frontal plate .......... cee Leptoptilus, p. 45.
3, Edges of the mandible not meeting
in the middle portion of the bill;
culmen distinctly longer than the
tarsus; head and neck feathered... Anastomus, p. 41.
b'. Culmen rounded, not ridged; distinctly
down-curved at the tip; crown and
face naked. vsc:canavs os masscsimeninenwsstwese Pseudotantalus, p. 48.
b. A distinct basal web between the middle
and inner and middle and outer toes
respectively ; claw of the middle toe pec-
Eade .ccmcosanaerinusonuestnsncutcenwlaeasiageeiotwd Scopus, p. 51.
ec. A basal web between the middle and outer
toe, obsolete between the inner and
middle toe; claw of the middle toe pec-
tinated.
a’, With twelve tail-feathers.
«?. Naked portion of the tibia equal to
or exceeding the inner toe and claw
in length.
«a, Plumage grey above, varied be-
neath, large birds with long legs. Ardea, p. 55.
bl
HERODIONES
6°. Plumage white throughout, with
trains of decomposed plumes in
the breeding season ..............e0 ee
ce. Plumage slaty black, without de-
composed plumes ...........ceeeceeeee
b°, Naked portion of the tibia distinctly
less than the inner toe and claw.
a*. Mandibles serrated along their
edges towards the tips.
a‘. Culmen exceeding in length the
middle toe and claw; plumage
not principally white; no de-
composed ornamental plumes...
b*, Culmen about equal to the middle
toe and claw.
a. Plumage rufous and _ slaty,
no decomposed ornamental
plumes, but a well-developed
neck: fill susassesesnisconseneneeane
b*, Wings, body and tail white; a
train of decomposed orna-
mental dorsal plumes in the
breeding season ...........c0cc0es
c‘, Culmen shorter than the middle
toe and claw; plumage white ex-
cept the decomposed ornamental
PIUMIES ss cin wsaaagcewuio men danacawedane
b%. Mandibles not serrated but with a
distinct subterminal notch: cul-
men about equal to the tarsus ...
. With ten tail-feathers only; mandi-
bles serrated at the tips.
a’, Tarsus about equal to the middle
POS AN. CLAW ae cieniisinsmnincds eraivdaccacs
6%. Tarsus considerably shorter than
the middle toe and claw ............
B. Bill long and curved throughout.
a. Tarsus reticulated in front with hexagonal
a
ae
a,
scales.
. Whole head and neck naked; inner
secondaries prolonged to form orna-
mental plumes ........ccccecceeeeees ee eeees
Head and upper third of neck only
naked ; cranium swollen; inner se-
Condatles moral gy.ccisgedgeadeawececeains ve
Head and neck feathered, only the lores
naked ; inner secondaries normal ......
Herodias, p. 64.
Melanophoy.r, p. 70.
Butorides, p. 79.
Erythrocnus, p. 77.
Ardeola, p. 75.
Bubuleus, p. 72.
Nycticorar, p. 82.
Ardetta, p. 86.
Botaurus, p. 91.
Ibis, p, 94.
Geronticus, p. 97.
Hagedashia, p. 100.
31
32 ‘ CICONITDA ABDIMIA
b. Tarsus with transverse scutes in front;
head and neck feathered, only the lores
WAVE: «desu awcit dakciemenaiananademoabnnatadane ties Plegadis, p. 102.
C. Bill flattened, narrow in the middle and
spatulate at the tip .......cccccceeceesssee scenes Platalea, p. 104.
Family I. CICONIIDA.
The Storks are all large birds with stout, long, straight bills,
not hooked at the tip (except Pseudotantalus), and without distinct
grooves on either side; the nostrils are pervious ; the tibie half bare;
the front toes are webbed at the base, the outer one specially so,
and the claw of the middle toe is not pectinated ; the eggs are white
and the young are hatched naked and dependent on their parents
for some time. Anatomical characters are:—skull holorhinal ;
angle of the mandible not produced and recurved behind the articu-
lation with the quadrate; cervical vertebree seventeen in number ;
two separate carotids; two small ceca; no intrinsic muscles to
the syrinx (so no voice); no powder-down patches; femorocaudal,
semiteudinosus, accessory semitendinosus and ambiens generally
present ; femorocaudal and ambiens absent in some genera.
Genus I. ABDIMIA.
Type
Abdimia, Bp. Comptes Rend. xl, p. 721 (1855) ............ A. abdimii.
Bill straight, with a horny plate at the base; sides of the face
and upper throat bare ; tail slightly forked, the two central rectrices
being rather shorter than the others; under tail-coverts elongated
and stiffened so as to appear like the true rectrices and of about
the same length.
Only one species, confined to the Ethiopian Region, is included
in this genus.
576. Abdimia abdimii, IWhite-bellied Stork.
Ciconia abdimii, Licht., Vers. Doubl. p. 76 (1823); Cretzschm. in Riipp.
Atlas, p. 11, pl. 8 (1826) ; Layard, B.S. Afr. p. 815 (1867) ; Shelley,
Ibis, 1882, p. 364; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 730 (1884) ;
Ayres, Ibis, 1886, p. 297; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 159 (1896) ;
Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 267.
CICONIIDR ABDIMIA 33
Sphenorhynchus abdimii., Gurney in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 280
(1872); Oates, Matabeleland, p. 827 (1881); Fleck, Journ. Ornith
1894, p. 386.
Abdimia abdimii, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 292 (1898) ; Retchenow,
Vg. Afr. i, p. 848 (1901).
Description. Adult Male.—General colour above black, slightly
glossed with steel green and purple, more distinctly on the hind
neck; back, rump and upper tail-coverts white; wing-coverts
blackish, glossed with steel green and purple, lesser coverts almost
coppery ; wings and tail like the coverts; head, neck and fore-neck
metallic green and purple; rest of the under surface from the fore-
neck downwards, including the axillaries and under tail-coverts,
white ; under wing-coverts blackish with a metallic green gloss.
Jris greyish-brown ; bill horny-green with crimson tip; cheeks
bright lead colour; skin round the ears, in front of the eyes, nostrils
and throat crimson ; legs dull olive; feet and knees crimson ; claws
black.
Length about 30; wing 17-5; tail 7-2; culmen 4:4; tarsus 4:8.
The sexes are alike; the young differs from the adult in wanting
the metallic lustre, the head and neck being brown without gloss ;
iris light tawny-brown ; bill reddish towards the tip, greenish towards
the base; bare skin round the eye and chin red, in front of the
ear bluish; legs and feet dingy brick-red.
3 VOL. Iv.
34 CICONIIDE DISSURA
Distribution.—The White-bellied Stork is found throughout the
drier parts of Africa from Senegambia and the Upper Nile south-
wards. It is also met with in Southern Arabia, and is stated to have
wandered into Southern Spain, but does not oceur in the tropical
portion of the West Coast of Africa.
Within our limits it appears to be common during the rainy
season in the summer in parts of Griqualand West, German South-
west Africa and Rhodesia, but is very rare south of the Orange
River and has not been noticed in Natal.
The following are localities : Cape Colony— King Williams Town
(Trevelyan in Bt. Mus.), Spaldings, in Barkly, February, Makara
River, in Vryburg, January (Ayres); Transvaal—near Mooi River
in Potchefstroom dist., January (Ayres); Bechuanaland—Lake
Ngami (Chapman); Rhodesia—Matoppos (Albany Mus.), near
Salisbury, in summer (Marshall); German South-west Africa —
Damaraland, in summer (Andersson), Reheboth, January, Doorn-
fontein, March (Fleck).
Habits.—This Stork inhabits open grassy country near rivers
and swamps, and is generally met with in large flocks; it is
specially fond of locusts, and is usually found in the neighbour-
hood of swarms of this insect, but it also devours beetles, small
reptiles, fishes and other animals. On hot days it often soars to a
great height above the ground, so that it becomes a mere speck in the
blue sky.
It seems to be found in South Africa only in the summer months,
and has not been detected breeding; but in Dongola and on the
Upper Nile it nests, according to Heugliv, in July and August
about the villages, and even on the straw huts cf the natives.
Chapman remarks that the flesh of this Stork is very good eating,
but Ayres states the contrary.
Genus II. DISSURA.
Type.
Dissoura, Cab. Preuss. Staats Anz. Beilage, Sept. 1,
CL Sa SEs sassy cro Ghepa inet barlas sean teen sansa D. episcopus.
Bill long, the culmen nearly straight, very slightly decurved
towards the tip; sides of the face and throat feathered, except just
in front of the eye and on the space between the lower mandibles ;
neck covered with woolly down all round; tail-feathers black, very
strongly graduated so as to form a deep fork, and exceeded in
CICONIIDE DISSURA 35
length by the under tail-coverts, which are white and stiffened so
as to resemble the true rectrices ; legs rather short, the tarsus not
twice the length of the middle toe and claw and covered throughout
with hexagonal scales.
Fic. 9.—Tail of Disswra microscelis. x 4, from above to show the
black rectrices and the elongated white under tail coverts.
This genus is spread all over the Ethiopian and Indian regions
as far as Cochin China and Celebes. Two species are recognised
by Reichenow, who distinguishes the Indian from the African bird.
577. Dissura microscelis. Woolly-necked Stork.
Ciconia microscelis, Gray, Gen. Bds. iii, p. 561, pl. 151 (1848).
Ciconia leucocephala (nec Gmel.) Gurney. Ibis, 1859, p. 248 [Natal] ;
Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 815 (1867).
Ciconia episcopus (nec Bodd.) Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8S. Afr. p. 731
(1884) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 159 (1896); Shortridge, Ibis, 1904,
p. 206.
Dissoura episcopus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 294 (1898).
Dissoura microscelis, Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 847 (1901) ; Finsch,
Orn. Monatsb. 1904, p. 95.
Description.—Forehead and crown black, the latter streaked with
white, a narrow white band on the forehead; hinder parts of the
head and neck clothed with white woolly down; sides of the head
and chin less thickly covered with white down and spotted with
black ; lower neck, rest of the upper surface and breast black with
reddish and greenish coppery metallic reflections ; tail-feathers like
36 CICONIIDE DISSURA
the back in colour, very deeply graduated and forked, and not to be
confused with the long and strong white under tail-coverts, some of
which exceed the rectrices proper in length; below, including the
axillaries and under wing-coverts, black, with metallic gloss ;
abdomen and under tail-coverts white; leg feathering white mixed
with black.
Tris dark red; bill black, reddish along the culmen and at the
tip; legs dull reddish-black.
Dimensions (of a female); length (in flesh) 34:25; wing 18;
tail 7°0; culmen 5:5; tarsus 6:25; middle toe and claw 3:5. A
male is similar in plumage but a little larger; wing 20; culmen 6:8.
Fic. 10.—Head of Dissura microscelis. x 2
Young birds have less gloss and a basal line of white feathers on
the forehead, which gradually disappears.
Distribution.—The Woolly-necked Stork is found throughout
Africa from the Gambia and Abyssinia southwards. It is repre-
sented in Southern Asia by a closely allied species, hitherto con-
sidered identical with it but recently separated by Reichenow on
account of its somewhat larger size and different markings. In
South Africa this Stork appears to be a very rare bird. It was
recorded many years ago from the coast of Natal, by Ayres, and
there are two examples of it in the British Museum labelled Cape
Colony, while recently the South African Museum has acquired a
specimen from the St. Johns’ River in Pondoland, where it is stated
to be not infrequent. ‘
Habits.—Mr. Ayres states tbat this Stork frequents the bays and
swamps along the coast of Natal, where it wades in the receding
CICONIIDE CICONIA 37
tide after small crabs and shell fish, on which it chiefly feeds ; it ig
gregarious and not very shy, and the flesh is coarse. Mr. Short-
ridge observed a flock of six of these birds, which came down to
the St. Johns’ River in September, 1902, accompanied by a single
Black Stork. He tells me that they are known locally as the ‘“ Pied
Hadadah,” and that they visit the St. Johns’ River regularly during
the winter. This species is not known to nest in South Africa, but
in the Shilluk country of the Upper Nile Antinori noted a breeding
place, in December. The nests were on low trees at some distance
apart from one another, and one of them contained two young in
down.
Genus III. CICONIA.
Ciconia, Briss. Orn. v, p. 361 (1760) .......eeeeeeeeteet ees C. alba.
Bill straight, tapering and pointed, culmen shorter than the
tarsus, the tomiz or cutting edges of the mandibles meeting through-
out their length, and the angle at the gonys hardly marked, so that
the lower edge of the lower mandible is nearly straight ; head and
neck fully feathered except for a space surrounding the eye and a
small space on the throat; tail-coverts, both upper and lower, normal,
rather long but not stiffened or elongated, or in any way resembling
the true rectrices; tarsi long, more than twice the length of the
middle toe and covered with reticulate scales.
Three species of this genus are generally recognised, two of
which visit South Africa during the southern summer months. The
range of the genus includes the whole of the Palearctic, Ethiopian
and Indian regions.
Key of the Species.
A. Head, neck and upper back white..............0 eee C, alba, p. 87.
B. Head, neck and upper back black, with metallic gloss C. nigra, p. 39.
578. Ciconia alba. White Stork.
Ardea ciconia, Linn., Syst. Nat. i, p. 235 (1766).
Ciconia alba, Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 220 [Natal] ; Layard, B. 8. Afr.
p. 814 (1867); Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 280 (1872) ;
Dresser, B. Eur. vi, p. 297, pl. 405 (1873) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1874, p. 104;
Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 889; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 327 (1881);
Holub § Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 286 (1882); Butler, Fetlden &
38 CICONIIDZ CICONIA
Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 423; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 728
(1884) ; Seebohm, Ibis, 1887, p. 345; Kirby, Haunts Wild Game
p. 559 (1896); Bryden, Nat. and Sport, p. 44 (1897); Woodward
Bros., Natal Bp. 199 (1899); Haagner, Ibis, 1902, p. 574; White-
head, Ibis, 1903, p. 287.
Ciconia ciconia, Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 159 (1896); Sharpe, Cat. B. M.
xxvi, p. 299 (1898) ; Retchenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 345 (1901).
“Great Locust Bird” of the English, “Springhaans Vogel” of the
Dutch; ‘‘Ingolantete” of the Zulus (Woodward).
Description. Adult male.—General colour above and below
white, the wings, including the primary coverts, primaries, secon-
daries and scapulars, black, with a slight greenish or purplish gloss.
Tris brown; bill dark red; skin of pouch black anteriorly, red
posteriorly ; skin round the eye black; legs and feet reddish-pink,
claws black.
Fig, 11.---Head of Ciconia alba. x 4
Length about 46:0; wing 24:0; tail 10-0; culmen 7:0; tarsus
8-5; middle toe and claw 3:5.
The female resembles the male, and the young bird is like the
adult, but has the wings browner and not so glossy. The length of
the bill varies considerably, and in some specimens the inner wing-
quills are powdered with slaty-grey, to a greater or lesser extent.
Distribution.—The White Stork is found throughout temperate
Europe, from Spain to Germany and South Russia, extending
eastwards to Turkestan, in all of which countries it breeds. In the
British Isles it is only an irregular visitor. During the northern
winter it retreats southwards to Africa and India.
Within our limits it is found most abundantly to the north of
the Orange River, but its movements are everywhere somewhat
irregular, depending to a great extent on the swarms of locusts on
which it chiefly feeds.
CICONIIDE CICONIA 39
The following are localities : Cape Colony—Cape div. (8. A. Mus.),
Port Elizabeth, irregular visitor (Brown), King William’s Town,
irregular migrant (Trevelyan), Orange River, near Aliwal North,
February (Whitehead), Delpoortshope, in Barkly West, in summer
(Holub), Setlagoli, in Mafeking (Bryden); Natal—Upper Umkomas
dist. (Woodward), Colenso, November (Reid), Newcastle, Upper
Bushmans River and Mooi River, November, December (Sparrow) ;
Transvaal—Limpopo River in large flocks (Buckley), Potchefstroom,
rare (Ayres), near Johannesburg, common (Haagner), Lydenburg
dist., in summer (Kirby) ; Bechuanaland—Lake Ngami (Andersson) ;
Rhodesia —Ramaqueban River, near Tati, November (Oates),
Feira on the Zambesi, December (Stoehr in 8S. A. Mus.) ; German
South-west Africa—Ondonga and North Damaraland (abundant in
rainy season), South Damaraland, occasionally (Andersson).
Habits.—One of the most familiar birds of Holland and
Germany, where it enters abundantly into all popular songs and
fables, the White Stork is in South Africa specially esteemed for
its locust-devouring propensities. It usually arrives in October or
November, in large flocks of 300 or 400 birds, which disperse over
the country, and hunt for insects during the day, while at night
they resort to tall trees, generally Yellow-woods, to roost. Together
with the Wattled Starling (Dilophus carunculatus) and the Pratin-
cole (Glareola nordmannt), they follow the flights of locusts and feed
largely upon them, and in consequence of this their movements are
very irregular.
No properly authenticated instance of the White Stork breeding
in South Africa is known, though Mrs. Barber and Mr. Seebohm
both give unconfirmed rumours on the subject. Major Sparrow,
too, writes to me that in the upper part of Natal, where the bird is
commor in November and December, he has been told of the exist-
ence of nests of the species, though he has never found one himself.
In Holland and Germany the nest, which is built of sticks, and
added to year after year, is usually placed on buildings, or often on
old cart wheels set up for the use of the birds; the eggs, three to
five in number, are pure white, and measure about 2:8 x 2:1.
579. Ciconia nigra. Black Stork.
Ardea nigra, Linn., Syst. Nat.i, p. 2385 (1766).
Ardea chrysopelargus, A. A. H. Lichtenstein, Cat. Rer. Nat. Rar.
Hamb., p. 29 (1798).
Ciconia nigra, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 315 (1867); Dresser, B. Eur. vi,
p. 309, pl. 406 (1873) ; Holub § Pelzeln, Orn, Sud-Afr. p. 287 (1882) ;
40 CICONIIDE CICONIA
Sharpe, ed. Layard's B.S. Afr. p. 729 (1884); Ayres, Ibis, 1886, p.
297; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 159 (1896); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p.
808 (1898) ; Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 267; Alerander, ibid, p. 441;
Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 846 (1901) ; Haagner, Ibis, 1902, p. 574.
Description. Adult male.—General colour above dusky-brown to
black, glossed with metallic copper and green, the former strongly
predominating on the sides of the face and upper throat, the latter
round the neck and on the mantle; below from the chest down-
wards, including the axillaries, white; under wing-coverts dusky
brown. Ivis brown; bill, naked skin round the orbit and of the
pouch, coral red; legs and feet the same but darker in front of the
tarsus.
Length about 46; wing 22:5; tail 9°75; culmen 7-0; tarsus 7°5;
middle toe and claw 3:5. The female is less glossy than the male,
and the orbital skin is lead coloured, not red. A young bird is
browner than the adult, with hardly any metallic gloss; the head
and neck are pale brown, with whity-brown tips to the feathers.
Distribution.—The Black Stork has a somewhat wider distribu-
tion than its white cousin, as its range extends as far east as
Mongolia and Northern China. In winter it migrates south to
Africa and India. ‘
In South Africa it is a somewhat rare bird, and does not appear
to have been hitherto noticed in German South-west Africa. The
following are localities: Cape Colony—Cape div., February and
Touws River February (5S. A. Mus.), Knysna and Nelspoort in Beau-
fort West (Layard), Port Elizabeth, fairly common (Brown), East
London (Wood), Port St. John’s, once seen (Shortridge), Linokana in
Mafeking distr. (Holub) ; Natal— Mooi River, once seen in December
(Sparrow); Transvaal — Potchefstroom, June, on one occasion
(Ayres), near Johannesburg, rare (Haagner), Pienaars River (Pre-
toria Mus.); Rhodesia—Soa Salt Lake on Victoria Falls road
(Holub), Mashonaland, rare (Marshall); Zambesi River (Alexander).
Habits—The Black Stork is a more wary and less familiar bird
than the White Stork ; it is usually seen solitary or in small parties,
though occasionally, probably when migrating, it is met with in larger
flocks. It is fond of the mouths of tidal rivers along the coasts,
where it finds plenty of small fishes, frogs and crabs, but it also
feeds on insects in the drier country of the interior.
This Stork is a visitor to South Africa only during the southern
summer, though Mr. Wood tells me he once came across one in
midwinter (7.e. June) ; it is not known to breed within our limits.
CICONIIDE ANASTOMUS 41
Genus IV. ANASTOMUS.
Type.
Anastomus Bonn., Enc. Méth. Orn. p. 93 (1790) ....... .A. oscitans.
Bill stout and long, distinctly bowed along the culmen, and even
more so from the genys to the tip, so that the cutting edges of the
mandibles do not meet in the middle of their length; culmen
distinctly longer than the tarsus ; a small bare spot below the eye, and
on the chin between the mandibles, otherwise the face and neck well
clothed with feathers; legs short, tarsus considerably less than
twice the length of the middle toe and claw.
This genus, which can be at once recognised by its curious bill,
is found all over the Ethiopian region (including Madagascar) and
India. Two species are generally recognised, though some authors
consider the bird found in Madagascar as distinct, in which case the
number is three.
580. Anastomus lamelligerus. African Open-bill.
Anastomus lamelligerus, Temm. Pl. Col. v, pl. 236 (1828) ; Livingstone,
Miss. Trav. pp. 252, 494 (1858); Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 317 (1867) ;
Ayres, Ibis, 1869, p. 302, 1871, p. 270; Gurney, in Andersson's B.
Damaral. p, 288 (1872); Butler, Feilden d Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 428 ;
Holub & Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 289 (1882); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s
B.S. Afr. p. 782 (1884) ; Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 386 ; Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 159 (1896); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 308 (1898) ;
Marshall, 1bis, 1900, p. 268; Reichenow, 6g. Afr. i, p. 885 (1901).
“ Linongolo” in Zambesi Valley (Livingstone).
Description. Adult.—General colour above and below black,
with a coppery, purple and green metallic gloss; the gloss is chiefly
developed on the narrow stiffened plumes which clothe the mantle,
wing-coverts, lower neck and breast; the shafts of the feathers of
the breast are in addition prolonged into horny, flattened, stiff
filaments.
Tris very dark brown with an inner ring of yellowish-brown ; bill
dusky, basal half whitish ; sides of the mandibles with a series of
oblique ridges.
Length 37; wing 17°5; tail 75; culmen 7-5; tarsus 5:5; middle
toe and claw 4:'5.
The sexes are alike; young birds are browner than the adults
and have less gloss; the wing-coverts, dorsal plumes and feathers
of the fore neck and chest have whity-brown tips.
«
42 CICONIIDE ANASTOMUS
Distribution.—The Open-bill is found throughout tropical Africa
and Madagascar from the Soudan and Abyssinia southwards. It
does not seem to have been met with in the forest districts of the
West Coast.
In South Africa this species is a very abundant resident
along the Zambesi Valley and in the neighbourhood of Lake Ngami;
south of this it is only a straggler. It has not hitherto been
recorded from Cape Colony.
The following are ascertained localities: Natal—near Lady-
smith, March (Feilden); Transvaal—Potchefstroom, February,
twice, recorded (Ayres); Bechuanaland—Lake regions (Andersson),
Nocana, July (Fleck); Rhodesia—Chobe River (Bradshaw in §. A.
Mus.), Makabusi River near Salisbury, June (Marshall) ; German
‘South-west Africa—Ondonga, resident (Andersson), Ovaquenyama,
December (Eriksson in S. A. Mus.) ; Zambesi Valley (Kirk, Living-
stone, Holub and Bradshaw).
Fic. 12.—Head of Anastomus lamelligerus. x 2
Habits—This bird, remarkable alike for its curiously shaped bill
which, owing to the bowed shape of the upper and lower mandible
cannot be closed in its middle portion, and for the almost horny
stiff projections of the metallic breast feathers, is found in marshy
localities, especially along the banks of rivers ; they are usually seen
in considerable flocks on the Zambesi, where they spend their days
in the shallows fishing, while at night they roost in the trees along
the bank. . They live on small fishes, frogs, crabs, and other water
animals, but their favourite food consists of freshwater mollusca,
especially those of the genus Ampullaria, the shells of which they
crack with their powerful beaks. They breed in large societies
among the reeds in the swamps between the Zambesi and the Chobe
CICONIIDA EPHIPPIORHYNCHUS 43
Rivers; the localities are well known to the natives who collect the
young for eating purposes. Livingstone relates how 175 unfledged
birds were brought to him at Chitlane’s village in the Upper Zambesi
Valley, and that he found them very fat and delicious when roasted.
*
Genus V. EPHIPPIORHYNCHUS.
Type.
Ephippiorhynchus Bp., Consp. Av. ii, p. 106 (1855) E. senegalensis.
Bill very long and strong, about the same length as the tarsus,
with a flat frontal plate (the saddle) at the base of the culmen,
which itself is straight and strongly compressed towards the tip;
the line of the lower mandible bowed upwards beyond the genys ;
head and neck fully feathered except a narrow space round the
eye and the lores; tail normal; legs very long, the tarsus about
three times the length of the middle toe and claw ;.covered all round
with elongated hexagonal shields.
Only one species, confined to the Ethiopian Region, is assigned to
this genus.
581. Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis.
Saddle-bill, or African Jabiru.
Mycteria senegalensis, Shaw, Trans. Linn. Soc. v, p. 35, pl. 3 (1798) ;
Gurney, Ibis, 1862, p. 84, 1865, p. 275 [Natal] ; Kirk, Ibis, 1864,
p. 383; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 317 (1867); id. Ibts, 1869, p. 876;
Holub & Pelzein, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 288 (1882); Shelley, Ibis, 1882,
p. 865 [Mashonaland]; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 731
(1884) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1886, p. 297; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 159 (1896) ;
Woodward Bros., Natal B. p. 200 (1899) ; Aillais, Breath from the
Feldt, 2nd ed., p. 214, with sketch (1899); Marshall, Ibis, 1900,
p. 268; Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 441.
Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis, Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral.
p- 281 (1872); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 812 (1898); Reichenow,
Vog. Afr. i, p. 841 (1901); Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, ii, p. 108 (1902).
Description. Adult.—Head and neck all round, wing-coverts
(except the primary and some of the least marginal coverts), inner
secondaries, scapulars, upper tail-coverts and tail black, washed
with metallic gloss; base of the tail-feathers white; centre of the
back and the upper tail-coverts, and below from the fore neck to
the under tail-coverts pure white; primaries, outer secondaries and
44 CICONIIDE EPHIPPIORHYNCHUS
primary coverts white, washed with ashy, especially along the inner
webs and at the tips.
Tris brown in the male, bright yellow in the female; bill from
the base to the nostril and for the distal third, bright crimson,
the median portion” black; frontal shield (i.e., saddle) above the
nostrils, bright yellow; skin round the eye and under the bill
as also the two little dependent fleshly lappets, bright crimson ; legs
black, the tarsal joint (knee) and toes brick dust red; a bare spot
on the breast bright crimson.
Fic. 13.—Head of Ephippiorhynchus senegalensis. x
a
5
Length 57:0; wing 26-5; tail 10°75; culmen 13-5; tarsus 13-0;
middle toe and claw 4:25. The young bird is browner than the
adult, and the white of the mantle and chest is washed with brown.
Disiribution.—The Saddle-bill is found all over tropical Africa,
from the Gambia on the west and the Upper Nile Valley and
Abyssinia in the east southwards.
This Stork is everywhere in South Africa a somewhat rare bird,
though perhaps more often met with towards the Zambesi. The
following are recorded localities : Cape Colony—Kleinmont River in
Bathurst district (only once seen, Layard); N atal—(very rare, Ayres,
and Woodward) ; Transvaal—Rustenburg, April (once obtained,
Ayres) ; Rhodesia—Matabeleland (Exton in 8. A. Mus.), Nata
River in West Matabeleland, June (Holub), near Salisbury
(Marshall), lower Nuanetsi River (Millais); German South-west
Africa—Ondonga and New Barmen (Andersson) ; Portuguese East
Africa—Lower Zambesi (Kirk and Alexander), Inhambane (Millar),
near Delagoa Bay (Layard).
Habits.—Little has been recorded about the habits of the
CICONIIDE LEPTOPTILUS 45
Saddle-bill; Ayres states that it is a scarce bird in Natal,* though
a pair may occasionally be seen at low water on the mud banks in
the centre of the bay, and they also frequent the lagoons and
marshes at the mouths of rivers; when a pair are feeding together
they sometimes stop suddenly and skip or dance round and round
in a small circle, then stop and bow to each other and again resume
their quaint dance. Their food consists of fishes; frogs, crabs and
shrimps, and they are generally seen in pairs, though Millais states
that he saw a very large number all together on the Lower
Nuanetsi in the south-east corner of Rhodesia.
This Stork is not definitely known to breed in South Africa,
but there are eggs of it in the British Museum said to have come
from South Africa; they are dull white, slightly glossy, coarse in
texture and covered with minute pores; they measure about
3°05 x 2°23.
Mr. Millar came across a number of these Storks in the lower
Zambesi valley; they frequent pans and are also found in the open
plains, but are shy and difficult to approach. Their flight is gener-
ally low, though they sometimes circle to a great height in the air.
They become easily domesticated and readily catch food, when
thrown to them, with their enormous bills.
Genus VI. LEPTOPTILUS.
Type.
Leptoptilos Lesson, Traité d’Orn., p. 683 (1831) ... L. javanicus.
Bill large and stout but with no marked ‘‘saddle” plate as in
Ephippiorhynchus, the culmen straight throughout and the line of
the lower mandible but slightly upcurved beyond the genys; whole
head and neck and the upper median portion of the breast bare of
feathers, but sometimes covered, especially in young birds, with a
sparse woolly down; from the lower part in the fore-neck depends
a pouch of skin, the interior of which is in communication with the
air-sac system, and can be inflated at the will of the bird; the
pouch is not connected with the crop in any way; tail-feathers
normal, under tail-coverts composed of some downy plumes; legs
long, tarsus about the same length as the bill and more than twice
the length of the middle toe and claw, covered with elongated
hexagonal scales all round.
* Mr. Millar tells me he has never seen it or even heard of it in Natal of late
years.
46 CICONIIDE LEPTOPTILUS
The range of this genus includes the Ethiopian and Orienta
regions extending to Southern China and Borneo. Three species
are generally recognised, only one of which is found within our
limits.
582. Leptoptilus crumeniferus. Marabou.
Ciconia argala, (nec Lath.), Temm. Pl. Col. v. pl. 801 (1824).
Leptoptilos crumenifera, Less., Traité d’Orn. p. 585 (1881) ; Layard,
B.S. Afr. p. 816 (1867); Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 259; ad. in Anders-
son’s B. Damaral. p. 282 (1872); Holub ¢ Pelzein, Orn. Stid-Afr.
p. 287 (1882) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 865 [Umvuli River] ; Sharpe,
ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 734 (1884); W. Ayres, Ibis, 1887, p. 63;
Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, pp. 861, 886; Kirby, Haunts of Wild
Game, p. 559 (1896); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 319 (1898); Wood-
ward Bros., Natal B. p. 201 (1899); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 268;
Reichenow, Véog. Afr. i, p. 838 (1901).
Leptoptilus argala, Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 159 (1896).
Description. Adult—Head and neck, as far as the shoulders
and centre of the breast and projecting pouch, bare of feathers ;
general colour above black with metallic reflections, the greater
coverts, inner secondaries and scapulars with white margins; below
white throughout.
Tris brown ; bill dirty green; bare skin of the head and neck
dirty yellowish ; legs black, covered with a fine, ashy powder.
Length 40:0; wing 29:0; tail 11-8; culmen 10:8; tarsus 11:0;
middle toe and claw 4:5.
These measurements are presumably those of a female, the
male appears to be slightly Jarger—wing 31:0; tail 14:0. Young
birds have a smaller bill and the hind part of the head and neck
are clothed more or less with woolly down, with sometimes remains
of a few feathers; the edging to the coverts and secondaries is
light brown or whitish, and much less marked than in the adults.
Distribution.—The Marabou is spread over tropical Africa from
the Gambia in the west, and from Khartoum on the Nile in the
east, southwards. Within our limits it is found commonly only
along the Zambesi Valley and in the neighbourhood of Lake Ngami,
though stragglers have been reported from further south from time
to time.
The following are ascertained localities : Cape Colony—Zwart-kei
River in Queenstown division (once obtained by Bowker and Layard) ;
CICONIIDE LEPTOPTILUS 47
Natal—Escourt in 1894 (Durban Museum); Transvaal-—near Pre-
toria, Mallabas on the Limpopo River and Rooi-rand, June (W.
Ayres), Lydenburg district, not uncommon (Kirby); Bechuanaland
—Lake Ngami, resident (Andersson), in June (Fleck) ; Rhodesia—
Chobe swamps (Holub), Umfuli River, October (Ayres): German
South-west Africa—Ondonga and Damaraland, plentiful in the
rains (Andersson).
™ th hee lit vy
er
Habits.—The Marabou, which is closely allied to the well-known
Adjutant of India, is a Stork which bas adopted, to a large extent,
the habits of a Vulture. It appears where carrion is to be found,
and shares with the Vultures and Ravens in their loathsome meal.
It generally alights on a tree on its arrival on the scene, and is
powerful enough to hold its own with its competitors, chiefly owing
to its strong, sharp-pointed beak. It does not rely, however,
entirely on these sources for its food, but devours fishes, crabs
and insects of various kinds as well. The curious pouch in front
of the neck has nothing to do with the crop or digestive apparatus
of the bird, but is connected with the air-sac and lungs; it can be
inflated at the will of the bird, and often reaches a considerable size.
The Marabou is a rare bird everywhere in South Africa, and in
consequence its habits and curious attitudes and ways are not
familiar to the inhabitants as are those of the Adjutant in India;
48 CICONIIDH PSEUDOTANTALUS 3
but it often stands for considerable periods with its legs either
perpendicular or slightly straddled, its back almost in a straight
line and its head retracted down between its shoulders. When in
this position it has a ridiculous resemblance to an old gentleman
standing with his back to the fire, and in consequence it has been
frequently made use of by artists in caricature.
Andersson writes as follows: ‘It is usually seen in flocks, some-
times on the ground, and at others perched on trees. It will remain
for hours in the same position with one foot drawn up under its
body, and a number of individuals seen in this attitude through
the fantastic medium of a mirage, present a singular and ridiculous
appearance. It is a true scavenger, feeding on carrion as well as
on the most offensive offal; but it also captures living prey, such
as fishes, tortoises and-snakes.”’
Mr. W. Ayres met with the Marabou near Pretoria, just after
the first Boer War ; they came to feed on the dead mules and cattle
lying about the camp. Like other Storks the Marabou has no voice
organs or voice, but makes a clappering sound by rapidly opening
and closing its beak.
The Marabou gives its name to the beautiful soft white feathers
so-called; they come from the under tail-coverts of the bird, and
are obtained not only from the present species, but also from the
Indian Adjutant.
So far as I am aware, the Marabou has not been known to nest
within our limits. Fischer, the German collector and naturalist,
found a breeding place in East Africa near Kilimanjaro ; the nests,
about thirty in number, were built in the highest trees of the band
of forest along a river. The eggs are oval, white, and without gloss,
measuring about 3°25 x 2:20.
Genus VII. PSEUDOTANTALUS.
Type.
Pseudotantalus Redgway, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus. v. p. 550
(TB BBY ecrcayy cei cance a sstuc da basdamanndinkalundentils doladaneteh dems aude oilers P. ibis.
Bill smooth and long, slightly exceeding the tarsus in length;
the culmen rounded, not ridged and distinctly decurved at the tip ;
lower mandible slightly concave between the genys and the tip;
nostrils quite at the base of the bill, oval, and opening into a groove;
crown, occiput, sides of the face and throat bare of feathers, but
not the neck; tail normal; legs long, the tarsus about twice the
CICONIIDE PSEUDOTANTALUS 49
length of the middle toe and claw, covered with elongate hexagonal
scales.
Three species of this genus have been described, one ranging
over Africa, and two over Southern Asia as far as China and the
Malayan Islands.
583. Pseudotantalus ibis. Wood Ibis.
Tantalus ibis, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 241 (1766); Kirk, Ibis,
1864, p. 884; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 818 (1867); Gurney in Anders-
son’s B. Damaral. p. 296 (1872) ; id. Ibis, 1878, p. 256 [Durban Har-
bour]; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 211; Holub ¢ Pelzeln Orn. Stid-Afr. p.
290 (1882) ; Bryden, Gun and Camera, p. 408 (1893) ; Fleck, Journ.
Ornith. 1894, p. 886; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 160 (1896); Wood-
ward Bros. Natal B. p. 202 (1899); Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 333
(1901).
Pseudotantalus ibis, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8S. Afr. p. 735 (1884) ; id.
Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 327 (1898).
Description. Adult.—General colour above white, with a rosy
wash throughout; the wing-coverts with a strong subterminal bar
of crimson-lake as well; primaries, their coverts, secondaries and
tail black, strongly glossed with metallic green ; crown of the head,
sides of the face and throat bare of feathers; neck all round and
under parts throughout white ; the axillaries and under tail-coverts
white tinged with pink, while the under wing-coverts are much
more strongly marked with a rich crimson subterminal band.
Tris brown ; bill golden-yellow ; bare parts of the face red, with
a narrow border of yellow; feet brick-red, toes black.
Length about 46-0; wing 21:0; tail 7:0; culmen 9:5; tarsus 8°5 ;
middle toe and claw 4:5.
In the young bird the back, wings and neck are brown, and the
bare part of the face is yellow.
Distribution. — The Wood Ibis is found throughout tropical
Africa from the Gambia and Nubia southwards. It also inhabits
Madagascar.
It is a rare bird south of the Zambesi, and is apparently only
a straggler from the north, but it is not uncommon along that river
and its affluents, and in the districts about Lake Ngami.
The following are recorded localities; Cape Colony—Knysna,
February (Stark), Port Elizabeth, rare (Brown), Sterkstroom (Albany
Mus.), Nelspoort, in Beaufort West, twice procured (Layard); Natal
—Durban Harbour (Ayres) ; Transvaal—Brakfontein in Marico
4 VOL. Iv.
50 CICONIIDE PSEUDOTANTALUS
district (Holub), Potchefstroom (Barratt); Bechuanaland—Lake
region, common resident (Andersson), Botletli River (Bryden) ;
German South-west Africa — Damaraland, scarce (Andersson),
Hoaseb, on Nosob River, April (Fleck) ; Zambesi Valley (Kirk
and Bradshaw in Bt. Mus.).
Habits. The Wood Ibis is found along rivers and streams where
there are mud or sand banks, on which it searches for its food. It
also wades in shallow water for the same purpose. It is usually
seen in small parties, and is a rare bird.
Fic. 15.—Head of Pseudotantalus ibis. x 4
Dr. Stark met with this species at Knysna, in February, 1897,
and the following account is taken from his note-book: ‘‘ On the
flats, and in the shallow water left at low tide in Knysna Bay,
I noticed nearly every day seven or eight Wood Ibises. They are
conspicuous birds, from their size and glistening white plumage.
Their long yellow beaks and the bright red skin of the anterior part
of the face are also visible at a great distance. On the 26th I saw
nineteen of these birds together (including four young of the year,
known by their greyish-brown plumage), wading about nearly up to
their bellies in water, and often with the entire beak and head sub-
merged. On two occasions I noticed a fishing and wading bird
stretch out one wing to give a shade on the water, after the manner
of a Heron. Their flight is Stork-like, with neck and legs out-
stretched, and somewhat heavy and slow. On another occasion
I saw some of these birds fishing in shallow water overgrown with
grass and weeds; they stuck their widely-opened mandibles among
the weeds, and felt about apparently with their tongues. The birds
were all comparatively tame, and were often feeding within one
hundred yards of the village.”
SCOPIDE SCOPUS 51
Family II. SCOPIDA.
The external characters of the family will be found under the
description of the unique genus; in its anatomical characters it is
somewhat intermediate between the Storks and Herons. The
cervical vertebre are sixteen in number; the syrinx is typical and
provided with intrinsic muscles ; there are no powder-down patches ;
the hind toe is on the same plane as the others; of the five Garrodian
thigh muscles, the femorocaudal, semitendinosus and accessory
semitendinosus alone are present.
Genus I. SCOPUS.
Type.
Scopus Gmel., Syst. Nat. i, p. 618 (1788) ............0 S. umbretta.
Bill stout and strong, the culmen narrow and ridged, with the
nasal groove extending along its whole length; the line of the
culmen straight, decurved only at the tip; lores fully feathered ;
ten primaries, twelve tail feathers; lower half of the tibia bare of
feathers; tarsus longer than the middle toe and claw, covered with
hexagonal scales; a well developed basal web between the three
front toes, that between the middle and outer toe largest; claw of
the middle toe pectinated on the inner side.
Only one species is known, spread over the whole of the
Ethiopian region, including Southern Arabia and Madagascar.
584. Scopus umbretta. Hammerkop.
Scopus umbretta, Gmel., Syst. Nat. i, p. 618 (1788); Grill, K. Vet.
Akad. Handl. Stockh. ii, no. 10, p. 55 (1858) [Knysna]; Gurney,
Ibis, 1859, p. 248 [Natal] ; Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 833; Layard, B.S.
Afr. p. 812 (1867); Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 265, 1880, p. 268; Gurney,
in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 294 (1872); Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p.
289; Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 86; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 327 (1881) ;
Holub & Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 277 (with figs. of head, nest and
skeleton) (1882); Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 364 [Mashonaland]; Butler,
Feilden § Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 344; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr.
p. 725 (1885) ; Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 387; Shelley, B. Afr. i,
p. 159 (1896); Rendall, Ibis, 1896, p. 176; Woodward Bros., Ibis,
1897, p. 415; id. Natal B. p. 199 (1899); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi,
p. 288 (1898) ; Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 267; Alexander, Ibis, 1900,
p. 441; Haagner, {bis, 1901, p. 193, 1902, pp. 574, 581; Harris, Essays
52 SCOPIDE SCOPUS
and Photographs, p. 146, pl. 88 [nest] (1901); Reichenow, Vog.
Afr. i, p. 858 (1901); Hellmayr, Journ. Ornith, 1902, p. 236 [Pienaars
River]; Whitehead, Ibis, 1908, p. 237; Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, ii, p. 109
(1902); Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 16 [Deelfontein] ; Shortridge, Ibis,
1904, p. 206.
“Hammerkop” or sometimes ‘ Paddevanger ” (1.c., Toad-catcher) of
the Dutch; ‘“Mudlark” of Natal Colonists; ‘* Utekwane” of the
Amaxosa (Stanford); ‘Itegwana” of the Zulus (Woodward) ;
‘‘ Machanoka” in the Transvaal (Penther).
Description. Adult.—General colour above sepia brown with
here and there slight traces of a purplish gloss; a noticeable crest
on the nape; the feathers about three inches long; wing-quills
darker than the back with a stronger purplish gloss; tail also some-
what glossy, paler with a broad darker subterminal band and six
or seven narrow, rather irregular, transverse bands above; below
brown throughout, rather paler than the back, under tail-coverts
barred with darker.
Iris dark brown ; bill and legs black.
Length of a male (in the flesh) 22:25; wing 12-75; tail 6°70;
culmen 3°30; tarsus 3:0; middle toe and claw 2°35.
The female resembles the male in plumage and measurements.
The nestling is covered with white down with a slight greyish tinge
on the back,
Distribution.—The Hammerkop is found throughout the whole
of Africa from Senegal and Abyssinia southwards as well as in
Arabia and Madagascar. It appears to be a resident everywhere.
In South Africa this bird is abundant throughout the country
from near Cape Town to the Zambesi, as is shown in the following
list of recorded localities. Cape Colony—Cape, Malmesbury,
Caledon, Hanover, Middelburg and Pondoland divisions (S. A. Mus.),
Knysna (Victorin), Nelspoort in Beaufort West, breeding (Layard),
Deelfontein (Seimund), Orange River, near Aliwal North (White-
head), Port Elizabeth and East London (Rickard); Natal—near
Durban (Shelley), near Maritzburg (Bt. Mus.), Ladysmith and
Newcastle (Butler), Zululand (Woodward) ; Orange River Colony—
Vredefort Rd. (B. Hamilton); Basutoland, common (W. L. Sclater),
Transvaal—Potchefstroom (Ayres), Pienaars River Bridge in Pre-
toria district (Penther), near Johannesburg (Haagner), Barberton
(Rendall) ; Bechuanaland—Makalapsi River (Oates); Rhodesia—
Zambesi at Victoria Falls (W. L. Sclater), near Salisbury (Mar-
shall) ; German South-west Africa—Damaraland and Namaqualand
(Andersson) ; Portuguese East Africa—Chicowa on the Zambesi
(Alexander).
SCOPIDE SCOPUS 58
Habits.--This singular bird, remarkable alike for its habits and
its structure is fairly common throughout South Africa and is a
resident species. It is generally seen solitary or perhaps occa-
sionally in pairs, and never far from water either of rivers or lakes.
Here it can often be observed standing motionless and meditative
with its head drawn down somewhat between its shoulders; its food
consists of water insects, frogs, and small fishes, which it obtains
Fig. 16.—-Scopius awmobretta.
by searching along the shallows of the rivers and marshes. It
is chiefly seen at dusk and rises with a somewhat laboured flight,
giving utterance to a harsh, metallic note; when two or three
meet together they often go through a number of weird gambols;
Marshall describes meeting three of them solemnly dancing round
one another bowing and flapping their wings and exhibiting all sorts
of strange antics, which were all the more ludicrous in so stolid-
looking a bird; they are much attached to particular localities and
seem to remain there for many years.
54 ARDEIDE
The nest has often been described; it is figured by Holub, while
Harris reproduces in his Sketches a photograph of one taken by
him. It is a huge structure composed of sticks and twigs, often
with reeds and grass all cemented together with mud; sometimes it
is placed on the ground, usually on the side of a krantz or in some
very inaccessible spot, sometimes in a tree, generally low down,
‘but always near water; the entrance is on the most inaccessible
side and leads by a narrow passage into a small rounded central
chamber plastered with mud; the outside is often ornamented with
stones, old tins, bones, and other objects. Haagner measured one
which was a yard and a half in diameter across the top and a yard
in height ; it was more or less flat on the top and pointed below
and somewhat dome shaped, and so strongly constructed that he
was able to stand upon the top without causing any damage.
The usual number of eggs is four, laid generally in October, but
sometimes earlier; Captain Reid obtained his on May 30; there is
a clutch of four in the South African Museum taken by Major
Sparrow, at Waschbank, in Natal, on October 9; they are white
and slightly chalky, without any gloss but quite smooth; they
measure about 1:80 x 1°40.
Family III. ARDEIDA.
This family is a large one, containing the Herons, Egrets,
Bitterns, and their allies. The bill is slender and straight, with the
usual groove, and is generally notched at the tip; there are eleven
primaries, and the number of the rectrices varies from eight to
twelve; the hind toe is on a level with the others; between the
outer and middle toes there is a broad basal web, which is nearly
obsolete between the other two; the claw of the middle toe is
pectinated ; the eggs are generally blue ; the young when hatched
are covered with hairy down, and are fed for some time by the
parents.
Anatomical characters are as follows :—From eighteen to twenty
cervical vertebre; skull holorhinal; angle of the mandible not
produced beyond the articulation of the quadrate; syrinx with
intrinsic muscles; two fused carotids ; femorocaudal, semitendinosus
and accessory semitendinosus muscles present, the first named
occasionally wanting; four to six powder-down patches. The key
of the genera will be found on p. 29.
ARDEIDE ARDEA 55
Genus I. ARDEA.
Type.
Ardea Briss. Orn. v, p. 391 (1760)..........cceeeeeeeeeen ees A. cinerea.
Bill long, straight and pointed, at least two-thirds the length of
the tarsus; grooved on the sides of the upper mandible; nostrils
elongated slits towards the base of the groove; a bare space from:
the base of the bill to the eye; wings long, but the primaries not
longer than the secondaries; tail short, nearly square, of twelve
feathers ; legs long, lower third at least of the tibio-tarsus bare of
feathers, the bare portion exceeding the inner toe and claw; tarsus
scutellated in front; head crested, feathers at the base of the neck
and on the scapular region, elongated to form ornamental plumes.
Sharpe has recently placed the Purple Heron in a separate
genus, under the title of Phoyx, on account of the shortness of its
tarsus, and the length of the claw of the hallux. The old arrange-
ment has here been retained, and under these circumstances the
genus contains some eleven species spread over the greater portion
of the Earth’s surface. Four of them inhabit Africa.
Key of the Species.
A. Of large size, wing over 20; crown, nape and
sides of the neck rufous ........cccceceeseeeeeeee ee A. goliath, p. 55.
B. Of intermediate size, wing about 18; crown,
back and sides of the neck white, sides of
the head, nape and crest black ..........ccceeeee A. cinerea, p. 58.
C. Of small size, wing under 16.
a. Crown, nape and sides of the neck black .... A. melanocephala, p. 60.
b. Crown, nape and back of the neck black,
sides of the neck rufous .............0065 seine A, purpurea, p. 62.
585. Ardea goliath. Goliath Heron.
Ardea goliath, Cretzschm., in Riipp. Atlas, p. 39, pl. 26 (1826) ;
Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 220, 1868, p. 256 [Natal] ; Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p.
332; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 305 (1867); id. Ibis, 1869, p. 376;
Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 285 (1872); Ayres, Ibis,
1873, p. 283, 1877, p. 349; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 193; Butler, Stray
Feathers, x, p. 149 (1881); Holub & Pelz., Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 278
(1882) ; Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 343; Shelley, Ibts,
1882, p. 363 [Mashonaland] ; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8S. Afr. p. 707
(1884); Fleck, Journ. Ornith, 1894, p. 387; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 157
(1896); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 66 (1898); Woodward bros.,
56 ARDEIDE ARDEA
Natal B. p. 196 (1899); Alerander, Ibis, 1900, p. 440; Reichenow,
Taq. Afr. i, p. 376 (1901); Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, ii, p. 112 (1902).
Description. Adult.—Crown of the head, back and sides of the
neck rich rufous brown; chin and throat white; a black band,
narrow above, becoming wider below along the front of the lower half
of the neck, the feathers lower down mottled black and white, and
elongated into narrow dependent plumes; back, wings, tail and
sides of the lower neck and of the breast slaty, some of the feathers
of the back and breast elongated and produced; edge of the wing
varied with white and rufous; whole of the under parts rich maroon.
Iris bright gamboge yellow; bill black, lower part of the lower
mandible pale horny, skin round the eye yellowish-green ; legs and
feet black. Length 53; wing 225; tail 9:0; culmen 6:5; tarsus
8:0; middle toe 5°75.
The young bird is much duller than the adult; the wing-coverts
are all tipped with rusty rufous; the breast is white, broadly
streaked with rusty edges to the feathers,
Distribution.—The Goliath is found throughout the greater part
of Africa from Senegal in the west and from the neighbourhood of
Suakim in the east, southwards to Cape Colony. Jt has also been
met with in Madagascar. It has only once been obtained in India,
many years ago, and twice in Ceylon.
In South Africa it is nowhere common, though generally dis-
tributed in suitable localities. It appears to be plentiful near
Potchefstroom, where several observers have seen or obtained
specimens.
The following are localities: Cape Colony—Zoetendals vlei, in
Bredasdorp (reported by Verreaux and Atmore), near East London,
October (Wood), near Port St. Johns (Shortridge), Orange River
near Upington (Bradshaw); Natal—Durban Harbour (Ayres and
Gordge), Ifafa (Woodward), Newcastle district, breeding October,
(Butler and Reid); Transvaal—near Potchefstroom, in Mooi River
swamps (Arnotin 8. A. Mus., Barratt, Ayres and Roberts); Bechuana-
land—Botletli River and Lake Ngami (Andersson) ; Rhodesia—Chobe
River swamps (Bradshaw), Mashonaland, only seen (Ayres); Ger.
man South-west Africa—Okavango River and Damaraland, in rains
(Andersson) ; Portuguese Hast Africa—Zambesi (Alexander and
Kirk).
Habits.—This bird, the largest and finest of all the world’s
Herons, is not gregarious, and is generally seen singly or in pairs; it
haunts the mouths of the rivers and bays along the coast, and is
ARDEIDH ARDEA 57
only found inland where fair-sized pieces of water exist; it appears
to feed chiefly, at any rate, on fishes, which it obtains by wading, often
in fairly deep water, up to its body, transfixing them with its power-
ful beak ; Ayres found a two-pound Catfish (Clarias) in the stomach
of one individual. When gorged it retires to digest, resting in
Durban Harbour on the ground under the mangrove trees. It has
a strong, hoarse, croaking voice, somewhat resembling the barking
of a dog.
Fic. 17. —Nest and eggs of Ardea goliath, from a photograph by
Mr, Austen Roberts.
Colonel Butler and Captain Reid found the Goliath nesting in a
swamp near the junction of the Ingagane and Buffalo Rivers on the
Utrecht side of the river on October 17th. The nest was placed
upon the top of a patch of green sedge beaten down by wind and
rain in the centre of the vlei; it was raised about two feet above
the level of the water, and was composed of dry sedge and reeds, it
was about two feet in diameter and very flat on the top; at the time
58 ARDEID ARDEA
the male was on the nest, which contained three fresh eggs. Mr.
Austen Roberts, of Potchefstroom, has recently sent a clutch of
three eggs of this Heron to the South African Museum; these were
taken at Kromdraai, on the Vaal River, near Potchefstroom, on
October 8rd. In this case the nest, a photograph of which is here
reproduced (Fig. 17), was built on the branch of a tall thorn tree
overhanging the river about fifty feet above the ground, and was
flat and composed of sticks throughout.
The eggs, which are oval and nearly equally rounded at
both ends, are pale blue, without any markings, and measure
280 x 2-0.
586. Ardea cinerea. Grey Heron.
Ardea cinerea, Linn., Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 236 (1766); Gritl, K.
Vet. Akad. Handl. ii, no. 10, p. 55 (1858); Gurney, Ibis, 1859, p. 248,
1860, p. 205 [Natal] ; Layard, B.S. Afr. p. 806 (1867); id. Ibis,
1869, p. 876; Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 284 (1872);
Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 8390; Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 86; Dresser, B.
Eur., vi, p. 207, pl. 895 (1875); Ayres, Ibis, 1877, p. 849; Holub &
Pelz., Orn. Siid-Afr, p. 261 (1882); Butler, Fetlden § Reid, Zool.
1882, p. 348; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 708 (1884) ;
Symonds, Ibis, 1887, p. 8385; Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 887;
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 157 (1896); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 74
(1898) ; Woodward Bros., Natal B. p. 195 (1899); Marshall, Ibis,
1900, . 266; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 379 (1901); Sharpe, Ibis
1904, p. 17 [Deelfontein] ; Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 205.
Description. Adult male.-—Crown and forehead, face and neck
all round, including the drooping plumes at the base of the neck,
white; a broad black patch from behind the eye meets its fellow
on the other side and separates the crown from the face; this patch
ends in a nape crest and has two much elongated nuchal plumes;
along the front of the neck for its lower two-thirds is a double series
of elongate black patches ; general colour above pale pearly-slate,
becoming almost white on the decomposed and elongated scapulars,
and also on the wing-coverts; wing-quills and primary coverts dark
slate; edge of the wing white; tail like the back; on each side
of the breast a patch of drooping purplish black feathers, con-
tinued back to about the vent, centre of the breast, abdomen,
under tail-coverts and thighs white; sides of the body, axillaries
and under wing-coverts pearly-slate.
ARDEIDE ARDFA 59
Tris yellow; naked skin round the eye yellowish; bill yellow
with a greenish tinge; legs and feet greenish-yellow.
Length (in the flesh) 40:5; wing 18; tail 6-5; culmen 45;
tarsus 6°25; middle toe 4:0.
The female is nearly similar, but, as a rule, the crest feathers
are not so long, though this is hardly the case in a breeding
female recently acquired by the South African Museum. The
young bird is darker and the colours are not so well defined,
the crown and the back of the neck are slaty and the black band
surrounding the crown is hardly defined; the decomposed plumes
are absent from the fore-neck and scapulars, and the black patch on
each side of the crop hardly developed.
Distribution.—The Grey Heron is a widely-spread and common
bird throughout the greater part of its range, which is very exten-
sive, including the whole of the Old World up to about 60° N. Lat. ;
it is to be met with in most parts of Africa, including Madagascar ;
while within our limits it is common nearly everywhere, and
appears to be generally a resident throughout the year.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Cape
division, very common (W. L. Scelater), Knysna, June (Peddie),
Port St. John’s, January, Hanover, breeding September (8. A.
Mus.), Deelfontein (Seimund), Berg River, breeding September
(Kotze), Fairfield in Caledon, breeding (A. van der Byl), Malopo
Valley near Mafeking (Holub) ; Natal—Durban Harbour (Gordge),
Maritzburg (Fitzsimmons), Newcastle (Butler); Orange River
Colony—Vredefort Road (B. Hamilton) ; Transvaal—near Potchef-
stroom, breeding September (Roberts), Limpopo Valley (Buckley) ;
Rhodesia — Salisbury district (Marshall); German South-west
Africa—along the coast to Walvisch Bay and Ondonga (Andersson),
Noecana, July, Doornfontein, March Aris, January, and Kalahari,
April (Fleck.)
Habits.—The Grey Heron in South Africa is generally to be seen
singly, or perhaps a pair together standing motionless for hours
in some shallow vlei waiting and watching for an opportunity
of securing a fish or some other dainty morsel ; if disturbed it
rises with slowly flapping wings, the neck drawn back in 5 shape
and the legs trailing behind, and leisurely makes its way to some
more retired spot. Though generally reputed to be shy, the Grey
Heron can hardly be said to be so on the Cape Flats, where it is
often to be seen in the early morning. The food consists chiefly
of fishes, but it also devours frogs, lizards, an occasional snake,
60 ARDEIDE ARDEA
as well as insects and sometimes even small mammals. Its cry
is a harsh ‘‘kronk.” Contrary to its usual habits in Europe, it
nests in South Africa as a rule on the ground in reed beds, and
not in trees; the nest itself is made of reeds, and sometimes there
are a number of pairs all nesting in the same place. Layard
received eggs from the Berg River, where Mr. Kotze found them
in September, and also from Fairfield, in the Caledon district, from
Miss A. van der Byl. Dr. Stark found two nests in February on
a little island, chiefly tenanted by Duikers, just outside the Knysna
heads; they contained young birds nearly full grown. The eggs
are usually three or four in number, and are, like other herons’
eggs, pale blue in colour, and nearly equally rounded at both ends ;
they measure about 2°25 x 1°75.
Mr. Roberts, of Potchefstroom, tells me that he found a nest of
this bird in a tree on the banks of the Vaal River on September 5th ;
it contained two fresh eggs. The tree was the same as that in
which the Goliath’s nest was found.
587. Ardea melanocephala. Black-headed Heron.
Ardea melanocephala, Vig. d Childr., in Denh. and Clapp. Voy. p.
201 (1826); Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 284 (1872);
Oates, Matabeleland, p. 826 (1881); Butler, Feilden, and Reid,
Zool. 1882, p. 343; Sharpe, ed. Layarl’s B. S. Afr., p. 709 (1884) ;
Ayres, Ibis, 1886, p. 298; TY. Ayres, Ibis, 1887, p. 62; Shelley, B.
Afr. i, p. 157 (1896); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 70 (1898) ;
Alexrander, Ibis, 1900, p. 440; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 880 (1901) ;
Oates, Cut. B. Eggs ii, p. 113 (1902); Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 17
[Deelfontein]; Shortridge, Ibis, 1904. p. 205.
Ardea atricollis, Wagl., Syst. Av. Ardea, sp. 4 (1827); Smith, Ill.
Zool. 8. A. Aves, pl. 86 (1843); Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 220 [Natal];
Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 332; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 306 (1867); Barratt,
Ibis, 1876, p. 193; Holub § Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr, p. 271 (1882).
Description. Adult male.—Crown of the head, including the
ear-coverts, back of the neck, and, in the middle of its length, the
sides of the neck, black; nape feathers elongated and forming a
crest; general colour of the body above blackish-slate; paler on the
decomposed and elongated scapulars, and on the wing-coverts,
which are pearly-grey with white inner margins; tail-feathers, wing-
quills and primary coverts black, the latter with some white on the
basal halves of the inner webs; sides of the face below the eye and
ear-coverts, chin and throat white ; middle third of the neck black,
ARDEIDZ ARDEA 61
mottled with white in front; edge of the wing white; lower third
of the neck slaty-grey with decomposed and elongated plumes ;
the rest of the lower surface slaty grey, becoming a good deal
paler on the under tail-coverts ; under wing-coverts and axillaries
white.
Iris yellow; bare skin round the eye at the base of the bill
whitish-buff; bill slaty-brown, paler on the lower mandible; legs
and feet black. Length (in flesh) 88; wing 15:5; tail 60; culmen
4:8; tarsus 5-25; middle toe 3-40.
The female resembles the male, but the ornamental plumes are
less developed. The young bird is less strongly coloured; the crown
and hind neck are slaty-grey; the throat and front of the neck, and
the whole of the under parts are white, slightly tinged here and
there with pale rufous.
Fic. 18.—Head of Ardea melanocephala, x 2
Distribution.—The Black-headed Heron is found throughout the
greater part of Africa from Bornu, near Lake Chad, whence it was
first brought home by Denham and Clapperton, and from Abyssinia
southwards; it also occurs in Madagascar, and is a straggler into
North Africa and Southern Europe.
In South Africa it is found wherever conditions are favourable,
and is probably just as abundant as the Grey Heron, but, owing
to its resemblance to it, it often escapes notice. The following are
recorded localities: Cape Colony—Cape division (Layard and 8. A.
Mus.), Berg River, breeding (Layard), Deelfontein (Seimund),
Middelburg division (S. A. Mus.), Colesberg (Layard), and Port St.
Jobn’s March, October (Shortridge) ; Natal—near Durban (Ayres),
Ingagane River near Newcastle, June (Feilden); Orange River
62 ARDEIDZ ARDEA
Colony—Vredefort Road (B. Hamilton) ; Transvaal—Potchefstroor
July (Ayres), near Pretoria, June (Oates), Unigoopie River in Zou
spansberg, May (W. Ayres); Rhodesia—Pandamatenka (Holub)
German South-west Africa—Gt. Namaqualand, Damaraland, an
Ondonga, November (Andersson) ; Portuguese Hast Africa— Zambe
(Kirk and Alexander).
Habits.—This Heron does not differ from other species of tk
same genus in its habits. It is generally to be found along river
or in marshy ground, though said to be occasionally seen in dr
pastures; its food consists chiefly of fishes, but it will also devot
snakes, lizards, small mammals and insects; as a rule it goes solitar
or in pairs, and retires at night to roost in high trees.
On the Berg River it is stated by Layard to nest among th
reeds ; but more frequently it chooses a high tree for this purposi
as stated by Smith and Mr. W. Ayres. Major Sparrow tells me the
he found a nest on October 2nd, placed in a tree growing out of
cliff close to the Incandu waterfall near Newcastle in Natal. Th
eggs, which are usually three in number, are like those of othe
Herons, pale blue, and nearly equally rounded at both ends; the
measure about 2:5 x 1:75.
588. Ardea purpurea. Purple Heron.
Ardea purpurea, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 286 (1766); Gurne,
Ibis, 1860, p. 220 [Natal]; Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 332; Layard B. i
Afr., p. 806 (1867); Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 468 [Transvaal]; Ayre
Ibis, 1869, p. 802; Layard, ibid, p. 876; Gurney, in Andersson's 1
Danaral. p. 286 (1872): Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 890; Dresser, 1
Eur. vi, p. 217, pl. 896 (1875); Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 210; Hola
& Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 271 (1882); Butler, Felden and Rei
Zool, 1882, p. 844; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.S. Afr. p. 710 (1884
Ayres, Ibis, 1886, p. 294; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 157 (1896); Wooc
ward Bros., Natal B. p. 196 (1899); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 26€
Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 440; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 877 (1901
Haagner, Ibis, 1902, pp. 574, 580; Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 205.
Phoyx purpurea, Sharpe, Cat. B. MM. xxvi, p. 60 (1898).
Pyrrherodias purpurea, Oates, Cut. B. Eggs, ii, p. 111 (1902).
Description. Adult male.—Crown black, the feathers on th
occiput elongated, with two long plumes extending a good wa
beyond the others; a black band down the back of the neck, an
two other black bands on each side, the rest of the neck bein
rufous; a rufous band through the eye bordered below by a blac
ARDEID ARDEA 63
band, the chin and throat being white; general colour of the body
slaty, many of the feathers of the scapulars elongated and tinged
with rufous; primaries and their coverts very dark slate, almost
black, edge of the wing pale rufous; feathers of the lower neck and
upper breast very pale rufous, strongly striped with black; lower
breast dark maroon, becoming almost black on the abdomen and
under tail-coverts; thighs pale rufous; sides of the body, axillaries
and quills below slaty ; under wing coverts rich rufous.
vis yellow; upper mandible brown, yellowish at the base;
lower mandible brownish horn, yellow towards the tip; legs dark
brown in front, chrome yellow behind. Length about 35; wing
14:5; tail 5-5; tarsus 4-6; middle toe 4:9; culmen 4:9.
The female resembles the male but is not so brightly coloured ;
the nuchal plumes also are not so long or so well developed.
Young birds have the crown maroon and only the forehead slaty
black; there are no distinct lines of black on the neck, only
a slight mottling of that colour; there is a good deal of sandy-buff
on the back, the lower throat and fore neck are less distinctly
marked with black, and the rest of the lower surface is buffy-white
streaked with dusky; bill yellow, blackish along the culmen; tarsi
and feet greenish-yellow.
Distribution. — The Purple Heron has a wide distribution
throughout central and southern Europe, from France to Turkestan
and Persia, east of which it is replaced by a closely allied species.
To the south the European bird is found throughout the whole of
Africa, including Madagascar.
Witbin our limits the Purple Heron seems fairly plentiful
everywhere, where suitable conditions exist, though perhaps it is
not so abundant in Natal and the eastern half of the Colony as in
the west. It breeds in South Africa, and is, I believe, a resident,
The following are the chief recorded localities: Cape Colony —
Cape div. December (W. L. Sclater), Berg River, breeding September
(Layard), Orange River (Bradshaw), Worcester, November (8. A.
Mus.), Port Elizabeth, fairly common (Brown), King William’s
Town, rare (Trevelyan), Port St. John’s, not common (Shortridge) ;
Natal—Durban Bay (Woodward), Upper Buffalo River (Butler) ;
Orange River Colony—Vredefort Road (B. Hamilton) ; Transvaal—
Potchefstroom, June, August (Ayres), near Johannesburg, common
(Haagner); Bechuanaland—Lake Ngami (Andersson) ; Rhodesia—
Upper Zambesi (Holub), near Salisbury (Marshall); Portuguese
East Africa—Chicowa, September (Alexander) and Tete (Kirk) on
the Zambesi.
64 ARDEIDE HERODIAS
Habits.—The Purple Heron is a shy and skulking bird; it is
found in marshy places and along the banks of streams, and is
somewhat crepuscular in its habits; with others of its kind it resorts
to a fixed place of abode at night, making daily excursions in search
of food; this consists chiefly of small fishes, but it also devours
lizards, frogs and aquatic insects, as well as mice and rats.
The Purple Heron has been observed breeding on the Zambesi,
by Kirk, in February, near Potchefstroom, by Ayres, and on the
Berg River, by Mr. Kotze, in September; the nest is placed as a rule
in a secluded reedy swamp, and is often difficult of access. Several
nests are generally found together, they are roughly formed, large
structures of sticks and rushes, and usually built up on a number of
reeds bent down to form a support; they are often two or three
feet in diameter, and have a very slight concavity. The eggs,
which are two to three in number, are almost perfect ovals; they
are pale blue in colour, and measure, on an average 2°2 x 1:6.
Genus II. HERODIAS.
Type.
Herodias, Bove, Isis, 1822, p. 559 oe... eeceeeeeeetevee eens H. egretta.
Closely resembling Ardea in structure, but with a slenderer bill
and neck, and of smaller size; plumage pure white throughout,
with, in the breeding season, a dorsal train of elongated and decom-
posed plumes reaching beyond the tail; these feathers consist of
the main shaft, with the rami or barbs set along it some distance
apart, and with no traces of the barbules connecting the barbs, so
that the latter are quite free from one another.
Some eight or nine species of nearly world-wide distribution are
usually included in this genus. Three of these are found in South
Africa.
Ney of the Species.
a. Larger, wing about 14; head only slightly
crested, no decomposed feathers on the
NG WER ITE CIC cc ciics cp aieintindadt of slotanoaaas ceneentan H. alba, p. 65.
B. Smaller, wing about 12.
a, Bill yellow; head only slightly crested;
ornaiuental decomposed plumes on the
breast in the breeding season... ........ HZ, brachyrhyncha, p. 66.
ARDEIDZ HERODIAS 65
b. Bill black ; a pair of elongate narrow plumes
on the nape; ornamental decomposed
plumes on the breast in the breeding
BCASON werrsaar aetens shiver sic@ansinsinsas nnicenindnee AL. garzetta, p. 68.
589. Herodias alba. Great White Egret.
Ardea alba, Linn, Syst, Nat, 12th ed., i, p. 289 (1766); Buckley, Ibis,
1874, p. 390; Dresser, B. Hur. vi, p. 231, pl. 898 (1880); Holub &:
Pelzein, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 278 (1882).
Herodias alba, Gurney in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 289 (1872);
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.S. Afr. p. 714 (1884); Ayres, Ibis, 1885,
p- 849; Symonds, Ibis, 1887, p. 835; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 157 (1896) ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 90 (1898); Woodward Bros. Natal B.
p. 194 (1899); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 270; Alexander, ibid. p. 489 ;
Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 388 (1901) ; Whitehead, Ibis, 1903, p. 287.
Description. Adult Female in breeding dress.— Plumage pure
white throughout; head slightly crested; scapulars produced and
forming elongated decomposed plumes extending beyond the tail ;
feathers on the fore-neck and sides of the breast also fully developed
and forming a kind of shield over the latter, but not decomposed.
» Ivis pale yellow ; bill chrome yellow, blackish towards the tip and
along the commissure ; bare skin in front of the eye greenish ; legs
and feet black throughout.
Length (in flesh) 88; wing 14:0; tail 6:2; culmen 4:25; tarsus
5°7; middle toe 4°10.
The adult in non-breeding dress loses the ornamental plumes,
and the bill is entirely yellow; the young birds are also without
plumes, and have a softer and more downy plumage.
In European and Asiatic examples of this bird the bill is quite
black in the breeding season, and yellow at other times; but in
Africa the bill appears never to become quite black; the dimensions
also vary very remarkably among individuals of this species ; those
given above (of a female from Potchefstroom) are small as com-
pared with the average stated in the British Museum Catalogue,
where a very large male specimen from India is noticed which had
a tarsus measuring 8:25 inches, whilst the smallest, a female, also
from India, had one of only 5:25 inches.
Distribution. — The Great White Egret is found throughout
Southern and South-eastern Europe, and Southern Asia as far as
Burma and Ceylon, and is a straggler to Northern Europe and
Great Britain ; it is also found throughout Africa and Madagascar.
9) VOL. Iv.
66 ARDEIDE HERODIAS
Within our limits this fine Egret seems everywhere a scarce
bird; it has only once been recorded from Cape Colony, but is more
often met with further north, as the following lst of localities
shows: Cape Colony—Great Fish River (Albany Mus.), Orange
River, near Aliwal North, once seen (Whitehead); Natal—near
Maritzburg (Fitzsimmons), Lower Umkomas and Lower Umfolosi
River, in Zululand (Woodward); Orange River Colony—Kroonstad,
March, scarce (Symonds); Transvaal — Potchefstroom, scarce,
January, September (Ayres), Lichtenburg district (Holub), Lim-
popo River (Buckley); Rhodesia~Matopos (8S. A. Mus.), Lower
Gurbi River (Marshall); German South-west Africa (Andersson) ;
Zambesi River (Alexander).
Habits.—This handsome bird appears to resemble other Egrets
in its habits, haunting reedy pools and swamps, and feeding on fishes,
frogs and other aquatic animals. It is a rare bird, very shy and
wary, and usually solitary.
It is not known to breed in South Africa, but in its more fre-
quented haunts it nests in societies, sometimes making use of a tree
for this purpose, while at other times the nest is placed low down
amongst dense reeds. The eggs, usually four in number, are pale
blue like those of other Herons.
590. Herodias brachyrhyncha. Yellow-billed Egret.
Egretta flavirostris, (nec Temm.) Bp. Consp. Av. ii, p. 116 (1855).
Herodias brachyrhynchos, Brehm, Journ. Ornith. 1858, p. 471; Shelley,
B. Afr.i, p. 157 (1896); Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 193 (1899) ;
Marshall, [bvs, 1900, p. 266; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 889 (1901).
Herodias flavirostris, Gurney, Ibis, 1859, p. 249, 1860, p. 205.
Ardea egretta, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 308 (1867); Barratt, Ibis, 1876,
p. 210.
Herodias intermedia (nec Wagler), Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral.
p. 289 (1872) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1877, p. 349; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 363
[Spaldings] ; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.S. Afr. p. 714 (1884) ; Symonds,
Ibis, 1887, p. 835; Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 387.
Mesophoyx brachyrhyncha, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 87 (1898).
“ Intarga ”’ of the Matabele (Ayres).
Description. Adult Male.—Plumage pure white throughout ;
head slightly crested but with no ornamental plumes; dependent
ornamental plumes consisting of feathers with the webs entirely
broken up, developed on the foreneck and on the scapular region,
the former 5 to 6 inches, the latter 12 to 13 inches in average
specimens, and projecting considerably beyond the end of the tail.
ARDEIDE HERODIAS 67
Tris pale yellow; skin round the eyes and both mandibles yellow ;
tarsus and feet black ; bare part of the tibia yellow, contrasting with
the tarsus.
Length about 25:0; wing 12:0; tail 4:9; culmen 2-75; tarsus
4:25; middle toe 3:8.
The female resembles the male, but the ornamental plumes are
much less developed. In the young bird there are no ornamental
plumes at all.
Distribution.—The Yellow-billed Egret is met with throughout
the eastern part of Africa from Kordofan and the Upper Nile Valley
southwards through Hast Africa and Nyasaland to Cape Colony.
Other very closely allied species are found in Southern Asia and
Australia.
This Egret, though nowhere very abundant, seems to be generally
distributed throughout South Africa wherever suitable conditions
occur. The following are recorded localities : Cape Colony—Zeekoe
vlei in Cape division, and Swellendam, March and June (8S. A. Mus.),
Knysna, breeding (Atmore), Upington on the Orange River, scarce
(Bradshaw), Spaldings in Barkly West division, February (Ayres) ;
Natal—Coast and up-country swamps (Woodward); Orange River
Colony—Kroonstad, scarce (Symonds) ; Transvaal—Pretoria and
Potchefstroom (Barratt) ; Bechuanaland—Lake Ngami (Andersson),
Nocana, July, rare (Fleck) ; Rhodesia—Upper Zambesi (Bradshaw),
Salisbury district (Marshall), near Zumbo (Stoehr); German South-
west Africa—Otjimbinque (Andersson).
Habits.—The Yellow-hilled Egret is gregarious, and frequents
the bays along the coast and the mud flats at the mouths of rivers
as wellas inland waters; it wades in the shallow water and searches
among the mud and weeds for small fishes and other animals.
“When they see their prey,’ writes Ayres, ‘‘ they stop suddenly, and
make a dead point at it, exactly like a pointer dog at a partridge,
remaining motionless for a few seconds, then, gradually drawing
nearer, they dart their long necks into the water, and almost in-
variably catch the unlucky fish. At high water, or if disturbed,
and at night, they always perch on the upper boughs of the man-
groves and other trees that fringe the bay, never roosting on the
ground.”
Mr. Atmore informed Mr. Layard that this species bred on a
little islet in the sea near the Knysna Heads, but that when he
visited the place (in December) it was too late for eggs. This is
the only information available in regard to the nesting of this
species.
68 ARDEIDZ HERODIAS
The decomposed nuptial plumes of this and other species of
White Egrets have always been much sought after as ornaments,
not only among the semi-barbarous nations of the east but also in
Europe, where the fashion of wearing ‘‘ ospreys” as they are called
in the plume-trade, has of late years assumed alarming proportions
and has been the cause of great destruction to these beautiful and
graceful birds, especially during the breeding season, just before
which the ornamental plumes are assumed.
So far as I am aware, the export of feathers and plumes from
South Africa is not very great, but from India and from America
the trade is considerable, so that many protests have been made
against it by naturalists and others.
591. Herodias garzetta. Little Hgret.
Ardea garzetta, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 287 (1766); Grill, K. Vet.
Akad. Handl. Stockh. ii, no. 10, p. 55 (1858); Layard, B. S. Afr.
p. 808 (1867); Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 210; Dresser B. Eur. vi, p.
239, pl. 399 (1880).
Herodias garzetta, Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 221, 1868, p. 468 ; Gurney, in
Andersson's B. Damaral, p. 290 (1872); Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 86;
Ayres, Ibis, 1874, p. 104, 1877, p. 849, 1880, p. 269; Butler, Feiiden
§ Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 344; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 716
(1884); Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 887; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 157
(1896); Woodward Bros., Natal B. p. 194 (1899); Marshall, Ibis,
1900, p. 266; Alexander, ibid. p. 440; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 887
(1901) ; Hellmayr, Journ. Ornith. 1902 p. 235 [Zwartkop].
Garzetta garzetta, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 118 (1898).
Description. Adult Male in Breeding Plumage.—Plumage white
throughout; a pair of elongated narrow plumes depending from the
nape reaching a length of nearly 6 inches; a bunch of similar but
shorter plumes and decomposed feathers at the base of the foreneck ;
dorsal plumes elongated and decomposed reaching a little beyond
the tail and slightly re-curved at their tips.
Tris pale yellow, skin at the base of the bill whitish fulvescent :
bill black, shanks and tarsus black; feet greenish-yellow, joints
darker.
Length about 27; wing 12:0; tail 4:0; culmen 3°55; tarsus 4-40;
middle toe 3°12.
The female resembles the male, but the ornamental plumes are
as a rule not so well developed; both sexes in the non-breeding
ARDEID HERODIAS 69
dress as also the young birds resemble the breeding male, but are
without the ornamental plumes.
Distribution.—The Little Egret is spread over Southern Europe
and Asia from Spain to Japan, the Philippines and the Malay
Peninsula ; it also occurs all over Africa and Madagascar in suitable
localities. Within our limits this Egret appears to be fairly common
and widely spread in favourable situations throughout all the
Colonies and Territories, and to be in most districts a resident.
The following are recorded localities : Cape Colony—Cape division,
November, December, Stellenbosch, Caledon, August, Tulbagh,
October (S. A. Mus.), Berg River, breeding (Layard), Knysna,
Fie. 19.—Head of Herodias garzetta. x 4
October (Victorin), Port Elizabeth, common (Brown), King
Willams Town, scarce (Trevelyan), Orange River, common (Brad-
shaw) ; Natal-—Durban harbour (Ayres), Newcastle district (Butler) ;
Transvaal—Potchefstroom, January, June (Ayres and Barratt) ;
Bechuanaland—Lake Ngami, common (Andersson); Rhodesia—
rare (Marshall) ; German South-west Africa—scarce (Andersson),
Okavango River, July (Fleck) ; Zambesi River, common (Alexander).
Habits.—This Egret like others of its kind, is usually met with in
small flocks about the mouths of rivers near the sea and inland in
vleis and marshy places, where it obtains its food, consisting of fishes,
frogs, and small crustacea. Layard found the stomachs of two
70 ARDEIDE MELANOPHOYX
obtained by him, crammed with the shells of small aquatic mollusca
(Succinea delalandi and Physopsis africana).
Butler and Reid found a small colony of this Egret apparently
breeding in the Newcastle district in October, but could discover
no nests; Layard was more fortunate, and obtained eggs from the
Berg River, where this Egret breeds freely; the clutch consists of
three or four eggs; these resemble those of other Herons in being
very pale blue and unspotted; they are oval in shape, almost
equally rounded at both ends, and measure 2°10 x 1°55.
Genus III. MELANOPHOYX.
Type.
Melanophoyx, Sharpe, Bull. B. O. C. iii, p. 38
(LE 9E) ics sion sigiugeaincaslaniaisin san derive aareeuae Aambamnneeien M. ardesiaca.
Bill long and slender, about as long as the middle toe and claw,
but distinctly shorter than the tarsus; mandible with a distinct
subterminal notch but not serrated; wings long and strong, the
second or third primary the longest; the bare portion of the tibio-
tarsus occupying about half the length of the bone, and about equal
to the inner toe and claw; tail of twelve feathers, nearly even and
rather short ; plumage slaty-black, with narrow elongate, lanceolate,
ornamental plumes on the head, foreneck and back, not much
decomposed, those of the back not extending beyond the tail.
This genus, containing two closely allied species, both of which
are found within our lIfmits, is confined to tropical and South Africa:
Key of the Species.
A. Throat and under surface entirely slaty black... M. ardesiaca, p. 70.
B. Upper throat vinous rufous, under parts slaty
grey or slightly washed with vinous ............ Al, vinaceigula, p. 72.
592. Melanophoyx ardesiaca. Black Heron.
Ardea ardesiaca, Wagl., Syst. Av. Ardea, p. 189 (1827); Finsch &
Hartl. Vég. Ost-Afr. p. 682 (1870) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 264, 1878,
p. 299, 1880, p. 269; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 210; Milne-Edw. &
Grandid., Hist. Nat. Madag. Ois. p. 547, pl. 225 (1881); Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B.S. Afr. p. 112 (1884) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 157 (1896) ;
Woodward Bros., Natal B. p. 195 (1899).
ARDEIDZ MELANOPHOYX 71
Ardea calceolata, Du Bus, Bull. Acad. Brux. iv, p. 40, pl. 2 (1838) ;
Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 807 (1867).
Ardea flavimana, Sundev., Oefv. K. Vet. Akad, Forh, Stockh. 1850, p.
111 [Mooi River, Potchefstroom} ; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 807 (1867).
Melanophoyx ardesiaca, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 104 (1898);
Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 378 (1901).
Description. Adult.—General colour above and below black
with a slight slaty tinge, especially on the long ornamental feathers
of the back and scapulars, and on the tips of the primaries; the
ornamental feathers are narrow and lanceolate but not decomposed ;
they are developed on the hinder part of the crown and along the
hind neck and also at the base of the foreneck as well as on the
scapulars.
Iris bright yellow ; bill black ; legs black ; toes yellow.
Length 17; wing 10:5; tail 3:25; culmen 2°75; tarsus 3:6;
middle toe 2:8.
The young bird is like the adult but has no development of
ornamental plumes.
Distribution.—The Black Heron is spread over the greater part
of tropical Africa and Madagascar from Senegal and the White Nile
to Angola and Nyasaland. It is very rare south of the Zambesi
and has only been recorded from two localities, the neighbourhood
of Potchefstroom, where it was first obtained by Wahlberg, subse-
quently by Ayres on three occasions, and again by Barratt, and
at Durban Harbour, where it has been shot by Gordge, according to
the Woodwards.
Habits.—Ayres, who obtained examples of the Black Heron in
the swamps near Potchefstroom, has made the following remark-
able observation. ‘‘ This beautiful Heron has a curious habit whilst
feeding during the heat of the day and when the sun shines blazing
hot, of throwing one wing suddenly forward and holding it out so
that it shadesa small portion of shallow water; the bird immediately
peers into the water searchingly and invariably makes a dart at
some unlucky little fish.”
Nothing is known about the nesting habits of this bird, but there
are three eggs of it from the Gambia in the collection of the
British Museum ; they are elongated, with both ends rather pointed,
and measure about 1:8 x 1:3.
72 ARDEIDE BUBULCUS
593. Melanophoyx vinaceigula. Red-throated Heron.
Ardea ardesiaca (nec Wagl.) Gurney, Ibis, 1871, p. 264; Sharpe, ed.
Layards B. 8. Afr. p. 712 (1884).
Melanophoyx vinaceigula, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 105, pl. 1A
(1898); Rewchenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 874 (1901).
Description. Adult.—Similar to M. ardesiaca, but having the
throat vinous-red ; tarsi and feet greenish-grey.
Length 16:5; wing 9:0; tail 3-65; culmen 2-25; tarsus 3-0.
There are two examples of this species in the British Museum,
where they were formerly considered to be the young of M. ardesiaca-
This does not appear to be the case, however, as there is a young
bird of the latter species also in the collection which has a black
throat and yellow toes, as in the adult.
Distribution.—Only known from the Potchefstroom district of
the Transvaal, whence there are two examples in the British
Museum, both obtained by Mr. T. Ayres.
Genus 1V. BUBULCUS.
Bubuleus, By. Ann. Sci. Nat. (4) i, p. 141 (1854) ............ B. ibis.
Bill slender and rather short, considerably shorter than the
tarsus, which again is about equal to the middle toe and claw:
mandibles serrated along their edges; wing long and strong, the
first three primaries about equal and longest ; tail moderate, rounded
and composed of twelve feathers; bare portion of the tibio-tarsus
occupying about the lower third of that limb and less in extent
than the length of the inner toe and claw; plumage white through-
out except the decomposed nuptial plumes on the head, foreneck,
and back.
This genus, containing two closely allied species, has a wide
range over Central and Southern Europe and Asia, from Spain to
the Moluccas, and throughout Africa and Madagascar. Only one
species is found in Africa.
594. Bubulcus ibis. Cattle Egret.
Ardea ibis, Linn., Syst. Nat. 10th ed. i, p. 144 (1758).
Ardea lucida, Rafin., Caratteri, p. 8 (1810).
Ardea bubuleus, Audouin, Expl. somm. Pl. Ovs. de lV Egypte, p. 891,
pl. 8. fig. 1 (1823) ; Delagorgue, Voyage i, p. 884 (1847); Gurney,
Ibis, 1863, p. 330, 1868, pp. 256, 468 [Natal and Transvaal] ; Layard
ARDEIDE BUBULCUS 73
B.S. Afr. p. 807 (1867) ; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, pp. 198, 211; Dresser,
B. Eur. vi, p. 245, pl. 400, fig. 1 (1879) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1880, p. 270,
1884, p. 233; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 364 [Spaldings] ; Holub § Pelzeln,
Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 275 (1882).
Herodias bubuleus, Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 833 ; Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p.
265.
Bubuleus ibis, Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 288 (1872);
Oates, Matabeleland, p. 827 (1881); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr.
p. 717 (1884) ; Fleck, Journ. Ornith, 1894, p. 887; Reichenow, Vog.
Afr. i, p. 881 (1901) ; Haagner, Ibis, 1902, p. 574.
Ardeola bubulcus, Butler, Feilden & Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 344.
Herodias lucidus, Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 157 (1896); Hellmayr, Journ:
Ornith. 1902, p. 235 [Nata River].
Bubuleus lucidus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, pp. 218, 282 (1898).
Herodias ralloides (nec Scop.), Woodward Bros., Natal B. p. 198 (1899).
“ Buft-backed Egret” of many authors, ‘‘ Tick bird” of some Colonists,
“Mafudsangombo ” (t.c., Cattle Herd) of Mashonas (Marshall).
Description. Adult Male in Breeding Dress —Plumage white
throughout except for the masses of decomposed elongated orna-
mental plumes, covering the head and nape, the foreneck and those
springing from the centre of the back, all of which are a beautiful
vinous pink.
Iris yellow; skin round the eye chrome yellow; bill pinkish-
yellow ; legs dull yellowish-brown.
Length (in flesh) 21; wing 10:0; tail 3-75; culmen 2-4; tarsus
3-4; middle toe and claw 3:4.
The female is like the male, but has the dorsal plumes less
developed; in non-breeding plumage the ornamental plumes are
absent, but there is a slight wash of vinous on the crown and fore-
neck; young birds are very similar to the adults in non-breeding
dress.
Distribution.—The Cattle Egret is found along the shores of the
Mediterranean from Spain, where it breeds, to the Caspian ; beyond
this it is replaced by a closely allied species; it is also found
throughout the whole of Africa, including Madagascar.
Within our limits this Egret seems to be fairly common except
in the western half of Cape Colony, where it has, so far as I
am aware, been only once noticed. The following are recorded
localities: Cape Colony—Wynberg, May, 1867 (Layard), Colesberg
(Arnot), Spaldings in Barkly West, February (Ayres), Grahamstown
(Layard), Port Elizabeth, common (Brown), Port St. John’s (Short-
ridge); Natal—Durban Harbour (Woodward), Umlazi River mouth
(Ayres), Newcastle (Butler) ; Orange River Colony-—Vredefort Road
74 ARDEIDE BUBULCUS
(B. Hamilton) ; Transvaal—Potchefstroom, February, March, July,
November (Ayres), near Johannesburg, rare (Haagner), Lydenburg
and Pretoria (Barratt), Klerksdorp district (Holub) ; Bechuanaland
—Kanye (Exton), Tati, September (Oates) ; Rhodesia—Nata River
(Penther), Upper Zambesi (Holub), Salisbury (Marshall); German
South-west Africa—Ondonga (Andersson), Boliva, June, Reheboth
January (Fleck).
Habits.—This Egret is essentially a gregarious bird, being found
in flocks of from ten to fifty individuals. They are usually seen
in company with herds of cattle. They stalk about underneath the
oxen, sometimes jumping up to take a tick off their bellies, and
Fig. 20.—Head of Bubuleus ibis. x
che
sometimes perching on their backs for the same purpose; besides
ticks they obtain a good number of grasshoppers, beetles and other
insects, disturbed by the beasts. In the wilder parts of the country
they associate with buffaloes and elephants in the same way, and
their very conspicuous white plumage is often of assistance to the
hunter in locating his game. In the evening this Egret resorts in
large companies to the branches of small trees overhanging water,
where they roost, the same spot being constantly used for this
purpose.
Mr. Harold Fry, of Jobannesburg, found a nesting place of the
Cattle Egret on an island in the Vaal river near Parys, in the
Orange River Colony, on November 17. There were about thirty
pairs occupying a large tree on the island, together with Goliath,
ARDEIDZ ARDEOLA 75
Grey and Purple Herons and Snake-birds. The nests were slight
structures built of sticks, and each contained from three to five
eggs. They occupied the middle portion of the tree, the larger
Herons being at the top and the Snake-birds among the thicker
branches below. A single egg sent to the South African Museum
by Mr. Fry is of the usual pale greenish-blue colour and almost
a regular oval in shape. It measures 1:8 x 1:3.
Genus V. ARDEOLA.
Type.
Ardeola, Bove, Isis, 1822, p. 559.00... eee A. ralloides.
Bill long and slender, culmen about equal to the middle toe and
claw in length ; the upper mandible with a groove on either side, at
the base of which is the nostril; the mandibles serrated at their
tips; wings rather short and rounded; tail of twelve feathers,
short and nearly square; only the lower fourth of the tibio-tarsus
bare, this portion less than the inner toe and claw; tarsus short,
less than the bill and less than the middle toe and claw; feathers
of the head and neck elongate in the breeding plumage, those of the
fore-neck and back decomposed as well; plumage chiefly white and
buff.
Some four or five species of this genus are usually recognised ;
they are distributed over the temperate and tropical portions of
Europe, Africa and Asia, extending as far as the Moluccas, and
including Madagascar. Only one species is found in South Africa.
595. Ardeola ralloides. Squacco Heron.
Ardea ralloides, Scop. Ann. i, p. 88 (1769); Dresser, B. Hur. vi, p. 251,
pl. 400, fig. 2 (1879).
Ardea comata, Pall. Reis. Russ. Reichs, ii, p. 715 (1773); Layard,
B.S. Afr. p. 308 (1867) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1873, p. 288; Holub & Pelzeln,
Orn, Siid-Afr, p. 274 (1882).
Buphus comatus, Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 221, 1862, p. 157; Kirk, Ibis,
1864, p. 333.
Ardeola comata, Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 288 (1872)
Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 390; Ayres, Ibis, 1877, p. 349, 1878, p. 300,
1880, p. 111; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.S. Afr. p. 718 (1884).
Ardea leucoptera (nec Bodd.) Barratt, [bis, 1876, p. 210.
Herodias ralloides, Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 156 (1896); Alexander, Ibis,
1900, p. 439.
Ardeola ralloides, Fleck, Jowrn. Ornith. 1894, p. 888; Sharpe, Cat.
B.M. xxvi, pp. 202, 281 (1898) ; Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 874 (1901)
76 ARDEIDE ARDEOLA
Description. Adult Male in breeding season.—Head and neck all
round, including the plumes at the side of the chest, pale buffy-
yellow, strongly striped with blackish-brown; a well-developed
nuchal crest of narrow pointed feathers, white, bordered on either
side by blackish-brown, the tips white ; mantle vinous-red, scapulars
brownish - buff, both breaking up into ornamental decomposed
plumes; rump, upper tail-coverts, tail and wings white, the coverts
of the latter washed here and there with buff, and some of the inner
secondaries like the scapulars; below, except for the middle and
lower part of the neck and upper breast, white throughout.
vis pale yellow; bare skin round the eye pale yellow; upper
mandible dusky greenish-yellow along the commissure near the base ;
lower mandible greenish-yellow; legs and feet greenish-yellow, a
little darker on the toes.
Length (in flesh) 17 to 18; wing 8-75; tail 3-4; culmen 2:5;
tarsus 2-25; middle toe 2:5.
The female is generally slightly smaller (wing 7:75), the nuchal
crest and dorsal trains are also less developed. The adult in winter
plumage has no long nape plumes, the crest feathers are shorter and
the back loses its vinous colour and is brown like the scapulars.
Young birds can be distinguished by the black shafts of the
outer primaries, while the outer webs and tips are slightly washed
with brown ; the vinous colour of the centre of the back is replaced
by a buffish-brown like that of the scapulars.
Distribution.—The Squacco is a summer visitor in the South of
Europe, ranging from Spain to the Caspian Sea; it occasionally
reaches the British Islands as a straggler. Throughout Africa
(including Madagascar) it is a resident.
In South Africa the Squacco is fairly abundant where suitable
conditions exist, but it does not appear to have been met with in the
central and western districts of Cape Colony. Though it is
apparently a resident, its nesting habits (in South Africa) have
not been described.
The following are localities: Cape Colony — near Upington,
December (Bradshaw), Colesberg, in winter (Arnot), Grahamstown
(Albany Museum), near King Williams Town, rare (Trevelyan) ;
Basutoland—summer (Bowker) ; Natal—rare (Ayres); Transvaal—
Potchefstroom, January, August, October, November (Ayres),
Limpopo River (Holub); Bechuanaland — Bamangwato, August
(Buckley), Lake Ngami district (Andersson); Rhodesia— Upper
Zambesi (Holub) ; German South-west Africa—common throughout
ARDEIDE ERYTHROCNUS 77
the year (Andersson), Nocana, July (Fleck); Portuguese Hast
Africa—Tete (Kirk), Zumbo, October (Alexander).
Habits.—Like other Herons the Squacco is found about swamps
and sluggish rivers; it is usually seen singly or in pairs, seldom in
large parties. It is an inactive bird, spending the greater part of its
time in one position, with its head drawn in between its shoulders
like a Bittern. Its food consists chiefly of aquatic animals, such as
frogs and water-insects, but grasshoppers, beetles and small crabs
were found in the stomachs of individuals examined by Ayres.
There can be little doubt that this species nests in South Africa,
but no observations on this point have been hitherto recorded. In
Europe it builds in colonies in company with other members of the
family; the nest is composed of sticks, and placed in low trees
or bushes in flooded marshes; the eggs, of the usual greenish-
blue colour, are from four to six in number, and measure about
15 x Ld
Genus VI. ERYTHROCNUS.
Type.
Erythrocnus, Sharpe, Bull. B. O. C. iii, p. 39
(1894). esate arb aid Roeder cer E. rufiventris.
Bill moderate, the culmen hardly longer than the tarsus, and
slightly shorter than the middle toe and claw; the tips of both
mandibles serrated, wings rather short and rounded, the second and
third primaries the longest; only the last half-inch of the tarsus
bare of feathers; tail short, of twelve feathers; plumage slaty and
rufous, with no elongated ornamental plumes or dorsal train, but
with a rather full neck frill and elongated scapulars overhanging
the wings.
The single species here described, confined to South Africa, is
the only one referred to this genus.
596. Erythrocnus rufiventris. Lwfouws-Bellied Heron.
Ardea rufiventris, Sundev. Oefv. K. Vet. Akad. Forh. Stockh, 1850, p.
110; Layard, Ibis, 1871, p. 105; Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 265, pl. ix,
1880, p. 269, 1886, p. 294; Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaratl.
p. 287 (1872); Holub § Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 273 (1882);
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 713 (1884); Hellmayr, Journ,
Ornith. 1902, p. 235 [Pienaars River].
78 ARDEIDZ ERYTHROCNUS
Butorides rufiventris, Oates, Matabeleland, p. 327 (1881).
Krythrocnus rufiventris, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 200 (1898); TV. L.
Sclater, Ibis, 1899, p. 114 [Inhambane]; Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p.
370 (1901).
Description. Adult Female.— General colour above black, darkest
on the head and neck, becoming more slaty on the scapulars and
back ; lower back, rump, tail, and wing-coverts rich maroon-red ;
primaries and their coverts slaty like the back, most of the
secondaries maroon like the coverts, bend of the wing slightly
mottled with grey; throat, neck and upper breast black, shaded
with bluish slate, especially on the breast; a rather indefinite
narrow mesial line of rufous runs down the centre; abdomen,
under tail-coverts, axillaries and under wing-coverts rich maroon.
Iris rich yellow, shading on the outer ring into orange, skin round
the eyes and the basal half of the bill bright yellow, tip of the bill
dark brown, legs and feet yellow, toes born.
Length about 15; wing 8°25; tail 25; culmen 2-25; tarsus
2:10; middle toe 2-5. A young bird is duller and browner than the
adult, and the rufous colour much paler, throat yellowish buff, as
well as the centre of the fore neck.
The only example in the South African Museum, an apparently
adult female, has the mesial throat streak very clearly marked;
this is not mentioned in Dr. Sharpe’s description of a male in
the Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum; it therefore seems
to be probable that the throat streak is absent in the adult male,
and that the sexes differ in this respect.
Distribution.—The Rufous-bellied Heron is confined to Africa
south of the Cunene and Zambesi Rivers, extending beyond our
limits only in Southern Angola and to Quillimave.
The species was first obtained by Wahlberg, in both ‘ Lower
and Upper Caffraria’’; and it is in the southern and eastern pottion
of our area along the rivers that it has chiefly been met with; only
the one occurrence within the boundaries of Cape Colony here
noted is authenticated.
The following are localities: Cape Colony—King Williams
Town (Bt. Mus); Natal—Durban (Bt. Mus.), St. Lucia Bay in
Zululand (Layard); Transvaal—Potchefstroom, December, and
junction of Matlabas and Limpopo Rivers (Ayres), Pienaars River
bridge in Pretoria district (Penther); Bechuanaland—Lake Ngami
(Andersson); Rhodesia—Hendriks Vlei, December (Oates), Panda-
matenka (Holub); German South-west Africa—Okavango River ;
ARDEIDE BUTORIDES 79
Portuguese Hast Africa—Lake Bavane, near Inhambane, March
(Francis).
Habits.—The Rufous-bellied Heron is shy and scarce; several
birds are generally seen together, they fly rapidly and settle on
reeds; their food consists of aquatic animals such as fish, frogs,
worms and water insects. Nothing is known of their nesting
habits.
Genus VII. BUTORIDES.
Type.
Butorides, Blyth, Cat. B. Mus. As. Soc. p. 281 (1849) B. javanica.
Bill straight and strong; culmen distinctly longer than the
tarsus, which is about equal to the middle toe and claw; upper and
lower mandibles slightly serrated towards the tip; wings rather
‘short, the second and third primaries about equal and the longest ;
tibio-tarsus feathered almost to the lower joint, leaving no portion
bare; plumage greenish or brownish with ornamental elongate,
lanceolate feathers on the nape and back, but not on the fore neck ;
these feathers are not decomposed, and appear to be retained
throughout the year.
80 ARDEIDE BUTORIDES
Some eight species of this genus are usually recognised, d
tributed over the whole of the New World, Africa, includi
Madagascar, Southern and Eastern Asia from India to Jape
Australia, and many of the island groups of the Pacific. Only o
species is found in Africa.
597. Butorides atricapilla. Green-backed Heron.
Ardea atricapilla, Afzel. Act. Acad. Stockh, xxv, p. 264 (1804); Layai
B.S. Afr. p. 809 (1867).
Butorides atricapilla, Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 333; Gurney, Ibis, 1865
271 [Durban]; id. ed. Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 292 (1872); Ayr
Ibis, 1878, p. 800, 1886 p. 294; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 364 [Umf
River]; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 719 (1884) ; IV. Ayr
Ibis, 1887, p. 63; Fleck, Journ. Ornith, 1894, p. 388; Shelley,
Afr. i, p. 158 (1896) ; Sharpe, Ibis, 1897, p. 517 [Zululand]; id. C
B, M. xxvi, p. 172 (1898) ; Woodward Bros., Natal B. p. 197 (189¢
Alerander, Ibis, 1900, p. 440; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 870 (1901
Hellmayr, Journ. Ornith. 1902, p. 236 [Pienaars River]; Shortrids
Ibis, 1904, p. 205.
2
Fic, 22.—Head of Butorides atricapilla. ~x %. Below, the anterior end
of the upper mandible magnified to show the serrations.
Description. Adult Male.—Crown, with the elongated cre
feathers produced to a point, back with ornamental plumes ar
tail, all rich glossy dark green; wings like the back, the cover
all edged with sandy buff, the primaries rather more dusky, edge
with white; ear coverts more or less ashy, bordered below by
short blackish streak; hind neck and sides of the neck ashy-gre
ARDEIDE BUTORIDES 81
extending forwards over the lower part of the face and back-
wards over the greater part of the lower surface, except a line
down the centre of the breast, which is strongly tinged with rufous ;
‘chin, centre of the throat and fore neck white, mottled with tawny
rufous, mottling continuous with the entirely rufous central streak
on the breast.
Inis yellow, bare skin round the eye light yellow; upper mandible
‘dusky, lower one the same but with a little yellow along the lower
margin; legs and feet dusky above, yellow below.
Length about 16; wing 7:25; tail 2°60; culmen 2°30; tarsus
‘2-0; middle toe and claw 2-0. The female resembles the male.
A young bird is dark brown above, most of the feathers,
especially of the wings, tipped with white; the crown is already
greenish in an example in the South African Museum ; below the
throat is white, spotted and streaked with buffish and brown, the
rest of the lower surface is streaked with black, white, and buffish
white.
Distribution.—The Green-backed Heron is found throughout
the greater part of Africa, including Madagascar, Mauritius and
‘Rodriguez, from the Gambia and the White Nile southwards.
Within our limits it occurs only in the extreme eastern portion of
the Colony, but is generally distributed in the low country of Natal,
the Transvaal and Rhodesia up to the Zambesi.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—near King
Williams Town, rare (Trevelyan), Port St. John’s, May (Shortridge,
in §. A. Mus.); Natal—Durban Harbour (Ayres), Tugela River
(Bt. Mus.), Victoria county, and Ivuna River in Zululand (Wood-
ward) ; Transvaal—Marico river, August, and Hex river, December,
in Rustenburg (Ayres) ; Pienaars River bridge in Pretoria distr., April
and May (Penther), Rooirand in Zoutspansberg distr., June (W.
Ayres), Silati railway in Lydenburg, August (Francis); Bechuana-
‘land—Negami distr. (Andersson), Nocana, on the Okavango River,
July (Fleck); Rhodesia—Umfuli, September, and Quae-quae Rivers,
October (Ayres), Makalaka country (Bt. Mus.), Upper Zambesi
near Victoria Falls (W. L. Sclater) ; Portuguese East Africa—
Zumbo, on the Zambesi, November (Alexander).
Habits.—This Heron is a solitary and retiring bird, generally to
be met with along the banks of rivers where there is plenty of bush
or among the Mangrove swamps, such as are to be found in Durban
_ Harbour; here it is sometimes to be seen perched on a branch
overhanging the water, from which, if disturbed, it soon alights again
6 VOL, Iv.
82 ARDEIDE NYCTICORAX
in a more retired and shady spot; its cry is harsh and its food con-
sists of aquatic animals of all sorts.
No one has hitherto, so far as I am aware, taken the eggs of
this Heron in South Africa, but on the Gold Coast Dr. Reichenow
found it nesting in the Mangrove swamps, in small companies, in
August and September. The eggs, generally three in number, were
of the usual pale greenish-blue Heron type, and measured about
15 x 1:05.
Genus VIII. NYCTICORAX.
Type.
Nycticorax, Rasin., Analyse, p. 71 (1815)......... ee N. griseus.
Bill stout, short and somewhat compressed, the culmen slightly
curved and about equal to the tarsus, both distinctly shorter than the
middle toe and claw; mandibles not serrated along their edges, but
the upper one with a distinct subterminal notch. Wings moderate,
third primary generally the longest; tail short, slightly rounded,
of twelve feathers; only the lowest half-inch of the tibio-tarsus
bare of feathers; tarsus covered with reticulate scales in front;
head crested and ornamented with two, much elongated, narrow
ornamental plumes in the breeding season.
Some nine species of this almost cosmopolitan genus are
generally recognised; two of these are found in Africa and oecur
within our area.
Key of the Species.
A. Back greenish-black, no chestnut on the neck ... N. griseus, p. 82.
B. A white patch on the back, neck bright chestuut N. lewconotus, p. 85.
598. Nycticorax griseus. Night Heron.
Ardea nycticorax, Linn., Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 235 (1766).
Ardea grisea, Linn., Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 239 (1766).
Nycticorax europeus, Stephens, Genl. Zool. xi, p. 609 (1819); Kirk,
Ibis, 1864, p. 833.
Nycticorax griseus, Gurney, Ibis, 1865, p. 272, 1868, p. 256; Layard,
B.S. Afr. p. 811 (1867); Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p.193; Butler, Feilden,
and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 844; Holub & Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 277
(1882); Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 364 [Shangani River] ; Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B.S. Afr. p. 724 (1884); Ayres, Ibis, 1884, p. 233; TWood-
ARDEIDE NYCTICORAX 83
ward Bros., Natal B. p. 197 (1899); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 266;
Alexander, ibid. p. 440; Harris, Hssays and Photos. p. 147 (1901) ;
Whitehead, Ibis, 1908, p. 237.
Nycticorax egyptius, Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 293 (1872) ;
Ayres, Ibis, 1874, p. 104.
Nycticorax nycticorax, Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 158 (1896); Sharpe,
Cat. B. M. xxvi. p. 146 (1898); Reirhenow, Voy. Afr. i, p. 362.
(1901).
Description. Adult male and female in breeding season.—Above,
including the crown, nape of the neck, centre of the back and inner
secondaries greenish-black; sides of the neck extending round the
hind neck as a collar at the base, wings, except the inner
secondaries, lower back, tail-coverts and tail-feathers ashy-grey or
dove-coloured : forehead, a narrow stripe over the eye, chin, throat
Fic, 23.—Head of Nycticorax griseus.
and underparts white, becoming slightly shaded with ashy-grey on
the sides of the body; under wing-coverts nearly white; nape
feathers lengthened to form a short crest, in addition to which there
are two elongated narrowed white ornamental plumes attaining a
length of about nine inches.
Tris crimson ; skin all round the eye pale green ; upper mandible
slaty-black, whitish along the edge; lower mandible flesh-colourea
in the central portions, greenish at the base; legs and feet pale
yellow.
Length about 22; wing 11°75 ; tail 4:10; culmen 2°70; tarsus
2-55; middle toe 3:05. In non-breeding plumage the white nape
84 ARDEIDE NYCTICORAX
plumes are lost and the back is said to be of.a brighter green, though
this latter statement is hardly true of the South African specimens.
The young bird is very different from the adult; it is pale
brown, the head, neck and back streaked, the tail, wing-quills and
their coverts tipped with buffy to pure white; below, the white pre-
dominates and the streaks are pale brown.
Iris orange-yellow or orange-red ; legs and feet greenish-yellow.
Distribution.—The Night Heron is found throughout Central
and Southern Europe, and as a straggler in North Europe, also in
Africa including Madagascar, Central and Southern Asia to Japan
and the Moluccas, and in North America, south to the Lesser
Antilles and Eeuador.
In South Africa, though generally stated to be scarce, it is widely
spread from Cape Town to the Zambesi in suitable spots ; probably
its apparent rareness is due to its skulking habits.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Cape divi-
sion, January, February, March (S. A. Mus.), Worcester, August
(S. A. Mus.), Knysna lakes (Harris), Elands Post in Stockenstrom
division (Atmore), Port Elizabeth, rare (Brown), East London, rare
(Wood), Berg River, breeding (Layard), Orange River, near Aliwal
North (Whitehead) ; Natal—Durban Harbour (Ayres), Ifafa (Wood-
ward), Neweastle district, rare (Butler); Orange River Colony—
Frankfort (B. Hamilton); Transvaal—Potchefstroom, June, July,
August (Ayres); Bechuanaland—Ngami district, common (Anders-
son); Rhodesia—Sesheke (Holub), Shangani River, November
(Ayres), Salisbury district (Marshall); German South-west Africa—
Ondonga in wet season (Andersson); Portuguese East Africa—
Lower Zambesi River, near Chinde (Alexander).
Habits.—The Night Heron, as its name implies, is a somewhat
nocturnal bird; it inhabits reedy marshes on the banks of rivers,
and spends the day motionless and retired in a tree or among the
reeds, where it rests in a characteristic attitude with hunched-up
back, and neck withdrawn between the shoulders; at dusk it issues
forth with somewhat slow and laborious flight in search of its food,
which consists of fishes, reptiles, frogs and other water animals.
It has a loud, harsh, characteristic cry, sounding “ rarr,” but seldom
heard except at night.
Like so many other members of the family the Night Heron
breeds in colonies, but hitherto the only breeding-place known in
South Africa is on the Berg River, near Mr. Melck’s farm, whence
Layard first obtained eggs. Dr. Stark visited this spot on Sep-
ARDEIDH NYCTICORAX 85
tember 9th, 1896, and gives the following account of it: ‘In a small
group of dead willows in a wide part of the river above the farm
were numerous nests of this bird, as also of the Snake Bird (Plotus
rufus), the little River Duiker (Phalacrocoraaz africanus), and the
Grey Heron (Ardea cinerea). The nests were deep platforms of dead
sticks averaging one foot nine inches across and from six to nine
inches deep, placed in the fork of a bough, about five or six feet
above the water. The birds sat until I was fifteen or twenty yards
off, and returned to their nests almost as soon as I departed. The
nests had no lining beyond the sticks of which they were built. The
red irides of the bird were very conspicuous. Three clutches were
taken, two of three, and one of two eggs each, all were quite fresh.”
These eggs are now in the South African Museum and vary slightly
in shape and colour, but are all of shades of pale greenish-blue like
those of other Herons; they measure on an average 1:85 x 1:40.
599. Nycticorax leuconotus. White-backed Night Heron.
Ardea leuconota, Wagl. Syst. Av. Ardea, p. 189 (1827).
Ardea cucullata, Wagl., Isis, 1829 p. 661.
Calherodius cucullatus, Layard, Ibis, 1870, p. 443.
Nycticorax leuconotus, Cub., in Von der Decken Reis. iii, p. 50, pl.
xviii (1870); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 724 (1884) ; Ayres, Ibis,
1885, p. 349; Shelley, B. Afr.i, p. 158 (1896); Sharpe, Cat. B. M.
xxvi, p. 157 (1898) ; Retchenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 363 (1902).
Description. Adult—General colour above black, the long
scapular plumes white, the outer ones white along the inner webs,
and continuous with a white patch on the upper back, rest of the
back dusky slate with a greenish shade, lesser wing-coverts washed
with rufous-brown; crown crested, black with elongated nape-
plumes ; lores white, extending above the eye, as also a small patch
below the latter; cheeks, ear-coverts, and sides of face, black ;
upper throat white, lower throat and neck all round bright orange
chestnut ; a line of black feathers down the hind neck to the mantle;
down the centre of the foreneck and breast a few dusky brown
feathers, white on the outer web, giving a streaked appearance ;
sides of the body, flanks, thighs, under wing-coverts and axillaries
vinaceous slightly streaked with white.
Iris fiery yellow; lores and orbits bare and greenish-yellow;
bill blackish, yellowish towards the base; feet orange.
Length about 20; wing 10:2: tail 4:1; culmen 26; tarsus 2°8.
86 ARDEIDE ARDETTA
Distribution.—Atrica from Senegal and the White Nile south-
wards. This is a very scarce bird in South Africa, and, so far as I
am aware, has only been twice procured—in April, 1870, on the
Kleimont River, in the Bathurst division of Cape Colony, by Messrs.
E. Atherstone and H. Barber, and on the Hex River in the Rusten-
burg district of the Transvaal by Mr. Lucas. The latter specimen
is now in the British Museum.*
Mr. Lucas states that he found the nest of this bird ‘‘ composed
of rushes, on water” and that it contained five eggs tinged with
pale green and measuring about 1:8 x 1°45.
Genus IX. ARDETTA.
Type.
Ardetta, Gray, List Gen. B. App. p. 18 (1842) ......... A. minuta.
Bill long and slender, the culmen usually slightly exceeding the
tarsus and the middle toe and claw, which are themselves about
equal; mandibles serrated towards their tips; wings short and
round, the second and third primaries usually the longest; tail
very short, slightly rounded, of ten feathers only; tibio-tarsus
feathered almost to the heel; tarsus with transverse scutes in front ;
a slight crest on the nape, and the feathers of the upper breast
somewhat lengthened, concealing the lower breast, but no regular
ornamental or decomposed train of feathers.
This is a large genus containing some seventeen species of small
Bittern-like birds and is distributed all over the world. Four
African species are recognised by Reichenow, three of which occur
within our limits.
Key of the Species.
A. Wing-coverts buff contrasting with the black or
brown mottled back and scapulars.
we, Neele frill ehes tatt si os sasicviacajesicuined scales gieva opabinm snes ois A, payest, p. 86.
b. Neck frill ochraceous or ashy fulvous ........cs1eeeeees A. minuta, p. 88.
B. Whole of the upper surface, canasansk the wing-
coverts and neck, ashy black ............cseceneeeeeeees A, sturmi, p. 89.
600. Ardetta payesi. Red-necked Little Bittern.
Ardea payesi, Hartl., Journ. Ornith, 1858, p. 42.
Ardetta minuta (nec Linn.) Gurney, Ibis, 1859, p. 249, 1860, p. 205,
1868, p. 469, 1878, p. 300; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 809 (1867) ; Gurney, in
Andersson's B. Damaral, p. 292 (1872); Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 211.
* There were three examples in the Durban Museum from the maiaWbourlieod
of that place: one of these, received in exchange, is now in the South African
Museum.
ARDEIDZ ARDETTA 87
Ardetta podiceps, (nec Bp.) Gurney, Ibis, 1863, p. 330, 1878, p. 259,
1877, p. 350; Shelley, Ibis, 1875, pp. 63, 86; Ayres, Ibis, 1878, p.
300, 1880, p. 270, 1884, p. 233, 1886, p. 294; Sharpe, Ibis, 1894, p.
425; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 158 (1896); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p.
225 (1898).
Ardea pusilla (nec Vieill.) Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 310 (1867); Gurney,
Ibis, 1869, p. 300; Butler, IF'eilden, und Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 344 ;
Fleck, Journ. Ornith, 1894, p. 388.
Botaurus pusillus, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 720 (1884).
Ardetta payesi, Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 367 (1901).
Description. Adult Male.—General colour above, including the
crown, which is strongly crested, back, scapulars, tail, primary
coverts and wing-quills glossy greenish-black ; wing-coverts pearly-
grey passing to a buffy-grey on the lesser series and becoming chest-
nut on the bend of the wing; sides of the face including the eyebrow
and back of the neck vinous-chestnut, becoming paler, almost white,
on the chin and front of the neck; below buffy-white, nearly pure
white on the abdomen; some long feathers at the sides of the breast,
blackish with buffy margins; under wing-coverts and axillaries
white; quills sooty-black below ; back of the neck bare but covered
over by the lengthened curling side feathers.
Tris orange-red, bill pale-chrome, greenish towards the base,
dusky along the culmen and at the tip; legs and feet greenish.
Length (with outstretched neck) about 14; wing 5-1; tail 2-1;
culmen 2:0; tarsus 1°75; middle toe 1:9.
The female is rather different from the male; the back, including
the scapulars and inner secondaries is dark chestnut-brown, the
feathers edged with pale buff; the wings, tail and head are like
those of the male; the chestnut of the neck is rather richer; below
buffy-white with more or less distinct streaks of darker buff at the
base of the neck, these feathers concealing the black buff-edged
feathers of the breast.
The young bird resembles the old female but is rather more
varied and streaky, especially on the wing-coverts and under
surface.
Distribution.—This Little Bittern is found throughout Africa
from Senegal and the White Nile southwards. In Madagascar it
is replaced by a closely allied form (4d. podiceps) with which it has
been hitherto generally united, but from which it differs in its much
lighter coloured foreneck and under parts.
In South Africa this Little Bittern is widely spread throughout
88 ARDEIDE ARDETTA
the country and appears to be aresident. The following are recorded
localities : Cape Colony—Cape division, January, September, Wor-
cester, January, March, Vryburg, August (8. A. Mus.), Ceres
(Shelley), Kuruman (Fritch), Port Elizabeth, fairly common
(Brown); Natal—near coast (Ayres), Richmond Road (Butler) ;
Transvaal—Potchefstroom, J anuary to September (Ayres), Komati-
poort, October (Francis in 5. A. Mus.) ; Bechuanaland—Lake Ngami
district (Andersson), Nocana, July (Fleck) ; Rhodesia-—Upper Zam-
besi (Bradshaw and Chapman) ; German South-west Africa—Oka-
vango (Andersson), Reheboth, October (Fleck).
Habits —The Red-necked Little Bittern is a skulking bird found
in thick reed-beds, where it hops from one stem to another and
threads its way with great celerity among the tangled vegetation,
seldom making a flight of any length or duration. It lies very
close, as a rule, when disturbed, and endeavours to avoid obser-
vation by stretching out its long neck and compressing its body
and remaining motionless in a vertical position so as to resemble
the reeds among which it is resting. The food consists of small
lizards, frogs, and insects of various kinds, especially grass-hoppers
and caterpillars.
Mr. Austin Roberts has found the nest of this species on several
occasions in the swamps near Potchefstroom ; it is usually placed
about four feet above the water where three or four rushes cross
one another in the densest part of the reed bed; it is flat and made
of roots, similar to a Turtle Dove’s, but a little larger. The clutch
is two or three, and the eggs, which are white, measure 1:45 x
1-1. One nest was found containing three fledgelings which had
already learned the habit of concealing themselves by standing
erect and pointing their beaks up in the air so as to resemble the
reeds around them.
601. Ardetta minuta. Huwropean Little Bittern.
Ardea minuta, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 240 (1766).
Ardetta minuta, Dresser B. Eur. vi, p. 259, pl. 401 (1880) ; Sharpe, Cat.
B. MM. xxvi, p. 222 (1898); Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 366 (1901) ;
Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 205.
Description.—Resembling A. payesi very closely, but distinguished
by the colour of the sides of the face and neck, where the rufous-
chestnut is replaced by a vinous-brown shade ; the wing-coverts are
ARDEIDZ ARDETTA 89
much more strongly washed with buffy-yellow, and the bend of the
wing has no chestnut patch.
Tris orange-red : bill yellowish-green, darker along the culmen ;
legs green.
Length (in the flesh) 14°5; wing 5:5; tail1:8; culmen1-9 ; tarsus
1-65; middle toe 1:9.
Distribution—The Little Bittern is found in temperate and
Southern Europe, extending as far east as Northern India; it is
a straggler to Scandinavia and the British Islands. In the northern
winter it is found throughout Northern and in parts of Central
Africa, while apparently a few birds stray even further south.
This Little Bittern has been so constantly confused with A. paycsi,
the resident South African form, that it is difficult to be certain how
many times it has occurred, but there is an undoubted example of
this species in the South African Museum, recently obtained by Mr.
Shortridge at Port St. John’s, in Pondoland, in January.
602. Ardetta sturmi. African Dwarf Bittern.
Ardea sturmi, Wagl. Syst. Av. Ardea, p. 191 (1827); Holub § Pelzein,
Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 276 (1882).
Cancrophagus gutturalis, Smith, Rep. Exp. Centr. Afr. p. 57 (1886).
Ardea gutturalis, Smith, Ill. Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pl. 91 (1843) ; Layard,
B.S. Afr. p. 810 (1867).
Ardetta gutturalis, Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 221.
Ardetta sturmi, Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 256; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 864 ;
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 158 (1896); Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 198
(1899); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 266; Alerander, Ibis, 1900, p. 441;
Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 868 (1901).
Ardeirallus sturmi, Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p, 291 (1872) ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. Mf. xxvi, p. 244 (1898).
Botaurus sturmi, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8S. Afr. p. 720 (1884).
Description, Adult female.—General colour above throughout,
including the sides of the face and cheeks, dark slaty-black, a little
lighter on the wing-coverts ; below tawny-buff, richest on the breast ;
all the feathers with slaty centres, giving a striped appearance
throughout; axillaries, under wing-coverts and flanks slaty like the
back ; coverts along the bend of the wing tawny-buff; feathers on
the nape and fore-neck elongated and full.
Tris reddish-brown ; bill almost black, shading into bluish-green
at the base, which is also the colour of the skin round the eye; legs
and toes yellowish-brown in front, bright yellow bebind.
90 ARDEIDE ARDETTA
Length about 11; wing 6:4; tail 2:0; culmen 1°65; tarsus 1:8;
middle toe 1:8.
The male is like the female in most respects, but not quite so
rufous below. It is perhaps slightly larger.
In the young bird the general colour above is more slaty, and all
the feathers of the back and wing-coverts are tipped with sandy-
buff; below the brown streaks are not quite so broad.
Distribution—The range of the African Dwarf Bittern extends
over the greater part of Africa, from Senegal and the Shilluk country
of the Upper White Nile, southwards to Cape Colony. It has also
occurred in the Canaries.
Within our limits it is most abundant in Rhodesia and Northern
Damaraland, and is a decidedly rare bird in Cape Colony ; nor has it
been recorded from Potchefstroom by the indefatigable Mr. Ayres.
The following are localities : Cape Colony—near Cape Town and near
the junction of the Vaal and Orange Rivers (Smith), Paarl (Gird
according to Layard), Malmesbury (S. A. Mus.); Natal—common
(Woodward) ; Transvaal—Selati railway in Lydenburg, April (Francis
in 8. A. Mus.) ; Bechuanaland— Kooroomoorooi Pan, January
(Ayres) ; Rhodesia—Pandamatenka (Holub), Upper Zambesi River
(Chapman and Bradshaw), Salisbury district (Marshall), Kafue River
(Alexander) ; German South-west Africa—Ondonga, Ovaquenyana,
Ovagandyaro, Omanbonde, all in Ovampoland (Andersson).
Habits.—This Bittern is usually found in swamps surrounded
by a few trees and bushes, among the lowest branches of which it
prefers to rest. It is not shy, and its flight is slow and heavy ;
it has a croaking cry and nothing resembling the boom of the true
Bittern ; aquatic animals of all sorts form its food, such as snails,
insects, frogs and small fishes. Both Andersson and Ayres state
that this bird is chiefly active at night, but this is disputed by the
Woodwards, who were told by Mr. Fitzsimmons that he bad several
times watched it diligently hunting by day.
Andersson is the only naturalist who has written of its nesting
habits; he states as follows: ‘‘It breeds in Ondonga, usually
placing its nest.in the lower branches of palm bushes, which are
partly immersed in water, a few feet above which the nest is
situated ; it is composed of stalks of coarse grass, or of small twigs
laid across each other without much care or strength, and with
hardly any depression for the reception of the eggs, which are four
in number.”
ARDEIDE BOTAURUS 91
Genus X. BOTAURUS.
Type.
Botaurus, Briss., Orn. v, p- 444 (1760) we B. stellaris.
Bill rather short and stout, somewhat compressed; culmen
distinctly shorter than the tarsus; mandibles serrated towards the
tips, wings short and rounded, first primary usually the longest;
tail short, of ten feathers only; tibio-tarsus feathered down to
within about three quarters of an inch of the joint; tarsus con-
siderably shorter than the middle toe and claw; feet large, claws
stout and strong, especially that of the hallux, which is sharp and
curved, and nearly as long as the hallux itself; plumage long and
lax, mottled yellow and black ; no ornamental plumes.
Fic, 24.—Left foot of Botaurus capensis. x }
Five species of Bitterns, spread all over the temperate and
tropical regions of both hemispheres are recognised by Dr, Sharpe.
Two species are recorded from Africa, the European Bittern which
has been procured in Abyssinia and a closely allied form, confined
to South Africa,
603. Botaurus capensis. Cape Bittern.
Ardca stellaris capensis, Schlegel, Mus. Pays-Bas, Ardva, p. 48 (1863).
Botaurus stellaris (nee Linn.), Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 811 (1867);
Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 211; Ayres, Ibis, 1880, p. 270; Butler,
92 ARDEIDE BOTAURUS
Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 844; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8.
Afr. p. 722 (1884); Symonds, Ibis, 1887, p. 334; Bleck, Journ.
Ornith 1894, p. 888; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 158 (1896) ; Woodward
Bros. Natal B. p. 198 (1899).
Botaurus capensis, Ayres, Ibis, 1869, p. 300; Sharpe, Cut. B. M. xxvi,
p- 257 (1898).
Botaurus stellaris capensis, Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 364 (1901);
“ Roerdomp ’’ of the Dutch.
Description. Adult male.—General colour tawny-buff, passing to
nearly white, everywhere mottled and freckled with dark brown to
black ; crown and nape, where the feathers are elongated to form
a crest, and a moustachial streak from the gape below the eye and
ear-coverts black ; wing-quills black, mottled with rufous-brown, but
not regularly barred as in the Huropean bird; below the chin is
white, the rest of the lower surface pale tawny-buff; the feathers
of the neck which are elongated and spread out on either side to
form a species of ruff, narrowly banded with transverse markings of
dark brown on either side, with ill-defined lines of tawny along the
centres; a few of the longer feathers of the breast with broad and
almost black centres, those of the abdomen with a few narrow
streaks ; insides of the thighs and under tail-coverts hardly marked,
outsides of the thighs and flanks with the axillaries and wing-coverts
more strongly mottled.
Tris yellow to hazel; bare space round the eye ashy fulvous;
bill light greenish-ash; legs pale green. Length about 28:0; wing
~ 12:25; tail 4:25; culmen 2:45; tarsus 3°4; middle toe 4:25.
The female is very similar to the male but is slightly smaller.
This species differs from the European Bittern only in its slightly
smaller size and less barred wing-quills.
ARDEIDE BOTAURUS 93
Distribution.—The Cape Bittern is confined to South Africa.
Nocana on the Okavango River shortly before it enters Lake
Ngami is the most northerly point whence it has been procured,
but it is not uncommon in Cape Colony and Natal in suitable
situations.
The following localities have been recorded: Cape Colony—Cape
division, Somerset and Ceres (S. A. Mus.), Verloren Vlei in Piquet-
berg, Zoetendals Vlei in Bredasdorp (Layard), Port Elizabeth,
rather rare (Brown), East London, occasionally (Wood), King
Williams Town, twice only (Trevelyan); Natal—Durban harbour
and Mooi River (Woodward), Newcastle, fairly common (Butler) ;
Orange River Colony—Bloemfontein (Barratt), Kroonstad, once,
December (Symonds); Transvaal — Potchefstroom, May, August,
October (Ayres); Bechuanaland—Nocana on the Okavango, July
(Fleck).
Habits——The Cape Bittern resembles its close ally the European
bird in its habits; it spends the day concealed among the rushes
and reeds, and only emerges towards the evening when it seeks its
feeding grounds with slow and laboured flight. Its food consists
of fishes, frogs and other aquatic animals. Under ordinary circum-
stances, the cry of the Bittern is a sharp, harsh “ quirk,” but during
the breeding season, especially at night, the male bird makes a loud
booming noise, resembling the deep bellowing of a bull, whence
doubtless the bird derives its name. At Potchefstroom Mr. Ayres
was informed by the Boers that this curious loud noise pro-
ceeded from a gigantic snake that lived in the swamps, but on
following up the noise he discovered the real cause very quickly.
Mr. Ayres further relates that the Bittern is an exceedingly pug-
nacious bird when wounded, throwing itself on its back and
defending itself with beak and claws, both of which are exceedingly
sharp.
There is no very definite information about the nesting habits
of the Cape Bittern. Mr. Layard was informed that it bred at
Verloren Vlei, and a pair of eggs were brought to him by Mr. Hugo,
of Frensch Hoek, which were stated to have been laid by this bird;
these were dark olive-green and smooth like those of a duck.
94 IBIDIDE IBIS
Family IV. IBIDIDA.
Bill long and down-curved throughout, the sides somewhat com-
pressed ; a longitudinal groove on each side, at the base of which
are the nostrils; twelve rectrices.
Anatomical characters are :—Seventeen cervical vertebre; skull
schizorhinal; angle of the mandible produced beyond its articu-
lation with the quadrate; tongue very small; the five garrodian
thigh muscles all present; syrinx with the usual intrinsic muscles.
Genus I. IBIS.
Type.
Ibis, Lacép., Mem. l'Inst. Paris, iii, p. 518 (1801)...... I. ethiopica.
Bill long, strong and down-curved throughout, about one and
a half times the length of the tarsus; nostrils slit-like openings at
the basal end of a nasal groove which extends forward nearly to
the tip of the bill; whole of the head and neck all round naked
in the adult; wings rather short, the primaries and secondaries
about equal; inner secondaries in the adult produced into orna-
mental plumes with a metallic gloss; tail rather short, of twelve
feathers; lower half of the tibia naked; tarsus reticulated with
hexagonal scales all round; toes with a basal web for about a
quarter of their length.
Four species ranging throughout Africa, Southern Asia and the
Australian region are generally recognised. Only one of these is
found in South Africa.
604. Ibis ethiopica. Sacred Ibis.
Tantalus ethiopicus, Lath., Ind. Orn. ii, p. 706 (1790).
Numenius ibis, Cuv., Ann. du Mus. iv, p. 116, pls. 52-54 (1804).
Ibis religiosa, Cuv. Regne Anim. i, p. 483 (1817); Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p.
334; Bryden, Gun and Camera, p. 408 (1893).
Threskiornis xthiopicus, Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 219, 1865, p. 275 [Natal].
Geronticus ethiopicus, Layard, B. 8. Afr, p. 820 (1867); Barratt, Ibis,
1876, p. 211; Holub § Pelzeln, Orn. Siid- Afr. p. 292 (1882).
Ibis ethiopica, Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 259; P. L. Sclater, P. Z. S. 1870,
p. 881, fig. 2; Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 297 (1872);
Ayres, Ibis, 1874, p. 105; P. L. Sclater, Ibis, 1878, p. 449, pl. xii
[young bird and egg] ; Butler, Feilden and Reed, Zool. 1882, p. 428 ;
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8S, Afr. p. 736 (1884) ; Symonds, Ibis, 1887,
IBIDIDE IBIS 95
p. 835; Bleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 885; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p.
155 (1896); W. L. Sclater, Ibis, 1896, p. 521; Sharpe, Cat. B. M.
xxvi, p. 4 (1898) ; Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 190 (1899) ; Marshall,
Ibis, 1900, p. 265; Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 821 (1901) ; Haagner,
Ibis, 1902, p. 574.
“ Schoorsteen veger ” (i.e., Chimney Sweeper) of the Dutch.
Description. Adult Male.—Plumage above and below pure white
throughout ; the tips of the primaries and outer secondaries steel
green; the inner secondaries and scapulars elongated and dependent,
forming ornamental plumes, the distal halves of these feathers
decomposed, very loose in texture and metallic purple in colour;
head and neck all round to the base, without feathers and black in
colour.
Fic. 26.—Head of Ibis ethiopica, x 2
Iris dark brown; a white or pinkish spot under the eye, bill
very dark brown, naked space under the wings bright brick red,
legs dark reddish, becoming darker towards the toes.
Length about 35:0; wing 15:5; tail 5-5; culmen 6:5; tarsus
3°85; middle toe and claw 3:55. The female resembles the male
but is slightly smaller, wing about 14:6; culmen 5'8.
Young birds have the head and neck covered with short feathers,
black, variegated with white on the back and sides of the head and
neck, white on the throat and front of the neck, the bastard wing
and primary coverts are tipped with black as are also the quills,
while the decomposed secondaries are very much shorter; iris dark
brown, bill, legs and skin of throat black.
The completely bare black head and neck are not acquired till
the second or third year.
A nestling is clothed with short white down all over the body,
the head and neck being black; the bill is straight, short, conical
and pink in colour.
96 IBIDIDE IBIS
Distribution.—The Sacred Ibis is found throughout the whole
of Africa, especially on the coast and along the larger rivers. It
extends as far eastwards as Fao on the Persian Gulf and possibly
to the Caspian Sea. In Egypt it only occurs during the time of
high Nile in late summer and early autumn, and has hence escaped
the observation of most modern travellers.
In South Africa the Sacred Ibis is met with throughout the
whole country where suitable conditions exist, but it appears to
leave the inland districts early in the Spring and resort to the
coast islands to breed.
The following are the chief recorded localities: Cape Colony—
Cape division, November (Layard and 8. A. Mus.), Robben Island,
July (S. A. Mus.), Dassen Island, April (Stark), July (Sclater),
Saldanha Bay, May, September, October (Stark), Dyers Island, off the
Caledon coast, breeding in December (W. L. Sclater), Zoetendals Vlei
in Bredasdorp, December (Layard), Kuruman (8. A. Mus.); Natal—
Durban harbour (Ayres), Maritzburg, December, single example
(Fitsimmons), Newcastle, September (Feilden), St. Lucia Lake
(Woodward) ; Orange River Colony—Bloemfontein (S. A. Mus.),
Kroonstad, June (Symonds), Vredefort Road (B. Hamilton); Trans-
vaal—Potchefstroom (Ayres), Modderfontein, August (Haagner) ;
Bechuanaland—Lake Ngami, August (Fleck), Botletli River
(Bryden); Rhodesia—Makabusi River near Salisbury (Marshall) ;
German South-west Africa—Ondonga, but not in Damaraland
(Andersson), Okavango River, July (Fleck).
Habits.—This was one of the most sacred birds of the ancient
Egyptians; it was regarded as representing Thoth or Tehuti, the
Moon Deity, and was preserved in large numbers mummified in
the old Egyptian tombs. Cuvier was the first naturalist to identify
our present bird with the sacred bird of the ancients.
In South Africa this Ibis is generally found along the coast or
about the larger rivers where it obtains its food; this consists chiefly
of shell fish, worms and small crabs. It may often be seen about the
mud banks and sandy beaches probing the mud with its long beak ; it
is specially abundant on the guano islands, and is said there to devour
the young Penguins and Duikers on the nest, when left by their
parents exposed to view. Sometimes they associate in considerable
flocks, at other times only three or four are seen together; they fly
with neck outstretched and with a series of steady wing-beats
followed by a short sail and generally form figures when flying
together. They are generally said to be very shy, but on some
of the islands they are certainly comparatively tame.
IBIDIDE GERONTICUS 97
In northern Africa the Ibis is stated to build its nest on high
trees in considerable companies, but in South Africa it is only
known to breed among the rocks on some of the guano islands, such
as Jutten Island off the entrance to Saldanha Bay, Dassen Island
north of Table Bay, and Dyers Island on the Caledon coast. On the
last-mentioned island I found two nests on December 2, one con-
taining three eggs, the usual clutch, and another containing a young
bird just hatched; in a third nest, obviously also that of an Ibis,
were three eggs which appeared to be those of one of the Penguins
which were sitting all round in the immediate neighbourhood. The
nests were fairly massive structures built up of seaweed and coarse
stalks of the island vegetation, somewhat flat on the top and with
no lining beyond a slight cement of the guano; they were placed
on some low rocks within a few yards of the sea. The eggs are
elongated and chalky white with a faint blue tinge, sparsely covered,
chiefly towards the larger end, with a few irregular streaks and
splotches of brick red ; they are slightly rough and not glossy, and
measure on an average 2°75 x 1°75, but vary considerably in size
and proportions.
Genus IT. GERONTICUS.
Type.
Geronticus, Wagler, Isis, 1832, p. 1232.........c.cccseeeee ee, G. calvus.
Bill and nostrils as in Jbis ; only the crown and the upper third
of the neck bare of feathers, those on the nape extending nearly up
to the occiput ; cranium very much swollen and covered with smooth
red skin, contrasting with the bluish vough skin of the neck and
throat; wings slightly longer than in Jbis, the inner secondaries
normal, and not elongated or forming ornamental plumes ; tail,
tarsus and toes as in Ibis.
Only the single South African species here described is assigned
to this genus.
605. Geronticus calyvus. Bald Ibis.
Tantalus calvus, Bodd. Tabl. Pl. Enl. p. 52 (1783).
Ibis calva, Steedman, Wanderings S. Afr. i, p. 174 (1885); Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 155 (1896); Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 190 (1899).
Geronticus calvus, Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 219 [Natal] ; Layard, B. 8S.
Afr. p. 821 (1867); Gurney in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 297
(1872) ; Drummond, Large Game S. EL. Afr. p. 412 (1875) ; Butler,
7 VOL. Iv.
98 IBIDIDZ GERONTICUS
Feilden, and Reid, Zool. 1882, p 424; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8.
Afr. p. 738 (1884); id. Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 17 (1898) ; Reichenow,
Vég. Afr. i, p. 824 (1901).
“Wilde Kalkoen ” or “ Wild Turkey ” of the Colonists ; “* Umewangele ”
of the Amaxosa (Stanford).
Description. Adult Male.—General colour throughout metallic
dark green, with purplish reflections here and there; the median
coverts of the wing metallic coppery-red, forming a conspicuous
wing patch; feathers of the lower part of the neck elongated and
lanceolate, forming a kind of ruff; below metallic green, but not
quite so metallic as on the back.
Top of the head bright red, bill and legs red of a slightly
darker and duller shade; sides of the face below the eye and
neck all round, pale blue; the bare part of the neck extending
about a quarter of its total length on the nape, and about half its
length in front.
Fic. 27.—Head of Geronticus calvus. x 2
Length about 31:0; wing 16:0; tail 7:5; culmen 5:5; tarsus
2:75; middle toe and claw 2:6.
The female resembles the male, but is slightly smaller, wing
about 15:5; culmen 5:0.
The young bird is very much less metallic, the green being
mixed with dusky; there is no copper patch on the wings; the top
of the head and the neck are thinly covered with greyish feathers,
leaving only a small bare blue patch round the eye, and a little red
on the fore part of the crown; the bill and legs appear to be red, as
in the adult.
IBIDID GERONTICUS 99
Distribution.—The Bald Ibis is a somewhat rare bird, chiefly
confined to the mountainous districts of South Africa; it is found
throughout Cape Colony, Natal, and perhaps the Orange River
Colony, but I am not aware of its having been noticed north of the
Vaal River.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Tygerhoek
in Caledon (Layard), Witzenberg in Ceres (S. A. Mus.), Tafelberg
in Middelburg division (S. A. Mus.), Orange River (Andersson
and 5S. A. Mus.), Cradock division (Steedman), Port Elizabeth
district, rare (J. G. Brown); Natal—Newcastle district (Reid and
Sparrow), Rorke’s Drift (Reed), Zululand (Bt. Mus.) ; Orange River
Colony—Frankfort (B. Hamilton).
Habits.—The Bald Ibis is a very wild and shy bird, generally
seen in small parties, and difficult to approach; it is chiefly to
be found among the mountains, and has a partiality for burnt
land, where no doubt it finds plenty of food. It walks very fast,
and is on the move most of the day, appearing to be always
in search of food; this consists chiefly of earth-worms, for which
it probes with its long beak, grasshoppers, caterpillars and other
insects, while some observers have stated that it by no means
disdains carrion, and acts as an efficient scavenger. Notwith-
standing this, it is said to be excellent eating.
Although Steedman, in the early part of the last century, stated
that this bird nested in companies in the ledges of rocky krantzes,
no one, until quite recently, seems to have actually taken the eggs.
Major Sparrow, of the 7th Dragoon Guards, tells me that he met with
this bird breeding on the spurs of the Drakensberg, near Newcastle,
in Natal in 1902; on September 18th he found a nest with two young
ones about ten days old, while on November 9th he found two more
nests, one containing fresh, the other slightly incubated eggs. The
nests were all placed on ledges or in slight holes on the face of
a steep, rocky krantz; they were made up of sticks lined with a little
grass, and were exceedingly dirty. The eggs, which were two in
number in each case, are elongate in shape and very pale blue in
colour, faintly spotted with a few reddish brown or purplish spots ;
they measure 2°70 x 1°75.
100 IBIDIDE HAGEDASHIA
Genus III. HAGEDASHIA.
Type.
Hagedashia, Bp. Consp. ii, p. 152 (1855)..... H. hagedash.
Bill as in Ibis, about twice the length of the tarsus, with the
slit-like nostrils at the base opening in a groove running nearly to
the tip of the bill, on either side of the rigid culmen; crown and
face feathered, except for a space between the front of the eye and
the base of the bill, the upper part of which is somewhat warty ;
wings rounded, fourth primary the longest, the secondaries normal,
not produced; tail of 12 feathers, nearly square; tarsus covered
with hexagonal scales, rather short, shorter than the middle toe
and claw.
Only the one species, here described, is assigned to this genus.
606. Hagedashia hagedash. Hadada.
Tantalus hagedash, Lath. Ind. Orn. ii, p. 709 (1790).
Ibis chalcoptera, Vieill. Gal. Ois. ii, p. 128, pl. 246 (1834).
Ibis hagedash, Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Hand. ii, no. 10, p. 54 (1858).
Geronticus hagedash, Gurney, Ibis, 1859, p. 248, 1865, p. 274 [Natal] ;
Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 320 (1867); Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 266; Butler,
Fewlden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 423.
Hagedashia caffrensis, Bp. Consp. ii, p. 152 (1855); Gurney in Anders-
son's B. Damaral. p. 298 (1872).
Hagedashia hagedash, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.S. Afr. p. 739 (1884) ;
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 156 (1896); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 19
(1898); Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 191 (1899); Alexander, Ibis,
1900, p. 489; Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, ii, p. 100, pl. v, fig. 5 (1902) ;
Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 204.
Theristicus hagedash, Retchenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 825 (1901).
Other references are Sparrman, Travels, 8vo ed. i, p. 299 (1785); Barrow,
Travels, i, p. 264 (1801); Delagorgue, Voyage, i, p. 114 (1847).
“ Ingagane ” (7.e., Black Ibis) of the Amaxosa (Stanford).
Description. Adult Female—General colour above dull olive
green ; the wing-coverts metallic, showing pinky reflections, while
the greater series have a bronzy-gold wash ; wing-quills, except the
inner secondaries, which are olive-green, bastard wing, primary-
coverts and tail-feathers dark purplish-blue; whole of the head,
neck and under parts ashy-grey, most of the feathers edged and
tipped with paler; a bare space between the eye and the base of
the bill black; ear-coverts uniform ashy-brown, bordered below
IBIDIDE HAGEDASHIA 101
by a whitish band; under tail-coverts and wing-coverts and
axillaries dusky-purplish, slightly metallic.
Tris dark brown (with a narrow outer ring nearly white,
according to Ayres); bill black, the culmen crimson towards the
base; legs dull red.
Length about 30; wing 14-75; tail 6-5 ; culmen 5 25 ; tarsus 2°7;
middle toe and claw 2-9.
The sexes are alike; the nestlings are covered with nearly black
down.
Fic. 28.—Head of Hagedashia hagedash. x
ep
Distribution.—The Hadada is found throughout the whole of the
Kthiopian Region from Senegal, Kordofan and Somaliland south-
wards to Cape Colony. In South Africa this bird is apparently
confined to the well-wooded and watered districts of the south and
east coasts, and does not occur on the high plateau of the centre of
the country, nor did Andersson come across it in German South-
west Africa, although he met with it in the Lake Ngami region.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Knysna
district (Sparrman, Victorin and Layard), Port Elizabeth division
(Sparrman and J. G. Brown), Hast London (Rickard and Wood),
Port St Johns (Shortridge) ; Natal—Ifafa River (Woodward), Pine-
town, Balgowan and Upper Mooi River (Stark), Ingagane River and
Colenso (Reid); Transvaal—Vaal River, near Potchefstroom, very
rare (Ayres); Bechuanaland—Lake Ngami region (Andersson) ;
Portuguese East Africa—Urema River, near Beira (8. A. Mus.),
Zambesi River (Alexander).
Habits.—During the winter the Hadada is gregarious, being
found in flocks of varying number; these resort in the evening to
a special tree, usually one overhanging a river, to roost. It is then
fairly easy to approach them and shoot them, as they seldom leave
102 IBIDIDE PLEGADIS
this particular tree for any length of time. During the day they
disperse over the country in smaller parties to their feeding grounds.
These are often in dense bush, sometimes in old mealie gardens, or
even about the open hills. The food consists almost entirely of
insects of various kinds, for which they are constantly in search all
day. The note of this Ibis is very loud and harsh, and can be heard
at a great distance; it is approximately syllabled “ ha-ha-ha-dabah,”’
and from this sound the bird has obtained not only its vernacular,
but also its Latin name, the latter having been applied to it by
the Swedish traveller Sparrman, who first met with this bird in the
forests of Houtniquas (7.e., Knysna).
The nesting habits of the Hadada have been described by
Ayres, Reid and Andersson. The nest is generally placed in a tree
overhanging a stream, and is a somewhat slight structure built of
sticks and lined with a little dry grass, and rather flat at the top, so
that it is surprising that the eggs do not fall out. The usual clutch
consists of three eggs; these are very different from those of the
other Ibises, being greenish or greyish-buff, densely covered with
brownish splotches and streaks. The example in the British Museum,
obtained by Ayres and figured in the Catalogue of Birds’ Eggs, is
stated to be rather rough and much pitted with pores, and to
measure 2°43 x 1:57.
Reid’s nest was found near Colenso on November 13th; the
eggs were slightly incubated. Dr. Stark in his notes described
a nest found by him on the upper waters of the Mooi River,
in the Drakensberg, on November 8th; it contained two nestlings
recently hatched, while a broken egg was found on the ground
below the nest. Major Sparrow found the Hadada breeding in
the same place as the Bald Ibis, on the cliffs of a spur of the
Upper Drakensberg, near Newcastle, on October 20th; in this
case the nest was at the base of a tree growing out of the side
of the cliff, and contained two eggs.
Everyone is agreed that the flesh of the Hadada is very good
eating.
Genus IV. PLEGADIS.
Type.
Plegadis, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 82 (1829) 00.0000... P. falcinellus.
Bill more slender and less down-curved than in Ibis, the groove
less marked and the culmen not so ridged; head and throat feathered
except for a space between the eye and the base of the bill, which
IBIDIDE PLEGADIS 103
is covered by smooth skin; wing pointed, the first two primaries
subequal ; tail short, less than half the length of the wing, nearly
square, of twelve feathers; tarsus longer than the middle toe and
claw, covered in front by transverse scutes; claw of the middle toe
nearly straight, and pectinated along its inner margin.
Three species of this genus have been described, only one of
which occurs in Africa. The range of the genus extends over the
greater part of the world.
607. Plegadis falcinellus. Glossy Ibis.
Tantalus falcinellus, Linn., Syst. Nat. i, p. 241 (1766).
Numenius igneus, S. G. Gmel., Reis. Sibir. i, p. 166 (1770).
Falcinellus igneus, Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 834; Gurney, Ibis, 1865, p. 272
[Natal]; Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 266.
This falcinellus, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 819 (1867); Holub & Pelzein,
Orn, Siid-Afr. p. 291 (1882).
Plegadis falcinellus, Dresser, B. Eur. vi, p. 835, pl. 409 (1878); Ayres,
Ibis, 1885, p. 849; Shelley, B. Afr.i, p, 156 (1896); Sharpe, Cat. B.
M. xxvi, p. 29 (1898); Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 192 (1899);
Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 439.
Falcinellus falcinellus, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 741 (1884).
Plegadis autumnalis, Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 329 (1901).
Description. Adult in non-breeding pluwmage.—General colour
above black with purple, green and bronzy metallic sheen; the
green chiefly on the wing-quills and primary coverts, the purple on
the inner secondaries, the copper on the scapulars and lesser wing-
coverts; head and neck all round streaked with blackish and
whitish, lower part of the neck and upper mantle, breast and most
of the under parts maroon; under wing- and tail-coverts and
axillaries black, with green and purple metallic reflections.
Tris brown; bill and legs dark brownish-olive. Length about
18:0; wing 10-0; tail 3-25; culmen 4:5; tarsus 3:15; middle toe
and claw 2°75.
In the breeding plumage the head and neck all round are deep
maroon chestnut, and the forehead and fore part of the crown
glossy green. The female resembles the male but is slightly
smaller; a young bird has no maroon at all; the general colour
above is metallic, with more green and less purple and copper, the
head and neck are dark brown, striped with white, and the breast
and under parts ashy-brown without white striping.
104 PLATALEIDE PLATALEA
Distribution.—The Glossy Ibis has a very wide range. It is
spread all over Southern Europe and Asia from Spain to Siam,
while north of the Alps it is an irregular visitor, not infrequently
reaching the British Islands; it also occurs in the Malayan Islands,
Australia, and the eastern United States, as far south as Florida. It
occurs throughout the greater part of Africa from Algeria and
Egypt to Cape Colony, including Madagascar.
Within our limits it is by no means a common bird, though it
has been met with in most of the colonies except German South-
west Africa.
The following is a list of recorded localities: Cape Colony—
Sterkstroom division (Albany Mus.), Zeekoe Vlei, Cape division
and Orange River (Verreaux apud Layard) ; Natal—Durban harbour
(Woodward), Monocusi River (Ayres); Transvaal—Potchefstroom,
March, July, August (Ayres); Rhodesia—near Salisbury (Marshall),
Upper Zambesi at Sesheke (Holub), Lower Zambesi, July
(Alexander).
Habits—The Glossy Ibis is usually found in pairs along the
banks of rivers and in swamps, where it obtains its food; this
consists chiefly of small crustaceans, fishes and frogs. These birds
are shy and difficult of approach, and if disturbed circle up in the
air to a great height, and go off to some other marsh. The Glossy
Ibis is not known to breed in South Africa, but in Spain it makes a
nest of a few sticks and reeds in a bush on or near the water;
three to four oval, dark greenish blue eggs, measuring 2-0 x 1:5
are deposited.
Family V. PLATALEIDA.
The Spoonbills are closely allied to the Ibises in all essential
anatomical characters, so that they have often been all placed
together in one family; the curious spoon-shaped bill, however, at
once distinguishes these birds from all others, and constitutes their
claim to family distinction.
Genus I. PLATALEA.
Type.
Platalea, Linn., Syst. Nat. i, p. 231 (1766) ......... P. leucorodia.
Bill much modified, both mandibles spoon-shaped and much
flattened, slightly down-curved at the tip; nostrils near the base of
the bill with oval orifices, from which two grooves run forward at.
PLATALEIDE PLATALEA 105
first parallel to one another, and afterwards following the curved
margin of the upper mandible; sides of the head and throat bare of
feathers; legs long, lower half of the tibia naked, tarsus far longer
than the middle toe, covered with reticulate scales; toes webbed at
the base.
Spoonbills are found throughout the greater part of the Old
World ; out of four species generally recognised, two occur in Africa
and one is found in South Africa.
608. Platalea alba. African Spoonbill.
Platalea alba, Scop., Del. Flor. et Faun. Insubr. ii, p. 92 (1786);
Grant, Ibis, 1889, p. 47; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 156 (1896); Sharpe,
Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 49 (1898); Woodward Bros., Natal B. p. 192
(1899) ; id. Ibis, 1900, p. 518; Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 439;
Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 381 (1901).
Platalea tenuirostris, Temm., Man. d’Orn. 2nd ed. i, p. ciii (1820) ;
Gurney, Ibis, 1861, p. 134 [Natal]; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 318
(1867); Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 295 (1872); Ayres,
Ibis, 1874, p. 105, 1885, p. 350; Milne-Hdw. & Grandid., Hist. Nat.
Madagas. Ois., p. 524 pl. 215-217 (1882) ; Holub § Pelzeln, Orn.
Siid-Afr. p. 290 (1882); Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 345 ;
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 742 (1884); Haagner, Ibis, 1902,
. 575.
Pintalen nivea, Burchell, Travels, i, p. 501 (1822).
Description. Adult.—Plumage white throughout ; a nuchal crest
present; whole of the fore part of the crown, the region round the
eye and the throat bare of feathers; the crown bright red, becoming
yellowish at the gape and on the chin. Iris white to pearly-grey ;
bill, upper mandible red, lower mandible slaty-black with yellow
spots and edges; legs bright red.
Length about 35:0; wing 15-0; tail 5-0; culmen 7:0; tarsus 4:60;
middle toe and claw 3-75.
A young bird has the outer primaries brown, and all the quills
including some of the greater coverts with dark brown shafts; the
crown of the head is streaked with blackish-brown, the bill dusky
yellowish-horn, and feet blackish.
Distribution. —The African Spoonbill is found throughout the
greater part of Africa (including Madagascar) south of the Sahara
Desert; its place is taken on the Red Sea and Somaliland coasts
by the European species which has the head feathered in front of
the eye almost to the base of the culmen, and black legs.
106 PLATALEIDE PLATALEA
In South Africa the present species is by no means common; it
is hardly known in Cape Colony, but appears to be occasionally met
with in Natal and the Transvaal, and to be fairly abundant in the
Lake Ngami region and on the Zambesi.
The following are the recorded localities : Cape Colony—Kariega
in the Alexandria division (Albany Mus.), Berg River, and Verloren
Vleiin Piquetberg? (Verreaux), Klaarwater, 7.¢c., Griquatown, in Gri-
qualand West, December (Burchell); Natal—Newcastle, breeding
October (Butler), Upper Umzimkulu, Durban Harbour, and St.
Lucia Bay in Zululand (Woodward) ; Transvaal—Mooi River, near
Potchefstroom, October (Ayres), near Johannesburg, once obtained
(Haagner) ; Bechuanaland—Lake Ngami, common (Andersson), Salt
Pans, and upper Botletli River (Holub); German South-west
Africa—Damaraland and Great Namaqualand, rare (Andersson) ;
Zumbo, on the Zambesi, November (Alexander).
Fic. 29.—Head of Platalea alba. x +
Habits. This bird appears to resemble the European Spoonbill
closely in its habits; it is generally found in flocks of varying
number, often in company with Herons along the muddy banks of
rivers or lagoons, where it feeds on small fishes, crustacea, mollusca,
and even aquatic insects; it is a shy bird as a rule, and flies off in
companies in V lines. Colonel Butler is the only observer who has
found the Spoonbill breeding in South Africa. This was in a reed-
bed on the Transvaal side of the Buffalo River, a few miles from
Newcastle; here, on October 1st, he found some five or six large
nests built of sedge, placed just above the level of the water; in
most of the nests were two or three young birds just hatched, but one
contained three fresh eggs, which were “ white, richly marked with
PHENICOPTERIDE PHENICOPTERUS 107
chestnut brown.” The water where the nests were found was
about three feet deep. Colonel Butler further remarks that the
birds were not bad eating.
Order VIII. ODONTOGLOSSA.
The Flamingoes, for which birds alone this Order was formed by
Nitzch, have been associated with the Ducks on the one hand and
with the Herons on the other, and there is no doubt that in their
anatomical characters they take a distinctly intermediate position
between these two Orders; it will be better therefore, following
Huxley, to keep them apart by themselves.
The Flamingoes have very long necks and legs, and the bill,
which is abruptly bent down in the middle of its length and is of a
very remarkable shape, at once distinguishes them from all other
birds.
Anatomical characters are: Skull desmognothous and holorhinal,
nostrils pervious; basipterygoid processes absent or rudimentary ;
mandible backwardly produced and curved behind its articulation
with the quadrate; eighteen or nineteen cervical vertebre; right
carotid artery larger than the left, both united together at the base
of the neck; tongue large and thick; ceca well developed; oil
gland tufted ; flexor perforans digitorum supplying the three anterior
toes alone; ambiens, accessory femorocaudal, semitendinosus and
accessory semitendinosus muscles of the thigh present. Eggs
white; young hatched covered with down, and able to run almost
at once.
Only one family is included in this Order, and most authors
include all the species in the single genus Phanzcopterus.
Family I. PH@NICOPTERIDA.
Genus I. PHQNICOPTERUS.
Type
Pheenicopterus, Briss. Orn. vi, p. 532 (1760)............. P. ruber.
Pheniconaias, G. R. Gray, Ibis, 1869, p. 442 ............ P. minor.
Bill with upper mandible abruptly bent downwards in the middle
of its length, and smaller and more movable than the lower one,
which is stout and practically fixed ; the edges of both with a row of
108 PH@NICOPTERIDE PHENICOPTERUS
lamella; the nostrils are slits about half way along the straight
portion of the upper mandible; neck very long with eighteen to
nineteen cervical vertebre ; tail of from twelve to sixteen feathers,
square ; legs very long, the tibio-tarsus feathered for only about a
quarter of its length; tarsus covered with large transverse scutes
before and behind; anterior toes fully webbed; the claws rather
flattened and nail-like; hind toe very small but present (in the
African species).
Six species of Flamingoes are generally recognised, distributed
over the warmer portions of Europe, Asia, America, and Africa.
Two species here described are found in Africa, and, owing to
differences in the shape of the mandible, have been sometimes
placed in separate genera.
Key of the Species.
A. Larger, wing about 18 in adult; upper mandible
slightly convex and shutting down on the top of
the edges of the lower ONG..........cccceseeeceeeencescnees P. roseus, p. 108.
B. Smaller, wing about 14 in adult; upper mandible
flattened and shutting down between the rami of
bho LoOweI17-OMe- > asnwsmonineaboieanesnverarnehenemanaresnes P, minor, p. 111.
609. Phcenicopterus roseus. Greater Flamingo.
Pheenicopterus roseus, Pall., Zoogr. Rosso-As. ii, p. 207 (1811); Dresser,
B. Eur. vi, p. 348, pl. 410 (1879) ; Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 386 ;
Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 12 (1895); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 170
(1896); Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 206 (1899); Alexander, Ibis,
1900, p. 442; Reichenow Vog. Afr. i, p. 349 (1901); TV. L. Sclater,
Ibis, 1904, p. 86.
Phenicopterus antiquorum, Temm., Man., 2nd ed., ii, p. 587 (1820) ;
Grull, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. ii, no. 10, p. 56 (1858) ; Gray, Ibis, 1869,
p. 441, pl. xiii, figs. 1, 2.
Phenicopterus erythreus [in part], J. d E. Verr., Rev. Mag. Zool.
1855, p. 221; Andersson, Ibis, 1865, p. 64; Layard, B.S. Afr. p. 845
(1867); Gurney in Andersson's B.:Damaral. p. 381 (1872); Sharpe,
ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 744 (1884); Chapman, Ibis, 1884, pp. 71,
88, pl. 4.
Other references are—Sparrman, Voyage, 8vo ed. i, p. 30 (1785);
Lichtenstein, Travels in &. Africa, i, p. 44 (1812); Delagorgue,
Voyage dans V Afr. austr. i, p. 53 (1847); Baines, Explorations in
South-west Africa, p. 9, fig. on frontispiece (1864).
Description. Adult Male.—General colour above and below
white tinged with rosy, most strongly marked on the tail; primaries,
PH@NICOPTERIDE PH@NICOPTERUS 109
outer secondaries and their coverts black; rest of the wing above
and below and the axillaries bright crimson.
Iris pale straw ; bill (including the skin of the throat and round
the eyes) flesh-pink, the terminal third black ; legs livid pink, claws
black.
Length (in flesh) 55:0; wing 18:5; tail 6-0; culmen 5:5; tarsus
12°5. Height when standing about 4 feet 6 inches to 5 feet. The
female is like the male but rather smaller; a young bird is white
without any rosy tinge, most of the feathers streaked with dark
brown, the coverts mostly brown, axillaries pale pink; the base of
the bill dull pinkish ; legs dull plumbeous.
Fic. 30.—Head of Phenicopterus roseus. x }
2
The younger female is brown throughout, slightly paler on the
wings; iris hazel; bill horny-brown; skin of the neck and legs
leaden-grey ; tarsal scales horny.
The nestling is pale brown, the back covered with stiff bristle-
like down, black, white and tawny intermixed; the head and neck
are pale or tawny-brown becoming rufous on the crown and marked
with longitudinal stripes and spots of black; the under-parts are
pale tawny and the down is much finer. In older birds the bristles
are shed and the back is mottled fulvous and dark brown.
Distribution—This Flamingo is found throughout Southern
Europe and Asia from Spain to Lake Baikal, India and Ceylon and
southward throughout Africa to Cape Colony.
In South Africa the Flamingo is very abundant in certain
localities, especially along the coast, though it occasionally wanders
inland where there are lakes; it was formerly common enough about
the neighbourhood of Cape Town and particularly on the vleis near
Muizenberg, but owing to the increase of population and the con-
110 PHENICOPTERIDE PHENICOPTERUS
sequent persecution, only an occasional straggler is now met with
in that neighbourhood.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Cape
division (Layard and 8. A. Mus.), Saldanha Bay, September (W. L.
Sclater), Berg River, September (Stark), November (8. A. Mus.),
Bredasdorp division (S. A. Mus.), Knysna (Victorin), Port Elizabeth,
fairly common (Brown) ; Natal; Durban harbour, formerly common,
now rare (Woodward), Newcastle, February (Woodward) ; Trans-
vaal—Lake Chrissie in Ermelo district, plentiful and breeding (G.
Hutchinson) ; Bechuanaland—Lake Ngami, breeding (Andersson) ;
German South-west Africa—Walvisch Bay, common (Andersson
and Fleck), Sandwich harbour, Angra Pequena, Lake Onondara
(Andersson) ; Portuguese East Africa—Inhambane and Zambesi
delta, July (Alexander).
Habits.—The favourite resorts of Flamingoes are mud flats and
sand banks along the shores of lagoons or salt water lakes as well as
the actual sea shore itself; here they are to be found in large flocks ;
they feed both by day and by night, wading in a line in the shallow
water with their long necks bent down searching with their bills
for small mollusca and crustacea ; they also feed on the green con-
fervee and sea-grasses which grow so abundantly in these situations.
The structure of their bills is admirably adapted for such a purpose,
the flat upper mandible forming a digging organ, while with their
thick tongue and the filtering lamellae along their lower mandibles
they squeeze out the mud and slime, retaining only the nourishing
matter. During the heat of the day they usually rest in some
secluded spot, supporting themselves on one leg with the long neck
curled up under the wing. If disturbed by a shot they rise and fly
off, and then it is that the beautiful crimson and black of their wings
becomes visible. They swim very well, though preferring to wade.
They fly with the neck stretched out in front and the legs behind,
which makes a very curious effect, and their voice is a loud croak.
Andersson states that they leave the coast in February for Lake
Ngami and other places in the interior, where they breed, but he
does not give any details. The Woodwards were informed by Mr.
G. Hutchinson that the Flamingo breeds at Lake Chrissie, in the
Transvaal.
In Southern Spain the nests are in the form of a low inverted
cup, built up of mud and vegetable matter, placed either in the
shallow water or close by ; the birds sit on the nest with their long
legs bent and the joints projecting behind the tail, not straddle-
PHGNICOPTERIDH PHGNICOPTERUS 111
legged, as at one time was thought to be the case. Sitting birds,
observed in this position, were figured by Mr. Chapman in the Ibis
for 1884.
The eggs, it is said, are usually two in number; they are white,
nearly equally rounded at both ends, and the surface is without
gloss, rather rough and wrinkled. One, mentioned by Layard
as having been obtained from Miss Boonzaier, of Hoetjes Bay,
is still preserved in the South African Museum; it measures
3:7 x 2°30.
The Flamingo is generally covered with a thick layer of fat, and
is excellent eating.
610. Phoenicopterus minor. Lesser Flamingo.
Pheenicopterus minor, Geoffr., Bull. Soc. Philom. i, 2, no. 18, p. 98,
figs. 1, 2, 8, on plate (1797); Strickland and P. L. Sclater, Contrib.
Ornith. p. 159 (1852); Andersson, Ibis, 1865, p. 65; Layard, B. S.
Afr. p. 845 (1867); Gray, Ibis, 1869, pp. 440, 2, pl. xv, fig. 8; Gurney
in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 333 (1872); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s
B. 8. Afr. p. 745 (1884) ; Fleck, Journ. Ornith, 1894, p. 887 ; Shelley
B, Afr. i, p. 170 (1896); Reichenow, Vog. Afr.i, p. 352 (1901).
Pheenicopterus parvus, Vieill., Analyse, p. 69 (1816); Kirk, Ibis, 1864,
p. 335.
? Phenicopterus erythreus, Holub § Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 305
(1882).
Pheeniconaias minor, Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 18 (1895); Wood-
ward Bros., Natal B. p. 207 (1899).
Description. Adult Male.—Considerably smaller than P. roseus
but in plumage closely resembling it; the general colour white
washed with rosy, the primaries and secondaries black, the wings
generally, including the primary coverts and axillaries rosy, the
median coverts bright crimson in their centres. Very old birds
have the feathers of the back and breast with mesial crimson
streaks.
Iris red or orange ; bill dark lake-red with black tip; legs and
feet red.
Length about 39-0; wing 14-0; tail 5-0; culmen 4:5; tarsus 8°5.
The female resembles the male but is less bright and has no
crimson mesial stripes on the back and breast. A young bird is
pale brown, all the feathers with dark brown shaft marks, especially
on the back and wings; the axillaries alone show a slight rosy
tint; the bill and legs plumbeous.
112 ANSERES
This species is distinguished from the former one by its
smaller size and by its upper mandible, which is sunk into and
included between the rami of the lower one.
Distribution.—The Lesser Flamingo is found in North-western
India, Madagascar and Eastern and Southern Africa from Abyssinia
and Shoa southwards to Cape Colony. It appears to be doubtful
whether it reaches Senegal.
Fig. 31.—Head of Phenicopterus minor. x }
In South Africa this Flamingo seems to be most common on the
East coast, while it is distinctly rarer on the West, but we have
very little information about this species, as it seems to have been
generally confused with the larger bird. The following are localities :
Cape Colony—Saldanba Bay (S. A. Mus.); Vogel Vlei in Paarl
division and Cradock (Layard); Mafeking district (Holub); Natal
—Lower Umkomas (Haynes), Durban harbour and Ngutu in Zulu-
land (Durban Mus.) ; Bechuanaland—Lake Ngami, common
(Andersson), in August (Fleck); German South-west Africa—
Walvisch Bay, very rare (Andersson) ; Zambesi Delta (Kirk).
Habits.—The Lesser Flamingo is often found associated with the
Common Flamingo, and appears to resemble it in its habits. Its
breeding places in Africa and India are unknown, but in the latter
country eggs irregularly laid without nests have been found in May
at the Sambhur Lake in Sind.
Order IX. ANSERES.
This Order includes the Ducks, Geese and Swans, and forms
a well marked and clearly circumscribed group of birds. Externally
they can be distinguished by their characteristically shaped bill,
which is somewhat flattened and depressed, and covered with a soft
ANSERES 113
membrane, except at the tip of the upper mandible, where there is
a hard nail; furthermore, both mandibles have just inside their
cutting edges a series of horny lamelle of varying development in
different genera; the number of tail feathers varies from fourteen to
twenty-four; the legs are short and the anterior toes fully webbed ;
the hind toe is small and jointed above the level of the others; the
eggs are numerous, white, pale greenish or creamy, and un-
spotted; the young are covered with down when hatched, and able
to run or swim at once.
Anatomical characters are : skull desmognathous and holorhinal ;
basipterygoid facets present; after-shaft small or absent; two
carotids; syrinx with two pairs of intrinsic muscles, and often
with a bony or membranous enlargement; oil gland tufted; caca
long; all the garrodian thigh muscles present except the accessory
semitendinosus.
' There is only a single family of this Order in South Africa, and
this again it is by no means easy to divide into sub-families ; the
Swans, true Geese and Smews can perhaps be satisfactorily dia-
gnosed, but all the genera represented in South Africa seem to fall
within the limits of the typical subfamily Anatine.
Key of the Genera.
A, Hind toe not lobed or very narrowly lobed ; its
breadth never one-third the length of the toe.
a. No metallic speculum on the wings.
a'. Tarsus with a line of transverse scutes in
front.
a2. Size very large, wing over 20; face bare ;
a strong Carpal SPUL........ccceeeeceeeeeeeeees Pleclropterus, p. 114.
b?, Size moderate, wing about 14; face
feathered ; a comb-like elevation on the
bill of the male.......sccseeeeeeereeeereeneeeeee Surcidiornis, p. 118.
ce. Size very small, wing about 6; bill short
and deep; no spur or comb...........000 Nettopus, p. 121.
b', Tarsus reticulate throughout ; bill with a
strong nail directed vertically downwards Dendrocyena, p. 124.
b. A metallic or brightly coloured speculum on
the wings formed by the outer secondaries.
a. Bill about equally broad throughout its
length.
8 VOL. IV.
114 ANSERES PLECTROPTERUS
a’, Size larger, wing over 12; an osseous
callosity on the bend of the wing.
a, Tarsus longer than the middle toe and
claw; lamellx along the upper mand-
ible not ConSpiCcUOUS..........ceeeeerereeeee
3. Tarsus about equal to the middle toe
and claw; lamelle along the man-
dibles prominent and conspicuous
b?. Size smaller; wing under 12.
a®, Speculum blue or green.
a‘, Billas long as the head ; tail-feathers
Sixteen to tWweNnty......cccccseceeceesenes
b'. Bill shorter than the head; tail-
feathers fourteen to sixteen.........
6%, Speculum salmon-pink; bill shorter
than the head; tail-feathers fourteen
GOVSIXVCEH cicsacrnnsinss thsegteswanaanneraanas
b'. Bill spatulate, broadened towards the tip ;
upper wing-coverts blue........c.ce ce ceeee ees
B. Hind toe broadly lobed, the breadth of the lobe
at least one-third of the length of the toe ; no
speculum.
a. Tail-feathers normal, not narrowed or stiffened
b. Tail-feathers narrowed and stiffened.
a, Tail short, about one-third the length of
the wing ; nail of the bill large, and bent
vertically downwards......s..cccceecesereeeeeeees
b'. Tail longer, about half the length of the
wing ; nail of the bill bent downwards and
WNW AT OS vexcavsmnrinavaccdeinnameninnntencemvoaa een
Alopochen, p. 127.
Casarca, p. 181.
Anas, p. 183.
Nettion, p. 188.
Pecillonetta, p. 141.
Spatula, p. 148.
Nyroca, p. 146.
Thalasstornis, p. 150.
Erismatura, p. 152.
Genus I. PLECTROPTERUS.
Type.
Plectropterus, Steph. Gen. Zool. xii, pt. 2 p. 6 (1824), P. gambensis.
Bill long and stout, rather deep at the base, and with a strong
nail; face in front of the eye and on the crown of the head bare of
feathers in the adult; wings with a strong carpal spur; tail long
and rounded, the feathers fourteen in number, broader than in most
of the Ducks; tarsus stout and strong, about the same length as
the middle toe and claw, with a row of scutes in front; hind toe
rather long, and with a narrow web below ; plumage glossy ; trachea
in the male with a bulb at its base on the left side, surrounded by
a bony fenestrated framework.
Salvadori recognises, rather doubtfully, four species of this
ANSERES PLECTROPTERUS 115
genus from Abyssinia, Shoa, West, Central and South-east Africa
respectively, but the distinctive characters are chiefly those which
vary with sex and age, and are therefore of uncertain validity. Two
of the so-called species are found within our limits.
bo be
Key of the Species.
Throat and under tail-coverts mostly white ......... P. gambensis, p. 115.
Throat and under tail-coverts mostly black ......... P. niger, p. 118.
SR pee. ers, LY
PO Seo"
we
ay, WN) } yy My \\ \S
oy
4, wil y
;
2
“a ay
Fig. 32. .-—Bend of the wing of Plectropterus gambensis showing the carpal
spur. x
611. Plectropterus gambensis. Spur-winged Goose.
Anas gambensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed, i. p. 195 (1766).
Anser leucogaster et melanogaster, Livingstone, Miss. Travels, p. 258
(1857).
Plectropterus gambensis, P. L. Sclater, P. Z. S. 1859, p. 131, pl. 153,
1860, p. 88 (fig. skull and trachea), 1880, p. 498; Kirk, Ibis, 1864,
p. 885; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 346 (1867); Gurney, in Andersson’s
B. Damaral. p. 334 (1872); Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 890; Ayres, Ibis,
1880, p. 272; Holub & Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 310 (fig. of skeleton)
(1882); Butler, Feulden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 426; Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B.S. Afr. p. 746 (1884) ; P. L. Sclater, [bis, 1886, p. 300,
fig. 3 (spur); Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsm. 8. A. p. 121, pl. xii, tig.
63 (1892); Bryden, Gun and Camera, p. 405 (1893); Fleck, Journ.
Ornith. 1894, p. 380; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 48 (1895) ;
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 170 (1896); Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 208
(1899) ; Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 268; Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 448 ;
Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 184 (1900); Whitehead, Ibis, 1903,
p. 287; Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 206.
116 ANSERES PLECTROPTERUS
“Wilde Macaauw” or “Maccoa” of the Dutch, ‘Peele Peele” of the
Bechuanas (Nicolls and Eglington), “Esikwi” of the Kaffirs
(Lawrence), ‘ Letsikhin ” of the Basutos (Murray).
Description. Adult Male—General colour black with coppery-
red and green reflections; sides of the head, throat, lower part of
the neck, breast and abdomen, thighs and under tail-coverts, some
of the lesser wing-coverts and edge and angle of the wing, white; a
stout sharp pointed carpal spur at the bend of the wing.
Iris hazel; bill, including the bare skin at the top of the head
and the frontal knob, red; nail of the bill whitish ; bare skin round
the eye and on the sides of the face grey ; feet flesh coloured.
Fic. 83.—Head of Plectropterus gambensis, . x 2
Length about 39; wing 21:5; tail 7-5; tarsus 4:5; culmen 3-5;
weight about 12 lbs., has been obtained up to 15 lbs.
The female resembles the male but is rather smaller (wing 18-2
according to Andersson) and has the naked part of the face less
extended and a smaller frontal knob. Young birds have the face
entirely feathered and no knob.
Distribution.—The Spur-winged Goose is found throughout the
whole of the Ethiopian region from the Gambia and Kordofan on
the White Nile southwards. A certain amount of variation, how-
ever, occurs among these birds, and it appears to be uncertain how
far this is due to age and individual, and how far to geographical,
causes.
The present species is found within our limits chiefly in
ANSERES PLECTROPTERUS 117
Bechuanaland and along the Zambesi, and is seldom met with
south of the Orange River, as the following records show.
Cape Colony—Peelton, near King Williams Town, two examples
seen (Trevelyan), Port St. John’s, two seen, rare (Shortridge),
Orange River, near Aliwal North, once seen, January (Whitehead),
Lady Grey division, not uncommon (Lawrence), Mahura’s country
(i.e., Taungs division) (Arnot), Hart’s River (Holub), Vaalpens Pan,
near Mafeking (Nicolls and Eglington) ; Natal—Neweastle district,
in winter (Butler), Howick, Maritzburg and Conzella flats (Wood-
ward); Basutoland—near Maseru, on the Caledon, breeding
(Bowker) ; Transvaal — Vaal River, near Heidelberg (Gilfillan) ;
Bechuanaland—Lake Ngami, Botletli and Tougha Rivers (Chap-
man, Andersson, Bryden and Fleck); Rhodesia—Upper Zambesi
(Livingstone, Chapman and Holub), Mashonaland, not uncommon
(Marshall), German South-west Africa, Okavango River (Andersson) ;
Portuguese East Africa—Lower Zambesi (Alexander).
Habits.—This, the largest of South African Ducks, can be at
once recognised by the sharp pointed spur arising from the carpal
bone of the wing which the bird uses in fighting with its fellows;
they are usually seen in small flocks which fly far overhead in the
usual V formation; they come early from the swamps and feed
over the grass- and corn-lands on seeds, as well as on insects
and worms, while they spend the middle of the day resting on
a tree branch or on some island or rock in the river. Their cry
is a loud hiss. They are difficult birds to approach, as they are
usually very shy, and even when within range, they are hard to kill
owing to their tough skins.
As a rule they make their nests in long grass or in thick reed
beds, where they lay from eight to twelve eggs. A clutch of eight
eggs was taken by Colonel Bowker from an old Hammerkop’s nest
on an overhanging rock on the banks of the Caledon River near
Maseru in Basutoland: some of these eggs are still in the South
African Museum; they are smooth, shining and ivory white and
measure about 28 x 2-1. Livingstone states that on the Upper
Zambesi these birds choose ant-hills for their nests.
Most authorities state that the young birds are delicate and
tender to eat, though the old ones are tough and unpalatable.
118 ANSERES SARCIDIORNIS
612. Plectropterus niger. Black Spur-winged Goose.
Plectropterus niger, P. L. Sclater, P. Z. 8. 1877, p. 47, pl. 7; Salvadori,
Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 50 (1895) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p.170 (1896) ; Oates,
Cat. B. Eggs, ii, p. 142 (1902).
Plectropterus gambensis niger, Reichenow, Vog. Afr.i, p. 186 (1900).
(Some of the references to the previous species may refer partly or
wholly to this one.)
Description. Adult.—Closely resembling P. gambensis but with
less white on the plumage, which is black throughout except for a
patch on the abdomen; under tail coverts mostly black ; frontal
knob not prominent; naked sides of the face restricted.
Iris dark brown; bill bright red; with a whitish or pale flesh
coloured nail; tarsus and feet dingy pale.
Length about 38:0; wing 20:0; tail 9:0; tarsus 5:0; bill from
gape 3:7.
An example from near Beira in the South African Museum
agrees very well with the description of this species, except that it
has almost as much white on the wings as the true P. gambensis,
and I strongly suspect that P. niger and P. gambensis are really only
different forms of the same species, perhaps due to age.
Distribution.—The types of this species, brought to England
alive for the Zoological Gardens in London, came from Zanzibar.
An example from Potchefstroom is preserved in the British Museum,
while the specimen from near Beira obtained by Mr. L. MacLean
for the South African Museum has already been alluded to. If
distinct, this species will probably be found to range over South-east
Africa from Zanzibar to Natal.
Genus II. SARCIDIORNIS.
Type.
Sarkidiornis, Hyton, Mon. Anat. p. 20 (1838) .. ... S. melanonota.
Bill rather short and high, with a prominent nail at the tip; a
semi-circular flattened elevation (the ‘‘knob” or ‘‘ comb”) along
the top of the culmen, present in the males only; front of the face
and chin fully feathered; wings long, nearly reaching the tip of the
tail; third primary usually the longest; a blunt osseous lump on
the carpal bone but no horny spur; tail of twelve feathers, compara-
tively short and rounded; tarsus reticulated; hind toe moderate
with a very narrow lobe; plumage glossy above; trachea with an
ANSERES SARCIDIORNIS 119
entirely osseous lateral diverticulum or bulb on the left side in the
male only.
This genus contains only two species—the old world form here
described with a wide distribution throughout Africa and Southern
Asia, and a second one confined to South America.
613. Sarcidiornis melanonota. Knob-billed Duck.
Anser melanotus, Pennant, Ind. Zool. p. 12, pl. xi (1769).
Sarkidiornis africanus, Hyton, Mon. Anat. p. 103 (1838); Layard, B. 8S.
Afr. p. 847 (1867) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 266; 1880, p. 112; Barratt,
Ibis, 1876, p. 214; Holub & Pelzeln Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 321 (1882) ;
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 752 (1884) ; Nicolls and Eglington,
Sportsm. S. A., p. 123, pl. xii, fig. 64 (1892) ; Blaauw, Ibis, 1904, p. 74.
Sarkidiornis melanotus, Gurney in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 385
(1872) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 867 [Molopo River] ; Bryden, Gun
and Camera, p. 405 (1893); Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 380;
Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 129 (1900).
Sarkidiornis melanonota, Garrod, P. Z. 8. 1875, p. 152, fig. 1-2 (trachea) ;
P.L. Sclater, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 694, pl. 67; Trimen, P. Z. 8S. 1877,
p. 683; Oates, Matabeleland, pp. 91, 327 (fig. of head) (1881); Salva-
dori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 54 (1895); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 170 (1896) ;
Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 268; Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 443; Oates,
Cat. B. Eggs, ii, p. 142 (1902).
“ Comb-duck” of some authors.
120 ANSERES SARCIDIORNIS
Description. Adult Male.—Head, neck all round and whole of
the under surface white, except the sides and flanks, which are
greyish; the sides of head and neck with metallic purplish spots
which on the top of the head and along the nape coalesce and form
a black band ; the feathers along this region erect and curly; upper
surface of the body black, glossed with purple, green and coppery
metallic sheen on the scapulars, wing coverts and tail; a whitish
patch in the centre of the back. According to Bohm the male,
during the breeding season, has a bunch of orange yellow feathers
on the sides of the lower abdomen.
Tris dark brown ; bill, on which is an erect compressed semi-
circular elevation, black ; legs dark plumbeous.
Length about 31:0; wing 14:5; tail 6:0; culmen 3:0; tarsus
2:25. Exerescence on the bill, length along base 2-0, height 1-75,
present in the breeding season, inconspicuous at other times of the
year.
The female is like the male but smaller; the head and neck is
more spotted and there is less metallic gloss; the excrescence on the
bill is absent ; wing 11:0 to 11:5. The young bird is like the female
but without any metallic gloss.
Distribution.—The Knob-billed Duck is found in India, including
Ceylon and Burma, and also throughout Africa from Gambia and
Khartoum southwards, as well as in Madagascar.
Its headquarters in South Africa are in Bechuanaland about
Lake Ngami and the Upper Zambesi, where it appears to be fairly
ANSBRES 3 __xaiTTOPUS 121
common ; elsewhere it ccvurs only as a straggler, while it has only
been met with cuce south of the Orange River.
The tollowing are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Kleinmont
River in Bathurst division (Layard), Molopo River near Mafeking,
January (Ayres); Transvaal—Potchefstroom (Barratt & Ayres),
Rustenburg (Ayres); Bechuanaland—Lake Ngami, throughout the
year (Andersson), Botletli River (Bryden), Kanye (Nicolls & Egling-
ton),’ Tati River (8. A. Mus.); Rhodesia—Ramaquaban River,
March (Oates), Upper Zambesi (Bradshaw), Upper Mazoe, rare
(Marshall), Kafue River (Alexander) ; German South-west Africa —
Great Namaqualand and Damaraland in rainy season, Okavango
River throughout the year (Andersson), Reheboth, in rains (Fleck).
Habits.—Little of special interest has been recorded about this
curious looking Duck in South Africa; it is usually met with in flocks
where plentiful, flying in the V shaped formation, and it not infre-
quently perches on dry, dead trees, at which times it is not very
difficult to approach; it is said by most sportmen to be exceedingly
good eating, surpassing both the Spur-wing and the Egyptian Goose
in this respect. It apparently breeds in Bechuanaland, though no
one has hitherto given any account of the matter; eggs laid in
captivity in Holland, in Mr. Blaauw’s garden, were yellowish-white
and rather more pointed at one end than the other; they were not
hatched, however, and proved to have been unfertilized.
There are six eggs of this species in the British Museum, obtained
by Mr. Andersson at Ondonga, in Ovampoland, in February; they
are described as being smooth, rather glossy and pale yellowish-
white, and measure from 2°58 to 2:22 x 1:78 to 1:65.
Genus III. NETTOPUS.
Type.
Nettapus, Brandt, Descr. Icon. Anim. Ross. Nov., Aves,
FASC A, Pv OC LB3C) soe cy uccnsiodatianaenenanse bee Bote a N. auritus.
Bill very short and deep, depth at the base about equal to
the culmen without the nail; nostrils oval, near the base of the bill ;
wings moderate and pointed, the first three primaries subequal ; tail
very short and pointed, of twelve feathers ; legs placed very far back,
tarsus with a row of transverse scutes in front, a good deal shorter
than the anterior toes; hind toe slender, with a narrow but distinct
lobe ; si:e very small, plumage glossy, sexes distinct.
122 ANSERES NETTOPUS
Four species spread over the Ethiopian, Oriental and Australian
regions are generally recognised. Only one of these inhabits Africa
614. Nettopus auritus. Dwarf Goose.
Anas aurita, Bodd. Tal. Pl. Eni. p. 48 (1783).
Anas madagascariensis, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 522 (1788).
Nettapus madagascariensis, Gurney, Ibis, 1859, p. 251 [Natal]; Layard,
B. 8. Afr. p. 848 (1867); id. Ibis, 1869, p. 877; Ayres, Ibis, 1877,
p. 354.
Nettapus auvitus, Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 336; Gurney in Andersson's B.
Damaral. p. 836 (1872); Oates, Matabeleland, p. 827, fig. on p. 243
(1881); Holub d: Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 828 (1882) ; Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 150 (1884); Ayres, Ibis, 1886, p. 297;
Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsm. 8S. A. p. 122 (1892) ; Bryden, Gun
and Camera, p. 406 (1893); Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 380 ;
Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii. p. 65 (1895); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 170
(1896); Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 208 (1899) ; W. L. Sclater,
Ibis, 1899, p. 114 [Inhambane]; Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 269 ;
Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i. p. 127 (1900); Hellmayr, Journ. Ornith.
1902, p. 237 [Sibanini]. ;
Description. Adult Male—Forehead, sides of the face, chin,
throat and an almost complete ring round the middle of the neck
white ; crown and a narrow band down the back of the neck dark
metallic-green, separating a pale green patch on either side of the
neck ; this is again separated by a narrow line of black from the
white of the face and throat; lower neck all round, sides of the
body and flanks rufous-chestnut, slightly speckled with green on the
lower hind neck; the lower breast and abdomen pure white, and
ANSERES NETTOPUS 128
the under tail-coverts dark brown ; upper surface, including the tail-
coverts and most of the wing-coverts dark metallic-green, the
primaries and tail-quills black, the outer primary coverts and some
of the outer secondaries white, forming a longitudinal white band in
the closed wing.
Iris dark brown to bluish; bill bright yellow with a very dark
brown nail ; legs and feet bluish-black, shading on the hinder part of
the legs to yellowish.
Length about 12:5; wing 6-25; tail 3:0; tarsus 1:0; culmen 1:0.
The female is duller in colour throughout, the forehead and sides
of the face are spotted and mottled with brown; there is no pale
green patch or black crescentic boundary line on the sides of the
neck, the green and cinnamon freckling of the lower hind neck and
the upper tail-coverts is more noticeable.
Iris dark brown, almost black ; bill dusky yellowish, shading to
almost black at the tip; lower mandible livid; legs bluish black ;
dimensions about the same as in the male.
Distribution.—Africa, south of the Gambia on the west, and of
Lamu on the east, as well as Madagascar, is the area of the range
of the African Dwarf Goose.
In South Africa it is a casual visitor to the Colony, and only met -
with along the coast and larger rivers, but is more frequently to be
seen in Natal and the Transvaal up to the Zambesi. It is not
recorded from German South-west Africa, though fairly plentiful
about Lake Ngami.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony— Mossel
Bay (8S. A. Mus.), Port Elizabeth, rare (Brown), Grahamstown
(Layard), Alexandria and King Williams Town (5S. A. Mus.) ;
Natal—Umgeni, near Howick, Umsindusi near Maritzburg, Clair-
mont, near Durban (Woodward), Zululand (Brit. Mus.); Transvaal
—near Potchefstroom, April, June (Ayres); Bechuanaland—Lake
Ngami (Andersson), Nocana, July (Fleck), Botletli River (Bryden) ;
Rhodesia—Sibanini in Eastern Matabeleland (Penther), Upper
Zambesi (Holub and Bradshaw), Mashonaland, not very common
(Marshall) ; Portuguese East Africa—Inhambane, September
(Francis).
Habits —The Dwarf Goose is usually found in small flocks
which haunt some quiet lagoon near a river or lake ; it is a good
diver and seldom leaves the neighbourhood of water. It is not very
shy, and at certain seasons is fat and pretty good eating. No
observer has yet described its breeding habits in South Africa.
124 ANSERES DENDROCYCNA
Although the bill of this bird is shaped somewhat like that of a
goose, it differs widely from the Geese in structure and habits. Itis
rarely seen on land and is a good swimmer and diver, whereas the
true geese are good walkers and essentially land-feeders.
Genus LV. DENDROCYCNA.
Type.
Dendrocygna, Swains. Class. B. ii. p. 365 (1837)......... D. arcuata.
Bill moderate, depth at the base less than half the total length ;
of nearly equal width throughout, but slightly broader about two-
thirds of the way down; a strong downwardly-pointed nail; wings
rounded, second and third primaries usually the longest but these
are all generally shorter than the longest primaries; no speculum ;
tail short and rounded, of sixteen feathers; tarsus long and strong,
about the same length as the inner toe without claw, covered with
reticulate scales in front as well as on the sides; hind toe narrowly
lobed; trachea with an osseous bulb in the males.
Nine species of this genus, which is spread over the tropical
regions of both hemispheres, are recognised by Salvadori; two of
these are found in Africa, and both of them occur within our limits.
Key of the Species.
A. Anterior half of head and throat white, hinder half
DISCS wires ects a eels etmbivseauena ns ah miei cwbadetwanoainiacen aes D. viduata, p. 124.
B. Head rufous brown, becoming paler on the chin and
UDEOAI 5 2-cUscasiciateste cvaimude sinitat sadecasnateed iascuscononeatce D. fulwa, p. 126.
615. Dendrocyena viduata. White-faced Duck.
Anas viduata, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 205 (1766).
Dendrocygna viduata, Gurney, Ibis, 1859, p. 251, 1862, p. 158 [Natal] ;
Layard B. 8S. Afr. p. 349 (1867); Gurney in Andersson’s B.
Damaral. p. 838 (1872); Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 214; Holub &
Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 328 (1882); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8S.
Afr. p. Til (1884); W. Ayres, Ibis, 1887, p. 64; Nicolls and Egling-
ton, Sportsm. S. A. p. 126 (1892); Bryden, Gun and Camera, p. 407
(1893) ; Fleck, Journ. Ornith, 1894, p. 380; Salvadori, Cat. B. M.
xxvil. p. 145 (1895); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 171 (1896) ; Woodward
Bros., Natal B. p. 209 (1899); Alewander, Ibis, 1900, p. 443 ;
Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i. p. 124 (1900).
““Masked Duck” of some authors.
ANSERES DENDROCYCNA 125
Description. Adult Male—Front half of the head, sides of the
face and chin, and a separate patch in the middle of the neck in
front white ; hinder half of the head, back of the neck and a band
across the middle of the throat black; lower half of the neck all
round, upper breast and ulnar portion of the wing rich maroon,
becoming brown on the upper back and scapulars, the feathers
becoming edged and banded with fulvous; a chestnut patch in the
middle of the back; primaries black, secondaries and rest of the
wing olive brown; lower back, tail-coverts and tail and whole of the
centre of the breast and abdomen black; sides of the body and
flanks banded black and white.
Tris hazel (black according to Alexander); bill black, with an
irregular transverse bar near the tip leaden-blue; legs and feet
leaden.
Fia. 37.—Head of Dendrocycna viduata. ~ 4
Length about 19-0; wing 9°5; tail 2-5; tarsus 2°15; culmen 2:0.
The female resembles the male; the young bird has the abdomen
whitish mixed with black.
Distribution.—This Duck has a rather remarkable range, being
found throughout the greater part of South America from the West
Indies to the Argentine, and in Africa, south of the Sahara, from
the Gambia and Khartoum downwards, as well as in Madagascar.
Except in the Lake regions and on the Zambesi this is a rare
Duck in South Africa, and has hitherto not been met with within
the limits of Cape Colony or in Great Namaqualand or Damara-
land.
The following are recorded localities: Natal—Umlazi River
126 ANSERES DENDROCYCNA
mouth, June (Ayres), Durban Harbour (Woodward) ; Transvaal—
near Potchefstroom, rare, November (Ayres and Barratt) ; Bechu-
analand—Okavango River and Lake Ngami (Andersson), Botletli
River (Bryden), Nocana, July (Fleck); Rhodesia—-Upper Zambesi
(Bradshaw and Holub); Portuguese East Africa—Zumbo (Alexan-
der), Inhambane, December (Francis, in 8. A. Mus.).
Habits.—This Duck is gregarious, occurring in flocks usually of
considerable size on the lagoons and streams along the coast and
up some of the more considerable rivers, such as the Zambesi and
Okavango. Though not a regular migrant its numbers appear to be
reinforced in these districts during the rainy season, or in the case
of the Lake-regions, during the annual inundations in the winter ; it
is then to be met with in very large flocks.
Its voice is a clear sibilant whistle, generally heard when the
birds are on the wing in early morn or late at night. Tbese ducks
appear to be somewhat stupid and to be easily caught; their flesh
is very good eating.
The Woodwards, as also Nicolls and Eglington, state that this
species perches on trees ; this, however, is contradicted by Reiche-
now and von Heuglin, who both distinctly assert that they have
never observed this habit. Nothing appears to be known about the
breeding of this species in South Africa, but there are eggs from
Madagascar in the British Museum; they are glossy and cream-
coloured, and measure about 2:0 x 1:5.
616. Dendrocyena fulva. Whistling Duck.
Anas fulva, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 530 (1788).
Dendrocygna fulva, Holub & Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 828 (1882) ;
Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 380; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii.
p- 149 (1895); Shelley, B. Afr. i. p.171 (1896); Reichenow, Vég. Afr.
i. p. 126 (1900).
Description. Adult.—Head, neck and below throughout pale
rufous-brown, almost white on the chin and throat, darkest on the
crown, the hinder feathers of which are slightly crested ; a narrow,
almost black line runs down the back of the neck ; wings and back
black, the feathers of the upper back and scapulars broadly tipped
with rufous-brown ; lesser coverts and feathers along the edge of the
wing maroon ; upper and lower tail-coverts white ; tail black.
Tris dark brown ; bill bluish-black ; legs slaty-blue.
ANSERES ALOPOCHEN 127
Length about 19:5; wing 9-5; tail 2-0; culmen 2:0; tarsus 2:0.
The sexes are alike ; young birds have very little maroon on the
lesser wing-coverts, the under parts paler and the upper tail-coverts
margined with brown.
Distribution.—The Whistling Duck has a very remarkable dis-
connected range, extending over four continents; it is met with in
the southern part of the United States and Mexico in North
America, from Venezuela and Peru to the Argentine in South
America, from Kordofan southwards along the Nile Valley, through
Nyasaland, to Lake Ngami in Africa, in Madagascar, and finally in
India, Ceylon and Burma.
The first notice of its occurrence within our limits is that of
Holub, who obtained from Walsh a specimen shot at Sesheke on
the Upper Zambesi in the month of January; there is a pair in
the South African Museum obtained by Mr. Eriksson, the one
labelled Botletli River, July, 1885, the other, Tebra Country, near
Lake Ngami, April, 1884, while the German traveller, Fleck, also
brought an example from Lake Ngami, shot in August. Mr. A. D.
Millar tells me that there is an example of this species in the Durban
Museum, obtained by himself in that neighbourhood some years ago.
Genus V. ALOPOCHEN.
Type.
Chenalopex, Stephens (nec Vieill.), Gen. Zool. xii.
pb: 2) pe 41 (1824). ccswrercsapeeisminn eee A. egyptiacus.
Alopochen, Stejn., Standard Nat. Hist. iv. p. 141
(1885), . ccc.cwcemmasamedsanmunrre tee seeiinn navgse esd senaney A. egyptiacus.
Bill stout, short and deep, its depth at the base about half the
length of the culmen; no prominent lamelle at the edges of the
bill; nostrils oval ; wing long and pointed, reaching nearly to the end
of the tail, a metallic speculum formed by the secondaries in front,
a blunt osseous callosity at the bend of the wing; tail of fourteen
feathers, broad and square; tarsus long and strong, considerably
exceeding all the toes, with a narrow line of transverse scutes
in front; hind toe with a narrow lobe ; an osseous bulb at the base
of the trachea in the male.
This genus contains two species only—the type here described
and A. jubatus from tropical South America.
128 ANSERES ALOPOCHEN
617. Alopochen egyptiacus. Bery Gas.
Anas wgyptiaca, Linn., Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 197 (1766) ; Burchell,
Travels, i, p. 288, ii, p. 346 (1822-24) ; Livingstone, Miss. Travels, p.
254 (1857); Grill, K., Vet. Akad. Handl. ii, no. 10, p. 56 (1858).
Chenalopex egyptiacus, Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 836; Layard, B. S. Afr.
p. 847 (1867); Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 49 [Natal] ; Layard, Ibis, 1869,
p- 877; Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 330 (1872); Buckley,
Ibis, 1874, p. 890; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 367 [Mashonaland] ;
Butler, Veilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 427 ; Holub & Pelzeln, Orn.
Siid-Afr. p. 822, fig. of bird on nest (1882); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s
B.S. Afr. p. 747 (1884); Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsm. S. Afr. p.
122 (1892); Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 167 (1895) ; Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 171 (1896); Woodward Bros., Natal B. p. 209 (1899) ;
Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 448; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 181 (1900) ;
Whitchead, Ibis, 1908, p. 237; Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 207.
“Egyptian or Nile Goose’’ of some authors; ‘“Bsikwi’? of Kaffirs
(Lawrence) a name also applied to the Spur-winged Goose; “ Lefalva”’ of
Basutos (Murray).
Fie. 38.—Left foot of Alopochen egyptiacus. x ?
Description. Adult female-—Crown, lower cheeks and throat
dirty white, becoming darker and browner on the nape; edging
round the base of the bill, a patch round the eye, an irregular ring
round the middle of the neck and patch in the middle of the breast
chestnut ; lower neck all round, sides of the body, flanks and
thighs, grey, finely mottled with narrow transverse bands of black ;
centre of the abdomen white, becoming very pale chestnut on the
ANSERES ALOPOCHEN 129
under tail-coverts; centre of the back, upper tail-coverts, tail,
primaries and outer secondaries black, the latter glossed with
metallic green and purple, inner secondaries dark rufous; whole of
the wing-coverts white, the greater series with a narrow subterminal
black band.
Tris orange to crimson ; bill light pink, darker or pinky-brown
on the tip, margins and base; legs pink.
Length 28; wing 16; tail 5-25; tarsus 3:30; culmen 25;
weight of a male 54lbs., of a female 4lbs. (Ayres).
The sexes are alike, except that the female is slightly smaller.
Fic. 39.—Head of Alopochen egyptiacus. x 2
Distribution. — The Egyptian Goose or Berg Gans is found
throughout Africa south of the Sahara, while to the north-east its
range extends through Nubia and Egypt as far as Palestine. It
does not occur in Madagascar. In England and on the Continent
of Europe it has been met with from time to time, but this is
probably due to escapes from captivity, in which state it is often
kept.
In South Africa this is by far the commonest of the larger
Ducks, and is to be found throughout the whole country, both on
the coasts, along the rivers, and on ponds and vleis.
The following are recorded localities; Cape Colony—Verloren
Vlei in Piquetberg, Vogel Vlei in Paarl, Bot River mouth in Caledon,
Gouritz River in Mossel Bay and Keurboom River in Knysna
(Layard), King Williams Town, rare (Trevelyan), Port St. John’s,
July (Shortridge), Zak River in Fraserburg, September, and near
Kuruman (Burchell), Orange River mouth (Howard), near Upington,
breeding in October (Bradshaw), near Aliwal North, February
(Whitehead); Natal—Newcastle, October (Butler), Tfafa and near
Maritzburg, rare (Woodward) ; Basutoland (Murray) ; Transvaal—
9 VoL. I.
130 ANSERES ALOPOCHEN
Limpopo River (Buckley and Eriksson) ; Rhodesia—U pper Zambesi
(Bradshaw and Livingstone), Mashonaland (Ayres): German
South-west Africa—Great Namaqualand and Damaraland, common
resident (Andersson) ; Zambesi (Kirk and Alexander).
Habits—The Berg Gans, or as it is generally called in Europe,
the Egyptian Goose, has been known from remote antiquity ; it is
often figured on the monuments of ancient Egypt, where it was.
domesticated, and although not itself sacred was the emblem of
Seb, the father of Osiris. It was well known to the Greeks, from
whom it obtained the name of Chenalopex (i.e., Fox Goose), possi-
bly on account of its colour, or perhaps because it was supposed to
build in burrows, a habit more strictly attributed to the Sheldrakes.
In South Africa it is, as a rule, found alone or in pairs, though
at certain seasons of the year large numbers assemble at the
vleis to breed and moult their flight feathers. It is a shy and wary
bird, feeding early and late on grassland, and retiring to roost at
night among thick rushes. Its cry is described by Andersson as
a ‘barking quack,’’ and is heard when the bird is on the wing.
The flesh is dark, coarse and unpalatable.
In a choice of a breeding site the Berg Gans shows considerable
differences; sometimes the nest is placed among thick rushes on
the ground, at other times in a hollow tree standing near a river
bank, while Mr. Atmore relates that he came across nests built on
broad ledges of rock 200 feet above the banks of the Gouritz River
in the Mossel Bay district, and that this site was amicably shared
with numerous Vultures (Gyps kolbii) ; Eriksson found a nest on a
small island in the Limpopo River on the 17th of September; it was
thickly lined with down and contained eight eggs much incubated.
There are two eggs of this species in the South African Museum,
obtained by Mr. Bradshaw on October 28th, from a nest built on an
island in the Orange River near Upington; the number of eggs
found was five, and they are described as having been quite fresh.
They are pure white, smooth, and somewhat shiny, and small for
the size of the bird, measuring 2°65 x 1:85.
This bird is well known in Zoological Gardens, and has been
more or less acclimatised in England, where it may sometimes be
seen on ornamental waters. It has frequently hybridised with the
Spur-winged Goose, and even occasionally with the Mallard.
ANSERES CASARCA 131
Genus VI. CASARCA.
Type.
Casarca, Bp., Comp. List, p. 56 (1838)...........ceeecceceaeeeees C. rutila.
Bill rather short, high at the base but with a nearly straight
culmen and about the same breadth throughout; lamelle at the
edges of both mandibles prominent and conspicuous; nail small
and blunt; wings long and pointed, first primary the longest, a
conspicuous speculum, formed by the outer webs of the secondaries ;
an osseous callosity at the bend of the wing; tail of fourteen
feathers, short and nearly square; tarsus about equal to the middle
toe and claw, covered with reticulate scales, those along the middle
line in front on the lower half slightly broader than the others, and
forming a transverse row of scutes; hind toe with a very narrow
lobe ; prevailing coloration chestnut ; sexes dissimilar.
This genus, containing the Sheldrakes or Shelducks, consists
of four species, and is spread all over the Old World, including
Australia. One species only is found in South Africa, though the
Ruddy Sheldrake (C. rutila) comes as far south as Abyssinia during
the northern winter.
618. Casarca cana. South African Shelduck.
Gray-headed Duck, Brown, New Illustr. Zool. pp. 802, 104, pls. 41-2
(1776). ;
Anas cana, Gmel., Syst. Nat. i, p. 510 (1788).
Casarea cana, P. L. Sclater, P. Z. 8. 1859, p. 442, pl. clviii. (hybrid with
Tadorna cornuta); Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 262; Ayres, Ibis, 1871,
p. 266, 1885, p. 350; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 753 (1884) ;
Symonds, Ibis, 1887, p.335 ; Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsm. S. Afr.
p. 129 (1892); Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 182 (1895); Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 171 (1896); Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 187 (1900);
Whitehead, Ibis, 1903, p. 237; Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 17 [Deel-
fontein]; Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 207.
Casarca rutila (nec Pall.), Layard, B. S. Afr., p. 350 (1867).
‘‘ Berg-eend ” of the Dutch.
Description. Adult male.—Head and neck all round dark ashy-
grey; mantle, scapulars, outer webs of the inner secondaries and
lower parts throughout, rufous-chestnut, paler on the mantle, breast
and under tail-coverts; centre of the back, tail-coverts, tail, primaries
and primary-coverts black, the back vermiculated with rufous;
outer secondaries metallic-green on the outer web, ashy-black
on the inner, with a good deal of white towards their bases; wing-
132 ANSERES CASARCA
coverts, edge of the wing, under wing-coverts (except the greater
series, which are ashy-black) and axillaries pure white.
Tris pale yellow ; bill and legs black.
Length about 26; wing 15; tail 5-0; culmen 2:0; tarsus 2-4.
The female is smaller than the male and has the front of the
face white, including the forehead, patch round the eye and chin ;
wing 13; culmen 1:75; tarsus 1-90.
Fia, 40.—Head of Casarca cana, g. xi
Distribution—This Shelduck has a very restricted range and
seems to be most common on the high plateau of the Colony and
about the Orange River. It has been met with hitherto only
in Cape Colony, the Orange River Colony and the Transvaal, and
appears to be absent from Natal, Rhodesia and German South-west
Africa.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Cape flats,
Berg River and Beaufort West (S. A. Mus.), Deelfontein
(Seimund) ; Orange River Colony—Kroonstad, March, not plentiful
(Symonds), Basutoland fairly common (Murray); Transvaal—
Potchefstroom, July (Ayres).
Habits.—The Berg-eend is generally considered rather a scarce
bird, but Messrs. Grant and Seimund found it very common all the
year round at Deelfontein in the centre of the Karoo; it is generally
met with in pairs, but it is not unusual to see half a dozen together
on a dam, feeding or resting; it is frequently caught when young
and domesticated by the farmers in South Africa, and it bears
captivity very well; it also hybridises freely with other species.
A female, formerly in the Zoological Gardens of London, bred first
of all with a Ruddy Shelduck, afterwards with one of her own
hybrid offspring, and finally with a common Shelduck (Tadorna
ANSERES ANAS 133
cornuta). The result of the Jast union was a rather remarkable
bird, figured in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society (1859,
pl. 158), hardly resembling either of the parents and possessing
dusky-grey flanks somewhat reminding one of the Australian species
(Casarea tadornoides).
Grant and Seimund found the nest of this species in the hole
of an Ant bear or Porcupine on the veld; the clutch is from eight
to ten eggs. The colour is creamy-white and the measurements
25 to 2-0 x 1:8 to 1:9. Whitehead states that an officer told him
that he had found a nest among the rocks above the river near
Aliwal North. It is also generally stated that the young when
hatched are carried down to the water by the female on her back.
Genus VII. ANAS.
Type.
Anas, Linn., Syst. Nat. i, p. 194 (1766) «0.00... A. boschas.
Bill moderate, about as long as the head, culmen nearly straight,
sides nearly parallel, perhaps slightly broadening towards the tip;
nail not prominent; wing long and pointed with a conspicuous
metallic green and blue speculum, formed by the outer secondaries ;
tail rather short and graduated, of from sixteen to twenty feathers,
which are sometimes stiff and narrow; tarsus shorter than the
middle and outer toes, about equal to the inner one, with a row of
transverse shields in front; hind toe narrowly lobed; plumage
generally mottled.
Authorities are at considerable differences as regards the limits
of this cosmopolitan genus ; Salvadori and Sharpe include only
seventeen species, while Reichenow, putting together several genera
recognised by the former authors, considers that fifty-one species
should be assigned to the genus.
For convenience of reference a key is here given of the five
species of South African Ducks included in the genus in its wider
significance; these are all resident birds; none of the European
migratory forms extend their winter range so far south.
Key of the Species.
A, Larger, wing 8 to 13.
a, Speculum green and black.
a. Bill yellow, with black on the culmen,
legs black. si sesasicosoucasueviecsspsisirnnviaies A, undulata, p. 134.
134 ANSERES ANAS
b'. Bill slaty with black on the culmen, legs
yellow, webs black ...........ccc:eeseeeee A. sparsa, p. 136.
c'. Bill crimson with base and edges black,
legs dirty yellow .........ssesecsecneeeeeues NN. capense, p. 138.
6. Speculum salmon pink.
a.! Bill pink with a brown central stripe ;
legs dirty: GLO y \ can sis sonedransmesdndwewseciae P. erythrorhyncha, p. 141.
B. Smaller, wing about 6; speculum bright
green ; bill black and leaden...............00006 N. punctatum, p. 139. -
619. Anas undulata. Geelbec or Yellow Bill.
Anas flavirostris (nec Vieill.) Smith, Cat. S. A. Mus. p. 36 (1837); ad.
Illustr. Zool. S. A. Aves, pl. 96 (1844); Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 352
(1867); Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 49 [Natal]; Buckley, Ibis, 1874,
p. 890 ; Bryden, Gun and Camera, pp. 349, 404 (1893).
Anas undulata, Dubois, Orn. Gall. p. 119, pl. 77 (1839); Salvadori,
Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 212 (1895); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 172 (1896) ;
Woodward bros., Natal B. p. 209 (1899); Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i,
p. 113 (1900); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 269; Oates, Cat. B. Eggs ii,
p. 165, pl. vi, fig. 5 (1902) ; Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 207.
Anas xanthorhyncha, Forst., Descr. An. p. 45 (1844); Pelzeln, Novara
Reise, Vogel, p. 188 (1865); Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral.
p. 342 (1872); Ayres, Ibis, 1874, p. 105, 1880, p. 272; Oates,
Matabeleland, p. 827 (1881); Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 368 [Mashona-
land]; Holub & Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 329 (1882); Butler,
Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 427; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.S. Afr.
p. 755 (1884); Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsm. S. A. p. 127, pl. xii,
fig. 60 (1892) ; Fleck, Journ. Ornith, 1894, p. 381.
Description. Adult male.—General colour dark ashy-brown, the
head and neck finely streaked with whitish; the feathers of the
upper part of the body narrowly, those of the lower broadly edged
with white, so that the whole bird has a mottled appearance ;
primaries dark brown, outer secondaries metallic-green or blue on
the outer web, forming a conspicuous speculum, a few of the inner
secondaries rich velvety black on the outer web forming a margin
to the speculum ; tail of sixteen feathers, which are rather narrow
and pointed, especially the central pair. ;
Iris hazel; bill yellow, black along the middle of the culmen
and at the tip; legs black.
Length 22:5; wing 9-7; tail 3-0; culmen 2-0; tarsus 15. The
sexes are alike.
Distribution.—This is certainly the commonest Duck throughout
the greater part of South Afrida, and is found everywhere except
ANSERES ANAS 135
perhaps in German South-west Africa and along the Natal sea
board. It appears to be partially migratory, its movements depend-
ing on rainfall. Beyond our limits its range extends as far only as
Angola on the west, but through Nyasaland and Central Africa
as far as Abyssinia on the east.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Cape
and Mossel Bay division (8. A. Mus.), Vogel vlei in Paarl,
Zoetendal’s vlei in Bredasdorp, breeding (Layard and S. A. Mus.),
Port Blizabeth, fairly common (Brown), Hast London, rare (Wood),
King Williams Town (Trevelyan), St. John’s River, April (Short-
ridge), near Taungs (Holub); Natal—Mooi River, May and Novem-
Fic. 41.—Head of Anas undulata. x }
ber (Buckley and Ayres), Weenen and Maritzburg (Woodward),
Newcastle districts (Butler); Orange River Colony—Rhenoster
River (Ayres), Vredefort Road station (B. Hamilton), Vlakfontein
in Harrismith district, breeding April (Sparrow), Basutoland very
common (Murray); Transvaal — near Pretoria, June (Oates),
Potchefstroom, July, August (Ayres); Bechuanaland — Lake
Ngami and Botletli River (Andersson), Nocana on the Okavango,
July (Fleck); Rhodesia—Upper Zambesi (Holub), Mashonaland,
not common (Marshall).
Habits.—The Geelbec keeps as a rule to marshes, lakes and
stagnant water, and avoids running streams ; it is usually found
in pairs, though sometimes in larger numbers. Layard states that
it is very shy and wary, but other observers have found it the
reverse in this respect; probably this depends on the amount of
molestation to which it is subjected. Its food consists of grass,
seeds and vegetable matter, and like other Ducks, it moults its wing
feathers all at once during the winter time, and is then careful to
remain sheltered in thick cover.
136 ANSERES ANAS
Layard states that this Duck nests on the dry veld away from
water in dense bush, and that, as the female sits very close, she is
difficult to find. Ayres, on the other hand, states that the nest is
built up of dry flags among the rushes, well above the level of the
water.
The eggs, generally from six to nine in number, are elliptical,
smooth, and vary from a very pale brown to creamy in colour ;
examples from Zoetendal’s vlei in the South African Museum
measure 2°27 x 1°75.
620. Anas sparsa. Black Duck.
Anas sparsa, Smith, Cat. S. Afr. Mus. p. 36 (1837) ; id. Illustr. Zool. &.
Afr. Aves. pl. 97 (1844); Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stockh. ii, no.
10, p. 56 (1858); Gurney, Ibis, 1859, p. 251 [Natal]; Kirk, Ibis, 1864,
p. 3386; Layard, B. 8S. Afr. p. 352 (1867) ; Gurney, in Andersson’s
B. Damaral. p. 841 (1872); Ayres, Ibis, 1874, p. 105, 1876, p. 433,
1880, p. 273; Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 891; Oakley, Trans. S. A.
Phil. Soc. ii, p. 50 (1881); Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p.
427; Holub & Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 330 (1882); Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 756 (1884) ; Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsm.
S. A. p. 124, pl. xii, fig. 61 (1892) ; Bryden, Gun and Camera, p. 407
(1893) ; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 218 (1895); Shelley, B. Afr.
i, p. 172 (1896) ; Woodward Bros. Ibis, 1898, p. 222; id. Natal B. p.
210 (1899); Rewchenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 115 (1900); Whitehead, Ibis,
1903, p. 237; Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 18 [Deelfontein]; Shortridge,
Ibis, 1904, p. 207.
‘“Hdada” of Amaxosa and Zulus, a name also applied to other species.
Description. Adult Male——General colour very dark ashy-
brown, almost black, somewhat paler below, slightly freckled with
greyish about the head and neck; scapulars, tail-coverts and tail-
feathers with a few white transverse bands; speculum metallic
‘greenish and purplish, formed by the outer webs of the inner
secondaries, surrounded by a velvety black band which is again
bordered in front and behind by a white band; tail of 18 feathers
which are rather long and broad.
Iris dark brown ; bill slaty, stripe down the culmen, tip and two
patches on either side of stripe black ; lower mandible yellow; legs
orange yellow, webs black.
Length (in the flesh) 23:0; wing 9-5; tail 5-0, tarsus 1:5;
culmen 1:6; weight about 2 lbs. 8 oz. (Ayres). The female is like
the male, but smaller; length (in flesh) 20; wing 9-0; tarsus 1:25;
culmen 1:5; weight 2 lbs. 6 oz. (Ayres).
ANSERES ANAS 137
Distribution.—The range of the Black Duck is restricted to
Eastern and Southern Africa, from Abyssinia southwards to Cape
Colony. It does not reach West Africa except Angola, where it has
once been procured by M. de Sousa. In South Africa this duck,
though never very abundant, is widely spread throughout Cape
Colony, Natal, the Transvaal and Rhodesia, but hitherto it has
not been noticed in German South-west Africa except at its
extreme southern limits. It appears to be a resident in some
districts and a migrant in others; its movements are probably
irregular. The following are localities :—Cape Colony—Knysna,
July, August (Victorin), Port Elizabeth (Rickard) Hast London,
throughout the year (Wood), St. John’s River in Pondoland, summer
(Shortridge), Buffalo River at King Williams Town (Trevelyan and
Pym), Grahamstown (Bt. Mus.), Deelfontein, April (Seimund), Orange
River near Upington, November (Bradshaw), near Aliwal (White-
head), Hartz River near Taungs (Holub) ; Natal—Durban (Ayres),
Umbilo River near Pinetown, January (Stark), Maritzburg, May
(Buckley), Ingagane River near Newcastle, June, July (Reid),
Umkusi River in Zululand (Woodward); Basutoland common in
mountain streams (Murray); Transvaal—near Pretoria (Buckley),
Potchefstroom, March, April, and Lydenburg (Ayres) ; Bechuana-
land—Botletli River (Bryden) ; Rhodesia—near Victoria (W. L.
Sclater); German South-west Africa—Great Fish River in Southern
Namaqualand (Andersson).
Habits.— The Black Duck is a somewhat solitary species usually
seen in pairs or occasionally in small family parties, but never in
large flocks. It is essentially a river bird, where these conditions
prevail, though in the neighbourhood of Deelfontein, where it is said
to be not uncommon, it must make its home on the yleis and dams,
as there are no rivers in the neighbourhood. It is somewhat
nocturnal in its habits, lying hidden as a rule during the day and
issuing forth in the evening. It feeds on grass seeds and probably
also on water insects and crustacea, and has a loud quack. When
disturbed it rises heavily, like a Pochard, but more often skulks
under the reeds along the river beds and endeavours to conceal
itself.
Though easily tamed and bearing captivity well this Duck seems
to have seldom reached Turope alive, and has never been exhibited
in the Zoological Gardens of London.
Little has been recorded about the breeding habits of this
species ; the Woodwards state that it nests in thick reeds and lays
138 ANSERES NETTION
five or six eggs, and that the young remain with the parents for
some time after they are hatched. Colonel Bowker sent eggs to
Mr. Layard taken near Maseru in Basutoland in November. These
were laid in a nest made in a hollow of rotten wood forming a
mass of drift under a willow tree overhanging the banks of the
Caledon River; the nest was lined with down from the bird’s
own breast and contained five eggs ready to hatch; they resembled
those of A. undulata and measured 2°5 x 1:75. Mr. Pym found
a nest containing six eggs in a similar position in a mass of drift
under a willow tree on the banks of the Buffalo River near King
Williams Town in February.
Genus VIII. NETTION.
Type.
Nettion, Kaup, Natiirl. Syst. p. 95 (1829) ..e.cseeeeeeeeeees N. erecca,
This genus, containing the Common Teal and some other allied
species, hardly differs from Anas. The bill is narrower and shorter,
the size is smaller, and the number of tail-feathers is less—14 to 16
as a rule.
Salvadori places fifteen species in this genus of cosmopolitan
distribution. Two of these are residents in South Africa, a third is
confined to Madagascar, while the Common Teal of Europe
(N. crecca) reaches as far south as Abyssinia during the northern
winter. The key of the South African species is given under the
head of the previous genus, p. 133.
621. Nettion capense. Cape Widgeon.
Anas capensis, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 527 (1788) ; Pelz. Novara Reise,
Vogel, p. 188 (1865); Salvadori, P. Z. S. 1884, p. 172, pl. 18;
Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 120 (1900).
Querquedula capensis, Smith, Cat. S.A. Mus. p. 87 (1837) ; Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 758 (1884); Shelley, B. Afr.i, p 172 (1896) ;
Whitehead, Ibis, 1903, p. 238.
Mareca capensis, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 351 (1867); id. Ibis, 1869, p.
76; Ayres, Ibis, 1869, p. 8302; Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral.
p. 389 (1872) ; Bryden, Gun and Camera, pp. 349, 405 (1893).
Nettion capense, Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii. p. 259 (1895).
“ Teal-eendje” of the Dutch.
Description. Adult.—Head, neck and cheeks whitish, with dark
ashy centres to the feathers on the back and sides, nearly pure
white on the chin; mantle, back, upper tail-coverts and scapulars
ANSERES NETTION 139
dark ashy, broadly margined with white or fulvous; below, the
white predominating and only the centres of the feathers ashy ;
primaries and median and lesser coverts of the wings ashy-brown ;
anterior secondaries pure white; a metallic green and purple
speculum formed by the outer webs of the middle secondaries
bounded broadly above and narrowly below by a velvety black band
and towards the top of the wing by the broad white tips of the
greater coverts.
Iris yellow; bill crimson, base and edge of the upper mandible
black; feet dirty yellow. Length 18:5; wing 8:5; tail 2°75;
culmen 1:5; tarsus 1:25. The sexes are alike.
Distribution.—The Cape Widgeon, though known from the
earliest period of systematic zoology, appears to be everywhere a
scarce bird and to have been but seldom met with; its range extends
from Cape Colony northwards through Nyasaland and Uganda to
Shoa. In South Africa it has not been hitherto met with in the
eastern portion of the Colony, Natal or Rhodesia.
The following are recorded localities:—Cape Colony—Cape
division, Knysna, Vogel vlei in Paarl division, Beaufort West
(Layard), near Simons Town (Novara Expedition), Orange River
near Aliwal North, May (Whitehead) ; Transvaal—August (Ayres) ;
Bechuanaland—Botletli River (Bryden); German South-west
Africa, scarce generally but common at Walvisch Bay (Andersson),
Reheboth, December (Fleck).
Habits. Nothing appears to be known about the habits of this
species; it is probably frequently confused with the ‘‘Smee Eendje
or Red-bill, which it resembles in the colour of its bill, but from which
it can be distinguished at a glance by its metallic-green speculum
and by its spotted cheeks.
Mr. Layard found a nest containing one egg, probably belonging
to this species, at Vogel vlei in the Paarl division. The egg was
a dirty greenish-white throughout and measured 1:80 x 15.
622. Nettion punctatum. Hottentot Teal.
Anas punctata, Burchell, Travels, i, p. 283 (1822); Newton, P. Z. S.
1871, p. 649; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 120 (1900).
Querquedula hottentota, Smith, Cat. S. A. Mus. p. 87 (1887) ; id. Illustr.
Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pl. 105 (1845); Gurney, Ibis, 1862, p. 154, 1868,
pp. 262, 471 [Natal and Potchefstroom] ; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 353
(1867); Ayres, Ibis, 1880, p. 273; Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool.
1882, p. 427; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 757 (1884) ; Nicolls
140 ANSERES NETTION
and Eglington, Sportsm. 8. A. p. 128, pl. xii, fig. 65 (1892) ; Bryden
Gun and Camera, p. 407 (1893).
Nettion hottentota, Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 340 (1872).
Anas hottentota, Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 381.
Nettion punctatum, Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 265 (1895); W. D.
Sclater, Ibis, 1899, p. 115 [Inhambane] ; Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, ii, p.
172 (1902).
Querquedula punctata, Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 172 (1896).
Description. Adult male-—Crown very dark brown, sharply
defined from the whitish sides of the face and throat by a clearly
marked line running from the base of the bill below the eye; sides
of the neck white, thickly mottled with black; mantle, breast and
under parts light brown of a fawny tinge, spotted with blackish-
brown centres to the feathers, which become on the middle of the
abdomen and under tail-coverts a mottling and barring; middle of
the back and tail-feathers black, sides and upper and under tail-coverts
finely mottled fawn and black; wings bronzy-green, the primaries
and their coverts black ; secondaries bright green on the outer web,
forming the speculum, largely tipped with white, and with a sub-
terminal black band dividing the green. and white; under wing-
coverts black, the longer ones and the axillaries white.
Tris black ; bill along the culmen black, the triangular portion at
the sides below the nostrils turquoise, lower mandible leaden, legs
turquoise inclining to leaden. :
Length (in flesh) 14; wing 6; tail 2-50; culmen 1:45; tarsus 1-0.
The female resembles the male, but is somewhat duller in colour ;
the young bird is fawn coloured below without spots or bars.
Distribution.—The Hottentot Teal is found in North-east and
South Africa, extending from Shoa through Uganda and Nyasaland
to Cape Colony. It also occurs in Madagascar and Southern
Angola. In South Africa it is by no means common, though
apparently rather widely spread, but it has not hitherto been
recorded from Rhodesia or the Zambesi Valley.
The following are localities : Cape Colony—Zak River, in Fraser-
burg division, September (Burchell, type), 100 miles north-west of
Cape Town, ?.¢., Verloren Vlei in Piquetberg ? (Smith), Port Elizabeth,
rare (Brown) ; Natal—near Newcastle, November (Butler), Basuto-
land (Bowker in 8. A. Mus.) ; Transvaal— Potchefstroom, common,
November (Ayres); Bechuanaland-—-Okavango and Lake Ngami,
July, August (Fleck), Botletli River (Bryden); German South-west
Africa—Omanbonde (Andersson), only in rainy season (Fleck) ;
Portuguese East Africa—Inhambane, September (Francis).
ANSERES PQCILONETTA 141
Habits..--This, the smallest of South African Ducks, is found
singly or in pairs, in lagoons, but little is known of its habits as it
appears to be everywhere a scarce bird.
There are two eggs of this species in the British Museum,
obtained by Andersson, in Ovampoland ; they are described as oval
in shape, smooth, moderately glossy, and of a pale cream colour.
They measure 1:7 x 1:3:
Genus IX. PQCILONETTA.
Type.
Pacilonitta, Zyton, Mon. Anat. p. 32 (1838) ...... P. bahamensis.
This genus is also very closely allied to Anas, from which it
differs chiefly in the colour of the speculum, which is a fawn or
salmon colour, the narrow black band at its base perhaps represent-
ing the metallic speculum of Anas.
Three species are assigned to this genus by Salvadori; two of
them from South America and the Galapagos Isles respectively, the
third from Africa. This last species is included in the key on
p. 188.
623. Poecilonetta erythrorhyncha. fRed-biil.
Anas erythrorhyncha, Gmel., Syst. Nat. i, p. 517 (1788); Burchell,
Travels, i, p. 288, ii, p. 346 (1822-4) ; Pelz., Novara Reise, Vég.,p. 188
(1865); Layard, B.S. Afr. p.351 (1867); Bryden, Gun and Camera,
p. 405 (1893) ; <d. Nat. and Sport, p.42 (1897); Fleck, Journ. Ornith.
1894, p. 880; Reichenow, Vag. Afr. i, p. 118 (1900).
Querquedula erythrorhyncha, Smith, Cat. S. A. Mus. p. 36 (1887) ;
Holub & Pelzein, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 380 (1882).
Peecilonetta erythrorhyncha, Smith, Illustr. Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pl. 104
(1845) ; Gurney, Ibis, 1859, p. 251, 1861, p. 184, 1862, p. 158, 1868,
p. 471 [Natal and Transvaal] ; id. in Andersson’s B. Damaral.
p. 339 (1872) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1880, p. 272; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 828
(1881); Butler, Feilden § Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 427; Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B.S. Afr. p. T54 (1884) ; Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsm.
S.A. p. 126, pl. xii, fig. 62 (1892); Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 285
(1895) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 172 (1896); Woodward Bros., Natal B.
p. 211 (1899); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 269; Alexander, Ibis, 1900,
p. 448 ; Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, ii, p. 174 (1902) ; Whitehead, Ibis, 1903,
p. 238.
“Smee Eendje” of the Dutch; the word Smee is sometimes used in
East Anglia for the Widgeon ; ‘‘Semto Letata” of Basutos (Murray).
142 ANSERES PECILONETTA
Description. Adult male. — Crown and nape dark brown,
separated from the white cheeks and throat by a very distinct
line of demarcation running below the eye; neck mottled brown
and dirty white ; rest of the upper surface brown, all the feathers
distinctly edged with a pale salmony pink; wings brown like the
back, the inner secondaries salmony pink on the outer web, forming
a speculum, their bases black and the tips of their coverts pink, thus
forming two bands along the upper side of the speculum; below
white, most of the feathers, especially those of the breast, flanks
and under tail-coverts with subterminal semicircular spots of ashy-
black ; under wing-coverts ashy-black, some of the inner ones and
the axillaries banded black and white.
Tris hazel; bill pink with a brownish stripe down the centre;
legs dirty grey.
Length (in flesh) 19; wing 85; tail 3-0;-culmen 1-55;
tarsus 1°35.
The female resembles the male in plumage and dimensions.
Distribution.—The Red-bill has a very similar range to the
Hottentot Teal, being spread over South and East Africa from
Abyssinia to Cape Colony, up to South Angola on the west; it
is also found in Madagascar.
It is, after the Yellow-bill perhaps, the commonest of all the
South African Ducks, being met with almost everywhere, and
being apparently a resident in most parts of our area.
The following are localities : Cape Colony—Cape division (S. A.
Mus. and Novara Expedition), Port Elizabeth, common (Brown),
Grahamstown (Brit. Mus.), King Williams Town, after rain
(Trevelyan), Zak River in Fraserburg, September, Kuruman, July
(Burchell), Orange River, near Upington, January (Bradshaw), near
Aliwal North (Whitehead), Woodhouse Kraal, Mafeking division
(Bryden); Natal—Conzella, near Durban (Gordge), near Maritzburg
(Fitzsimmons), Newcastle district (Butler) ; Orange River Colony
—Vredefort Road, February (B. Hamilton), Basutoland, very
common (Murray); Transvaal—Limpopo River (Holub), Potchefs-
troom, June, March (Ayres), Boksburg and Krugersdorp (Gil-
fillan) ; Bechuanaland—Nocana, July (Fleck), Botletli River
(Bryden) ; Rhodesia —- Upper Zambesi (Holub), Ramaqueban
River, March, November (Oates), near Salisbury common (Mar-
shall); German South-west Africa, common throughout (Andersson
and Fleck) ; Zumbo on the Zambesi, November (Alexander).
Habits —The Red-bill haunts vleis and pans, and also the
ANSERES SPATULA 148
stagnant lagoons lying alongside so many African rivers, but is
seldom met with on the rivers themselves. It is generally seen
in small flocks of from eight to ten individuals, and is by no means
uncommon ; most observers state that it is not a very shy bird, and
add that it is excellent eating.
It usually makes its nest among the thick rushes on the border
of a vlei; sometimes the nest is actually floating in the water; it is
constructed of sedge and usually lined with down and fine feathers ;
the eggs are from eight to ten in number and are described by Fitzsim-
mons as of a light greenish-white colour ; examples preserved in the
South African Museum and obtained some years ago by Mr. Jackson
are creamy-brown and glossy; they are fairly oval in shape and
measure 2°0 x 1:55. Andersson found eggs in February and March
at Ondonga, Fitzsimmons near Maritzburg; it probably breeds
throughout the country.
Examples of this species have been imported into Europe and
have bred in the Zoological Gardens in London.
Genus X. SPATULA.
Type.
Spatula, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 564 ....ccccccccseceeesseeveeeeens 8. clypeata.
Bill very large and spatulate ; far exceeding the length of the
head ; width of the upper mandible towards the tip nearly twice that
at the base; culmen nearly straight and flat; nail narrow and
small; lamelle along the edge of the upper mandible closely set and
elongated ; wings long and pointed, the first and second primaries
longest and subequal; upper wing-coverts pale blue; tail of 14
feathers, which are somewhat narrow and pointed, especially the
central pair, which project somewhat; tarsus short, about equal to
the inner toe and shorter than the other two, with a row of scutes
in front; hind toe small, with a very narrow lobe.
This genus is cosmopolitan in range and includes four species ;
two of which, one a resident, the other a very rare migrant from the
north, are found in South Africa.
Key of the Species.
A. Head and neck glossy green......s:...ssecsseeeerenneeees S.clypeata, 3 p. 144.
B. Head and neck fulvous, thickly spotted with
brown. ~
144 ANSBRES SPATULA
a, Tail-feathers white and fulvous with brown
CONUVES siiajesasssinsiccigiainerauweeumslice’s sanimaebe aadelauaiias S.clypeata, 2 p. 144
b. Tail-feathers dark brown with slightly paler
Cd gOS ONLY... eden savsdananscsiee..dasaeanareniaenl .. S. capensis, p. 145.
624. Spatula clypeata. Huropean Shoveller.
Anas clypeata, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 200 (1766).
Spatula clypeata, Dresser, B. Hur, vi, p. 497, pl. 425 (1873) ; Fairbridge,
Ibis, 1898, p. 153; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 3806 (1895) ;
Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 110 (1900).
Description. Adult Male-—Head and upper part of the neck
dark glossy green ; lower neck, outer scapulars, breast and sides of
the tail pure white; mantle and middle of the back dark brown with
paler edges to the feathers; rump and upper tail-coverts black,
glossed with green; tail-feathers white, freckled with brown, the
centre ones almost entirely brown ; primaries, primary coverts, tips
of the secondaries and inner webs of the scapulars brown, the
lesser and median coverts and the inner web of the outer scapulars
pale blue; a median line of white divides the blue from the brown on
the scapulars, the last row of coverts tipped with white forming a
band along the front of the glossy metallic green speculum formed
by the outer web of the outer secondaries ; below the lower breast
and abdomen is rich chestnut somewhat freckled with black on the
latter, the under tail-coverts are black glossed with green.
Iris orange-red ; bill lead colour; feet reddish-orange. Length
21:5; wing 10-0; tail 3-25; culmen 3:0; tarsus 1:3.
The female is brown above, each feather with a pale reddish
border, the feathers of the back and rump, the scapulars and upper
tail-coverts with concentric buff or rufous bands; wing-coverts grey
to greyish-brown, speculum duller than in the male, lower parts
brownish-buff, more rufous on the abdomen, speckled with dark
brown on the fore neck; crescentic brown bars on the breast and
flanks less strongly marked on the lower abdomen and tail-coverts,
tail fulyous and white with brown centres to the feathers. Iris
brown; bill and upper mandible dark brown, lower mandible dull
orange; wing 8.75. Young males are like the female; the male
assumes the female plumage except so far as the wings are con-
cerned after the breeding season.
Distribution —The Shoveller isa bird of the Northern Hemis-
phere breeding throughout Europe, Northern Asia and «North
ANSERES SPATULA 145
America as far south as 68° N. Lat. It migrates southward in the
northern winter to Africa, southern Asia and central and northern
South America, including the West Indies.
In Africa it is a regular visitor as far as Abyssinia, south of
which it has only once been procured, so far as I am aware. In the
Ibis for 1893 Mr. W. G. Fairbridge states that a single male was
brought to him in the flesh by Mr. J. C. Gie, which had been shot
by his herd on September 14, 1893, at Riet Vlei, about eight miles
from Cape Town. This specimen, which is a male in nearly full
breeding plumage, is now preserved in the South African Museum.
Mr. Fairbridge adds that a few days previously he had himself seen
a Duck with a white breast which he forbore to shoot at, thinking
it was a domesticated bird. On its rising, however, he perceived
his mistake, and fired at it, but without effect.
625. Spatula capensis. Cape Shoveiler.
Rhynchaspis capensis, Smith, Cat. 8. A. Mus. p. 86 (1837) ; id. Illustr.
Zool. S. Afr., Aves, pl. 98 (1844); Layard, B.S. Afr. p. 854 (1867) ;
Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 50 [Natal and Transvaal]; Layard, Ibis,
1869, p. 877; Bryden, Gun and Camera, p. 407 (1893).
Spatula capensis, Gurney in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 841 (1872) ;
Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 428; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s
B.S. Afr. p. 759 (1884) ; Nécolls and Eglington, Sportsm. 8. A. p.
128, pl. xii, fig. 66 (1892); Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 818 (1895):
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 178 (1896); Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 111
(1900); Oates, Cat. B, Egqs, ii, p. 178 (1902).
* Slop” of Colonists.
Description. Adult JMJale—Crown of the head dark brown
speckled with fulvous, sides of the head and neck pale fulvous
slightly spotted with black; breast, mantle, upper scapulars and
back, dark brown with U or V shaped bars of fulvous ; lower back,
upper tail-coverts and tail black, outer tail-feathers with paler edges ;
primaries and their coverts blackish; median and lesser coverts
to the edge of the wing and innermost scapulars pale blue, tips of
one or two of the outermost secondary coverts white, forming a
patch above the speculum, which is metallic green, inner secondaries
a bluish green, darker than the speculum ; below fulvous brown with
darker brown spots and bars giving a mottled appearance; under
tail coverts darker.
Iris lemon yellow; bill deep reddish-brown to black; legs
ochraceous yellow, webs a little darker at the edges. Length 20:5 ;
wing 10:15; tail 3°5; culmen 2:4; tarsus 1-4.
10 VoL. Iv,
146 ANSERES NYROCA
The female resembles that of S. clypeata but has the tail very
dark brown with irregular rufescent bars.
Distribution.—The Cape Shoveller is apparently confined to
South Africa, extending to Angola in the west. Lefebre stated that
he met with this species many years ago in Abyssinia, but it has
not been since procured there nor has it been observed in the
intervening countries.
Fic. 42.—Head of Spatula capensis. x 4
In South Africa this Duck is by no means common.’ It has not
been found in Rhodesia or on the Zambesi, and it is rare in the
Transvaal and in German Territory. The following are recorded
localities :—Cape Colony—Cape division, July (8S. A. Mus.),
November (Layard), Verloren vlei in Piquetberg, Berg River, Vogel
vlei in Paarl, Knysna (Layard), Port Elizabeth (Rickard), Queens-
town (Griffith apud Layard); Natal—Durban (Ayres in Bt.
Mus.), Newcastle, September (Butler); near Mafeteng in Basuto-
land (Murray); Transvaal (Ayres) ; Bechuanaland—Botletli River
(Bryden); German South-west Africa—rare, but extending north
to Okavango (Andersson).
Habits.—No one has made any observations worth recording on
the habits of this bird. Layard received eggs taken by Mr. Kotze
on the Berg River, which he described as a delicate cream colour
tinged with green and measuring 2:16 x 1:5. These are probably
the same as those described in the British Museum Catalogue.
Genus XI. NYROCA.
Type.
Nyroca, Flem. Phil. Zool. ii, p. 260 (1822)........ N. africana.
Bill about as long as the head, rather broad but the same width
throughout its length, culmen slightly concave; lamella along the
margin of the mandibles not projecting- or conspicuous; nail broad
ANSERES “NYROCA 147
but not pointed; wings rounded, the first and second primaries,
which are the longest, hardly exceeding the longest secondaries ;
no speculum ; tail of fourteen feathers short and graduated; the
feathers normal and rounded at the tips; tarsus very short, less
than the inner toe; hind toe well developed and with a broad lobe
posteriorly. This Genus contains some eight species of Diving
Ducks commonly known as Pochards, distributed all over the
world. Only one species is found within our limits, though two,
the common Pochard (N. ferina) and the White-eye (N. africana),
both northern species, range as far south as Abyssinia in winter.
Fic. 43.—Left foot of Nyroca erythrophthalma. x }
626. Nyroca erythrophthalma. South African Pochard.
Anas capensis (nec Gmel.) Lesson, Tr. d’Orn. p. 632 (1831).
Anas erythrophthalma, Wied, Bevtr. iv, p. 929 (1832).
Fuligula capensis, Smith, Cat. S. A. Mus. p. 86 (1887); P. L. Sclater,
P. Z. S. 1880, p. 526.
Nyroca brunnea, Eyton, Mon. Anat, p. 161, pl. 28 (1888); Strickland
and Sclater, Contrib. Ornith. 1852, p. 160; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p.
855 (1867); Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 266; Bryden, Gun and Camera,
p. 404 (1898) ; id. Nat. and Sport, p. 43 (1897); Salvadori, Cat. B.
M. xxvii, p. 351 (1895); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 173 (1896).
- Fuligula brunnea, Gurney, Ibis, 1864, p. 355 [Natal].
Aythya capensis, Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 342 (1872) ;
“Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 428; Sharpe, ed. Layard's
B.S. Afr. p. 160 (1884) ; Nicolls and Eglinton, Sports. S. A. p. 129
(1892).
148 ANSERES NYROCA
Nyroca erythrophthalma, Salvadori, Ibis, 1896, p. 99; Woodward
Bros. Natal B. p. 211 (1899).
Nyroca capensis, Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 108 (1900).
Aythya erythrophthalma, Oates, Cat. B. Eggs ii, p. 181 (1902) ; Sharpe,
Ibis, 1904, p. 18 [Deelfontein].
Description. Adult male-——General colour a rich dark brown,
almost black on the head and nape; the centre of the back, seapulars
and upper wing-coverts very finely mottled with whitish; wings
like the back, but the bases of the primaries and of the secondaries
white, the latter forming a speculum bounded posteriorly by the
brown tips, which form a band in the closed wing; sides of the
head and neck a rich chestnut brown ; a small but distinct triangular
spot of white on the chin between the rami of the lower jaw, rest
of the lower surface dark brown, becoming nearly black on the
lower neck and chest, and more fulvous on the abdomen.
Fic, 44.—Head_ of Nyroca erythrophihatma, ¢. x }
Iris orange yellow to red; bill leaden blue with black tip; legs
blackish.
Length 20:0; wing 8-75; tail 2:0; tarsus 1:25; culmen 1-75.
The female is a good deal lighter in colour and has no freckling,
the sides of the head, neck and throat white, except for a round
patch below the eye, which is brown ; the rest of the lower surface
from the chest to the under tail-coverts is mottled white and fulvous
brown, the fulvous more or less in narrow transverse bands.
Iris brown, bill leaden, feet black; size about the same; wing
8:5.
Distribution —This Pochard is found throughout East and South
Africa from Abyssinia and Shoa to Cape Colony and extending north
ANSERES NYROCA 149
on the west to Angola; furthermore, if (as is here accepted) Salvadori’s
recent identifications are proved to be correct, in South America, in
Southern Brazil and Peru.
In South Africa, this Duck, though never very abundant, is
found throughout the greater portion of the country, even on the
Karoo, where conditions hardly seem favourable. It appears to be
generally met with in summer from September to December, and
is probably a breeding migrant.
The following are localities : Cape Colony—Berg River, breeding
September, Zoetendals Vlei in Bredasdorp, November (Layard),
Cape division, September, Knysna, November (8. A. Mus.), Port
Elizabeth, very rare (Brown), Kleinmont River in Bathurst (Ather-
stone), Deelfontein in Richmond division, September, rare (Seimund),
Woodhouse Kraal in Mafeking division (Bryden); Natal—Sea Cow
Lake near Durban, November (Ayres), near Howick (Burges),
Newcastle, September to October, breeding (Butler); Orange River
Colony—Rhenoster River, May (Ayres in Bt. Mus.), near Mafeteng
in Basutoland (Murray); Transvaal—Marico (Barratt), near
Potchefstroom (Ayres); Bechuanaland—Ngami (Nicolls), Botletli
(Bryden); Rhodesia—Upper Zambesi (Bradshaw in Bt. Mus.),
Feira, north-east Rhodesia (Stoehr); German South-west Africa—
near Barmen, Ondonga, common, breeding February (Andersson) ;
Portuguese East Africa—Inhamban, December (Francis in 8. A.
Mus.).
Habits.—All the Pochards are essentially divers, obtaining their
food by diving entirely beneath the water, and not as the true
Ducks do, merely searching in shallow water with the posterior
half of the body vertically projecting. There is little to say about
this species. It is generally found about the larger rivers and near
the sea, though sometimes met with far inland. It is wary and
wild, and has a more rapid flight than some of the other Ducks;
it dives well.
It was found nesting on the Berg River in September by Mr.
Layard, who states that the eggs were from five to eight in number.
Three of these are still preserved in the South African Museum ;
they are broad, almost regular ovals, smooth and moderately glossy,
of a pale creamy white colour, and measure 2°3 x 1:65.
Eggs obtained by Andersson at Ondonga in February are pre-
served in the British Museum; judging by the description given
they are rather smaller and darker in colour than those I have
examined,
150 ANSERES THALASSORNIS
Genus XII. THALASSORNIS.
Type.
Thalassornis, Hyton, Mon. Anat. p. 70 (1838).........44. T. leuconota,
Bill short and stumpy, its depth at the base more than half its
length; the sides about parallel; culmen nearly straight; nostrils
small and rounded; nail very large, vertically down-turned and
pointed; a nuchal crest; wings short and rounded, the first three
primaries curiously attenuated for their distal third; tail of 12
feathers, short, about a quarter the length of the wing but project-
ing well beyond the coverts; the feathers narrow and stiff; tarsus
very short, about half the length of the middle toe ; hind toe with a
very broad lobe.
Only the single species here described, confined to South and
East Africa, is referred to this genus.
627. Thalassornis leuconota. White-backed Duck.
Clangula leuconotus, Smith, Cat. 8S. A. Mus. p. 87 (1837) ; td. Illustr.
Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pl. 107 (1846).
Thalassornis leuconotus, Eyton, Monogr. Anat. p. 168 (1838); Gurney,
This, 1861, p. 184, 1862, p. 89 [Natal] ; Pelzeln, Novara Reise, Vogel,
p- 189 (1865); Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 356 (1867); Gurney im
Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 843 (1872); Ayres, Ibis, 1874, p. 105;
Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 428; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s
B. S. Afr. p. 761 (1884); Symonds, Ibis, 1887, p. 386; Nicolls and
Eglington, Sportsm. S. A. p. 124, pl. xii, fig. 68 (1892); Bryden, Gun
and Camera, p. 407 (1893); Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 381;
Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p.486 (1895); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 178
(1896) ; Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 212 (1899); Reichenow, Vég.
Afr. i,p. 106 (1900) ; Hellmayr, Journ. Ornith. 1902, p. 236 [Pienaars
River]; Haagner, Ibis, 1902, pp. 575, 581; Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, ii,
p. 192 (1902).
Description. Adult.—Crown of the head, nape, sides of the face
and throat black, the black mingled with ochraceous yellow on the
sides of the face and neck ; a spot at the base of the upper mandible
and gape on either side whitish ; sides and front of the lower neck
rich fulyous yellow; general colour above and below fulvous and
black, mottled and barred, palest in the middle of the breast where
the bars are almost absent; centre of the back pure white, upper
tail-coverts black tipped with white ; tail-feathers stiff, narrow and
projecting, brown edged with fulvous; primaries plain dark brown,
no speculum. Iris dark brown; bill blue and slate; lower mandible
yellowish ; feet dark brown,
ANSERES THALASSORNIS 151
Length 17:0; wing 7:75; tail 2:0; tarsus 1:25; culmen 1:75.
The sexes are alike; young birds are less ochraceous and more
brown on the abdomen.
Distribution.—The White-backed Duck is confined to Africa
and Madagascar. It ranges from Abyssinia on the east and from
Loango on the west, southwards through East Africa and Nyasaland
to Cape Colony.
Within our limits it is widely spread where suitable conditions
exist but it has not yet been met with in Rhodesia -or on the
Zambesi, though probably to be found there. The following are
localities :—Cape Colony—Verloren Vlei in Piquetberg, (Smith,
type), Cape division (S. A. Mus.), Simonstown (Novara), Port
Fic, 45.—Head of Thalassornis leuconota. x $
Elizabeth, rare (Brown), Vaalpens Pan near Mafeking (Nicolls and
Eglington) ; Natal—Clairmont near Durban, breeding November to
February (Millar), Newcastle district, September to October, breed-
ing (Butler and Feilden) ; Orange River Colony—Kroonstad, March
(Symonds); Transvaal—Potchefstroom rare (Ayres), Pienaars
River Bridge in Pretoria district, April (Penther), Modderfontein,
breeding, April (Haagner); Bechuanaland—Tebra county, February
(S. A. Mus.), Nocana, July (Fleck), Botletli River (Bryden) ;
German South-west Africa—generally scarce, but common at Oman-
bonde and Ondonga (Andersson).
Habits.—This Duck is found on lagoons and about the mouths of
rivers and also inland on the larger pans and rivers, as a rule singly
or in pairs. It seldom flies, but nearly always dives into shelter
when disturbed. Most observers say that it has almost lost the
power of flight and is only able to skim along the surface of the
water, but Ayres states that it rises easily and flies well. The flesh
is very oily and unpalatable,
152 ANSERES ERISMATURA
Mr. A. D. Millar writes to me that he has visited several nests
in a vlei at Clairmont close to Durban. The first, found on Novem-
ber 24, 1901, contained two fresh eggs; it was composed of rushes
and was floating in about three feet of water, while above the nest
the rushes were arched over for concealment. Others found on
December 14, 1901 and February 16, 1902, contained four, three
and five eggs. Butler found the nest of this Duck under very
similar circumstances in the Newcastle district of Natal in
September.
The eggs found by Mr. Millar, two of which he has presented to
the South African Museum, are perfectly smooth and glossy and of
a warm brown colour throughout; they are nearly regular ovals and
measure 2:7 x 1:9 and 2°6 x 1:95 respectively. On the other hand,
those obtained by Butler, now in the British Museum, are described
as being rough, granulated, with little gloss and of a pale greenish
white colour. They measure 26 x 20 and 2:55 x 2:0
respectively.
Mr. Millar tells me that though he did not actually see the
Ducks sitting on the eggs, the birds, which he knows well, were in
the immediate vicinity, and that he found their feathers in the nests
themselves and that he is quite satisfied as to the identification.
Possibly Butler’s eggs were those of the Maccoa Duck.
Genus XIII. ERISMATURA,
Type.
Erismatura, Dyp., Saggy. Distr. Met. dn. p. 148
(USS 2) ous wiwansuiimnsne, anbamswneeey exememay veowweuues ..+H, jamaicensis.
Bill similar to that of Thalassornis but the culmen slightly
concave and the nail bent downwards and inwards, forming an
acute angle with the line of the culmen; lamelle along the edge of
the upper mandible coarse and somewhat visible ; no nuchal crest ;
wings short and rounded, not reaching the base of the tail, the
primaries hardly exceeding the secondaries in length; tail of 18
feathers which are narrow, stiff, graduated and very long, being
about half the length of the wing; tarsus and foot as in
Thalassorms.
Salvadori in the British Museum Catalogue includes seven
species in this genus; they are generally distributed over the greater
part of the Old and New Worlds. Only the single African species
is found within our limits,
ANSERES ERISMATURA 153
628. Erismatura maccoa. Maccoa Duck.
Oxyura maccoa, Smith, Cat. S. A. Mus. p. 87 (1837); zd. Ill. Zool. 8.
Afr. Aves, pls. 108, 109 (1847).
Erismatura maccoa, Eyton, Monogr. Anat. p. 169 (1838); Layard, B.
S. Afr. p. 356 (1867); Ayres, Ibis, 1869, p. 302; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s
B.S. Afr. p. 762 (1884) ; Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsm. 8. A. p. 125,
pl. xii, fig. 67 (1892); Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 448 (1895) ;
Sheticy. B. Afr. i, p. 174 (1896); Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 105
(1900) ; Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 18 [Deelfontein].
Description. Adult Male.—Head and the upper part of the neck
black, lower neck, breast and most of the upper surface rich
chestnut ; wings except the least coverts, centre of the lower back
and tail (which is very long) very dark brown, centre of the lower
breast and abdomen shading from chestnut to silvery-grey slightly
mottled with black, the feathers having dark bases; under wing-
coverts white with dark grey centres, axillaries pure white.
Tris dark hazel; bill blue black ; feet dark leaden blue. Length
18-5; wing 7:0; tail 3:25; culmen 1-5; tarsus 1:25. ;
The female has the upper parts, including the crown and nape
brown, minutely freckled with pale fulvous and grey, the primaries
154 ANSERES ERISMATURA
and tail feathers brown and unfreckled ; an indistinct white stripe
from the base of the upper mandible below the eye almost to the
nape, chin and throat also white; below silvery grey mottled and
barred with brown, darkest on the breast.
A young bird has the head and neck slightly freckled with white
and on the lower neck and upper parts the feathers are mostly
brown and freckled, the pure chestnut gyadually taking their
places.
Distribution.—The Maccoa is certainly the rarest of the South
African Ducks. Smith, who first discovered it, obtained his speci-
mens at Verloren Vlei, in the Piquetberg division, and at the mouth
of the Orange River; it is occasionally met with on the Cape Flats
near Cape Town. Mr. Layard mentions that it was particularly
abundant there, together with the South African Pochard, in 1858 ;
Fic. 47.—Head of Hrismatura maccoa. x 3
he further states that Mr. Dumbleton shot an example at Victoria
West, not very far from Deelfontein, where it has been recently
procured by Colonel Sloggett’s collectors, Messrs. Seimund and
Grant. Outside Cape Colony Ayres shot an example on the Vaal
River near Potchefstroom in December, and there is another now
in the South African Museum, a young female, obtained by Mr.
Eriksson in the Tebra Country west of Lake Ngami in April, while
Mr. Murray tells me he has shot a good many near Mafeteng in
Basutoland. It has not yet been met with in Natal, Rhodesia or
German South-west Africa.
North of the Zambesi it reappears at Lake Naivascha, in British
East Africa, and in Shoa in Southern Abyssinia.
Habits. Smith describes the Maccoa as an exceedingly shy
bird, seldom venturing out of the shelter of the reeds and rushes
when danger threatens. It swims very low in the water, only the
top of its back showing ; it seldom or never takes to flight, but dives
COLUMBA 155
with great facility for a long time and for a very considerable
distance.
The example obtained by Ayres was shot in a lagoon alongside
the Vaal River; it was constantly diving and did not attempt to fly ;
the stomach contained water snails.
Nothing is known of its eggs or nidification but I suspect that
the eggs ascribed by Butler to the White-backed Duck were really
those of this species, as they agree very closely with those of other
members of the genus Hrismatura.
Order X. COLUMBA.
The Pigeons form a well marked group, with no clearly well-
defined relationships, except perhaps to the Sandgrouse (Pterocletes).
They are birds of moderate size, with short legs and toes without
a trace of a web; the bill is very characteristic, the distal portion
being slightly swollen and hard, and the proximal portion, in which
the nostrils open, covered by a soft skin, forming what is called the
. cere ; there are eleven primaries ; the number of tail feathers varies
from twelve to twenty; the hallux, which is always present, is
jointed on a level with the other toes.
The young, when hatched, are naked and helpless, and are
entirely dependent on their parents for a considerable time.
Anatomical characters are :—-Skull schizognathous and schizo-
rhinal; basipterygoid processes present; angle of the mandible not
produced behind its articulation with the quadrate; no aftershaft
to the feathers ; a well developed crop; oil gland, if present, naked ;
deep plantar tendons galline (see Vol. III., p. 2, fig. 2b); caca
rudimentary when present ; two carotids; ambiens muscle present
or absent, the other four Garrodian muscles almost always present.
The distinctions between the families and subfamilies of this
Order, as usually recognised, are not of very fundamental impor-
tance. Only two families are here recognised, one containing the
so-called Green~Pigeons, the other the rest of the South African
representatives of this Order.
Key of the Genera.
A. Fourteen tail-feathers; plumage green and
VOM OW: cxceeehg es BAT uenaainans ak so saoatGnaane saetveaeems Aa sdied Vinago, p. 156,
B. Twelve tail-feathers ; plumage never green and
yellow,
156 TRERONIDE VINAGO
w. Tarsus shorter than the middle toe (without
claw).
a’, No metallic sheen on the hind neck, sexes
BIKE). cciccd actenarrenasenanavenainueeeomenmeanenes Columba, p. 160.
b', Metallic sheen on the hind neck; sexes
CLS STA UA sc:csiie siniac vais neta sais ceers von vc ae a Salento ata Turturena, p. 164.
b. Tarsus equal to or longer than the middle toe
without claw. ;
a', No metallic sheen on the back ; no metallic
spots on the Wings........ccccccceceseeeeeeeee coer Turtur, p. 166.
b', Metallic spots on the wings and scapulars.
a®, Tail long and much graduated, the outer
feathers less than half the middle ones... Gina, p. 174.
b?, Tail normal, shorter than the wing and
slightly rounded.
a, First primary attenuated at the tip...... Tympanistria,p.177.
bo’. First primary normal ........c.ccccesceeeenee Chalcopelia, p. 180.
c!, No metallic spots, but the hind neck and ~
breast suffused with a metallic sheen........ Haplopelia, p. 182.
Family I. TRERONIDA.
Usually fourteen tail feathers; general plumage green; no
ambiens muscle, oil gland or ceca.
Genus I. VINAGO.
Type.
Vinago, Cuvier, Régne Anim. i, p. 457 (1817)... V. waalia.
Bill somewhat stout and slightly hooked, soft basal portion
occupying about half its length; wings pointed, the first and third
primaries only slightly falling short of the second, which is the
longest; the third quill distinctly scooped out on the inner web;
tail of fourteen even feathers; tarsus shorter than the middle toe
and claw, feathered almost to the toe joints with yellow plumes;
soles of all the toes broad and widened out below; plumage chiefly
green.
This, the only African genus of Green Pigeons, contains some
eight species all confined to that Continent; two, showing but
superficial points of difference, are found in South Africa.
TRERONIDE ' VINAGO 157
Key of the Species.
A. Below greenish with an olive tinge ......... 0... V. delalandit, p. 157.
B. Below greenish with a yellowish tinge ............ V. schalowi, p. 159.
Fic. 48.—Left foot of Vinago delalandit. x 43
629. Vinago de’alandii. Delalande’s Green Pigeon.
Phalacrotreron delalandii, By. Consp. Av. ii, p. 6 (1854); id. Icon Pig.
pl. 1 (1857); Ayres, Ibis, 1880, p. 109.
Treron delalandii, Gurney, Ibis, 1862, p. 88; Layard, B.S. Afr. p. 255
(1867); Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 164; Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 88;
Holub § Pelzeln, Orn, Siid-Afr. p. 171 (1882); Shelley, Ibis, 1882,
p. 258 [Umfuli River], 1888, p. 270; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr.
p. 558 (1884): Ayres, Ibis, 1885, p. 845 ; Rendall, Ibis, 1896, p. 174;
Woodward Bros. Ibis, 1898, p. 217.
Vinago delalandei, Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 24 (1893); Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 184 (1896) ; Sowerby, Ibis, 1898, p.575 ; Woodward Bros.,
Natal B. p. 128 (1899); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 261; Reichenow,
Vég. Afr. i, p. 897 (1901) ; Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 200.
“Tjubantoto” of Natal Zulus.
Description. Adult.—Head, neck and sides of the face olive
green; below the hind neck a broad collar of mauve-grey; mantle,
wings and tail bright grass-green, the wing-coverts and angle of
the wing washed with vinaceous-pink ; wing-quills and most of the
larger coverts black, narrowly edged with pale yellow; lateral tail
feathers with the apical third distinctly paler green; below ashy
olive-green mottled with bright yellow on the abdomen, the flank
158 TRERONIDZ ~~ -VINAGO
feathers edged with white; tarsal plumes bright yellow; under tail-
coverts rufous-brown tipped and edged with white; tail-feathers
black below with the apical third white. ;
Iris pale blue to greyish or greenish-white; bill light bluish-
horn ; cere bright scarlet; tarsus and feet bright orange to vermilion.
Length about 12:0; wing 6-5; tail 4:0; tarsus 1:0; culmen ‘90.
The female resembles the male in plumage and dimensions. The
young bird, according to Salvadori, has less vinaceous on the bend
of the wing.
Distribution.—Delalande’s Green Pigeon is spread over Eastern
and South Eastern Africa, extending from the neighbourhood of
Mombasa through German East Africa and Nyassaland to the
extreme east of Cape Colony.
The following are the localities within our limits : Cape Colony—
King William’s Town and East London district, March and July
(Trevelyan), Port St. John’s, November (8. A. Mus.); Natal—
Pinetown, Juve and August (Ayres in Brit. Mus.) ; Transvaal—near
Barberton (Rendall), Rustenburg, June and August (Ayres),
Magaliesberg, commoner in summer (Ayres); Rhodesia—Matopos,
near Bulawayo (Tredgold), Umfuli River, August, September
(Ayres), Chiquaqua (Sowerby), near Feira on the Zambesi (Stoehr) ;
Portuguese East Africa—Inhambane (Peters), Shupanga on the
Zambesi (Kirk).
Habits—This Green Pigeon seems to be a partial migrant,
making its appearance suddenly when the wild berries and fruits
of certain trees, especially figs, on which it chiefly feeds, are ripen-
ing. It is usually seen in small flocks, though occasionally found
solitary. Owing to the colour of ils plumage and to its habit of
COLUMBIDE Cone 159
frequenting tall and thickly-leaved trees, it is difficult to observe ;
moreover, it sits very close, only dashing out with rapid flight at
the last moment. The Woodwards, however, found it very easy to
shoot when feeding, and state that it is usually fat and very delicate
eating. The note is a somewhat musical whistle, and is quite
different to the cooing of other Pigeons.
Ayres found a nest of this species in the Magaliesbergen of the
Transvaal towards the end of November, 1882; it was composed of
the usual layer of sticks, and was not more than ten feet from the
ground ; it contained a well fledged young bird and an addled white
egg.
630. Vinago shalowi. Shalow’s Green Pigeon.
Phalacrotreron calva, Gurney (nec Temm.) in Andersson’s B. Damaral.
p. 230 (1872).
Treron shalowi, Reichenow, Orn. Centralb. 1880, p. 108 [? Kimberley] ;
Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 388.
Treron wakefieldi (part), Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 557 (1884).
Vinago shalowi, Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 24 (1893); Shelley, B.
Afr. i, p. 184 (1896) ; Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 399 (1901).
Description. Adult Female.—Resembling V. delalandii in most
respects, but the olive-green of the head, neck and under parts is
replaced by a bright yellowish-green, which is brightest and most
yellow on the abdomen.
Iris pale bluish; bill greyish, bright red on the cere; legs bright
red.
Length about 11:0; wing 6:5; tail 3:25; tarsus ‘90; culmen ‘85.
Distribution.—The type of this species is said to have come from
the neighbourhood of the Diamond Fields (ze. Kimberley) ; other
examples apparently identical have been recorded from Matabele-
land (Oates), from Ondonga in the extreme north of German South-
west Africa, and from Nocana on the Okavango River. The
description is drawn up from an example recently added to the
South African Museum, obtained at Livingstone, on the Zambesi,
just above the Victoria Falls, in September, 1904.
Family Il. COLUMBIDA.
Usually 12 tail-feathers ; general colour of the plumage a shade
of grey,.not--green; ambiens, oil gland and caeca usually, but by
no means invariably, present.
160 COLUMBID& COLUMBA
Genus. I. COLUMBA.
Type.
Columba, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 279 (1766) .........ccceeeeee C. livia,
Bill somewhat long and slender, the soft basal part swollen
above the nostrils which are linear and horizontal ; wings pointed,
the 1st primary always longer than the 6th; tail of 12 feathers, of
moderate length, usually about two thirds the length of the wing ;
tarsus with the lower half at least, bare, shorter than the middle
toe; the soles of the toes (except that of the hind one) not so
expanded as in the case of the previous genus.
Fic. 50.—Left foot of Columba pheonota. x
The plumage is some shade of grey and some of the neck feathers
are slightly acuminate.
This genus, containing the Rock Pigeons and their allies, is
widely spread, being found throughout the World. Of some ten
African species only two are found within our area.
Key of the Species.
A. Larger, wing over 9 inches ; breast spotted with
white; bill yellow ......ceccsccccesenscevenseneeceneenes C. arquatrix p. 163.
B. Smaller, wing under 9 inches; breast unspotted ;
DU DLACK:, cc. dssadantevaawsadetidnediapaanedangeeeenorosas C. pheonota p. 160
631. Columba phezonota. Speckled Pigeon.
Columba guinea, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 774 (1788) [in part] ; Layard,
B.S. Afr. p. 256 (1867) ; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 208; Oakley, Trans.
8.A. Phil. Soc. ii, p. 49 (1881); Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 388.
Le Ramier Roussard, Levazil, Ois. d’Afr. vi, p. 70, pl. 265 (1808).
Columba guineensis, Burchell, Travels,i, p. 501, ii, p.257 (1822-4).
COLUMBID2 COLUMBA 161
Columba phxonotus, G. R. Gray, List Bt, Mus. Columbae, p. 82
(1856) ; Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 884; Ayres, Ibis, 1877, p. 345, 1880, p.
109; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 259 [Dry Harts River] ; Butler, Feilden
and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 8837; Shelley, Ibis, 1888, p. 279; Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s, B. S. Afr. pp. 559, 854 (1884); Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi,
p. 268 (1898); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 135 (1896) ; Woodward, Bros.
Ibis, 1898, p. 217; td. Natal B. p. 129 (1899) ; Reichenow, Vég. Afr.
i, p. 408 (1901) ; Haagner, Ibis, 1902, pp. 578, 579; Whitehead, Ibis,
1903, p. 233; Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 6 [Deelfontein] ; Shortridge, Ibis,
1904, p. 200.
Columba trigonera, Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 214, 1864, p. 359, 1868, p.
164,
Sticteenas phxonotus, Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 281
(1872) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 83.
“ Bosch-duif” of the Dutch, “Ivukutu” of Amaxosa (Stanford) ;
“Teeba” of Basutos (Murray).
Fic. 51.—Head of Columba phaonota. x 14
Description. Adult——Head and neck all round slaty-grey, all
round the base of the neck a collar of pointed, somewhat outstand-
ing feathers, chestnut brown with pinkish tips; mantle and most of
the inner coverts of the wing maroon, rest of the wings slaty like
the head, most of the coverts with small triangular spots of white
at their apices, giving the wing a speckled appearance ; rump, upper
tail-coverts and tail slaty-grey like the head; the tail-feathers with a
broad terminal bar of black and traces of a subterminal bar as well;
below slaty-grey throughout except the collar and a wash of maroon
just below it.
Iris yellowish-white, sometimes with an outer ring of yellowish-
red; bill black to ashy-brown; cere whitish-horn; naked space
round the eye and legs crimson.
Length (in flesh) 13-5; wing 8 5; tail 4°5; tarsus -95; culmen ‘80.
The sexes are alike. A young bird is without the collar; the back is
chestnut rather than maroon and the white spots on the wings are
11 VOL. IV.
162 COLUMBID COLUMBA
tinged with maroon and not nearly so conspicuous: the subterminal
black band on the tail is well marked. Iris dirty white passing to
cream colour, bill and bare skin cinereous; legs reddish-brown.
Distribution.—This species is confined to South Africa, being
represented in Hast, Central and West Africa by the very closely
allied C. guinea, which has a much paler grey or ashy-white rump.
The Speckled Dove is found throughout the greater part of our
area, though hitherto, so far as I am aware, it has not been noticed
in Rhodesia.
The following are localities: Cape Colony—Cape division, nest-
ing (Layard), Paarl (Shelley), Caledon, March, and Swellendam
(S. A. Mus.), Deelfontein, resident (Seimund), Orange River near
Aliwal North (Whitehead), Hay division (Burchell), Dry Harts
River in Vryburg (Ayres), Port Elizabeth, nesting (Brown), Hast
London (Rickard), Ibeka in Transkei (Oakley), Port St. John’s,
November (8. A. Mus.); Natal—Ifafa, breeding, and Upper Zululand
(Woodward), Maritzburg (Ayres), Ingagane River (Butler); Orange
River Colony—Vredefort Road (B. Hamilton) Ficksburg, breeding
August (Sparrow), Basutoland, common (Murray); Transvaal—
Rustenburg, Pretoria and Potchefstroom (Barratt and Ayres),
Modderfontein, breeding, March (Haagner); German South-west
Africa—Great Namaqualand and Damaraland (Andersson and
Fleck).
Habits.—The Speckled Pigeon appears in very large numbers on
plough lands when the crops are getting ripe, and does a vast
amount of harm pulling the green corn and also eating the grain
when ripe. They are wary birds, and very strong on the wing, but
afford good sport and are usually fat and well tasting.
They roost as a rule on krantjes among the mountains, in the
neighbourhood of which they are usually more abundant. The note
closely resembles that of the domestic tame Pigeon, being a sonorous
cooing; the cock also bows to its mate in the same fashion.
Layard found this bird breeding in large numbers in the caves
along the shores of the Cape Peninsula; he states ‘‘ Some years ago
we entered one of them in a boat and for the first time had the
pleasure of seeing this fine Pigeon breeding in considerable numbers;
every ledge of the cave inside was tenanted by as many nests as
could conveniently be stowed away, while the parent birds were
continually arriving or departing on their busy task of feeding their
young.”” Butler found nests on the ledges of the krantjes near the
river Ingagane in Natal in July (midwinter) and also in October.
COLUMBIDE COLUMBA 163
Oakley, while acknowledging that this Pigeon usually builds among
the rocks, states that he found two nests in the hollows of a Kaffir
boom (Erythrina)-in the Transkei. The eggs are always two in
number, glazy white, and nearly similar at both ends, measuring
14 x 1:0. There is a clutch of two eggs in the South African
Museum taken by Major Sparrow near Fickburg in the Orange
River Colony on August 1, 1901, and another from Mooi River in
Natal, taken on March 8, 1904.
This bird is closely allied to the wild Rock Pigeon of Hurope,
from which all our domestic breeds are believed to have been
derived.
632. Columba arquatrix. Olive Pigeon.
Le Rameron, Levaill. Ois. @ Afr. vi, p. 67, pl. 264 (1808).
Columba arquatrix, Temm. & Knip, Pig. i, fam. sec. p. 11, pl. 5 (1808-
18); Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Handi. ii, no. 10, p. 51 (1858) [Knysna] ;
Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 213 [Durban] ; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 257
(1867) ; ad. Ibis, 1869, p. 459; Ayres, Ibis, 1876, p. 433, 1880, p. 109,
1885, p. 845; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 276 (1898); Shelley, B.
Afr. i, p. 185 (1896); Woodward Bros. Ibis, 1898, p. 217; 1d. Natal
B. p. 180 (1899); Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 403 (1901); Whitehead,
Ibis, 1908, p. 234.
Palumbus arquatrix, Shelley, [bis, 1883, p. 283; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.
S. Afr. p. 561 (1884).
‘“ Rameroon Pigeon” of some authors; “ Oliven duif,” or, like the last
species, “ Bosch duif” of the Dutch; “Black Pigeon” of the Natal
Colonists ; “Izuba”’ of the Amaxosa (Stanford).
Description. Adult.—Front half of the crown and cheeks dark
vinous purple; occiput and nape silvery-slate; hind neck with a
series of somewhat pointed semi-erect vinous pink feathers with
concealed black bases forming a collar; mantle and upper half of
the wings dark vinous purple, becoming slaty and darker on the
greater coverts and quills; a series of white rounded spots on the
scapulars and lesser wing-coverts; rump dark slate shading into
black on the tail coverts and feathers; chin and throat vinous pink,
the lower feathers with darker bases forming an incomplete trans-
verse band; breast darker, a vinous purple spotted with white ;
abdomen and under tail-coverts slate.
Iris yellow, bill, bare skin round the eye and legs yellow.
Length about 15°5; wing 9:25; tail 6:0; culmen ‘9; tarsus 1:10;
weight 16-17 oz. (Ayres).
The female is slightly smaller and duller in colour; in the young
164 COLUMBIDE TURTUR@NA
bird the head is mixed grey and purple, and the back is more or
less brown.
Distribution.—The Olive Pigeon is a bird of the forest and is
found only along the southern coast of the Colony from Knysna
through the Eastern Province to Natal and Zululand; stragglers
occasionally reach the neighbourhood of Cape Town and it is
common in parts of the Transvaal, but has not yet been noticed in
German South-west Africa or Rhodesia.
Beyond our limits it extends through Nyasaland and East Africa,
to Shoa and Abyssinia, and has also been obtained in Angola.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony — Cape
division, June (Layard and S, A. Mus.), George (Atmore), Knysna,
November and December -(le Vaillant, Victorin and Layard), East
London (Rickard), Peri Forest near King William’s Town (Tre-
velyan), Sunday River and Pondoland (Berlin Mus.), Orange River
near Aliwal North (Whitehead); Natal—near Durban, June to
August (Ayres), Pinetown, September (Brit. Mus.), Balgowan,
breeding March (Sparrow) ; Zululand (Woodward); Transvaal-
Lydenburg and the Magaliesberg in Rustenburg (Ayres).
Habits.—This, the largest of South African Pigeons, is chiefly
an inhabitant of the forest; it seems to be partially migratory in its
habits, appearing in very large numbers at certain seasons of the
year, when the forest fruits are ripe, especially those of the wild
olive tree; this is in November and December at Knysna, and in
June, July and August near Durban. At other times of the year
they appear to be dispersed about solitary or in pairs. They build
the usual loose nest of sticks in trees, usually in mountain ravines,
and lay two white eggs, measuring about 15 x 1:12. Atmore found
nests in the top of tree ferns in the mountain ravines near
Blanco in the George district, and Layard states that he was
informed that they laid four eggs, only two of which hatched out.
On the other hand, Major Sparrow tells me that, as a rule, only one
egg is laid and hatched, and that this is somewhat rounded, and of
« pale greenish tinge.
Genus IJ. TURTURGNA.
Type.
Turtureena, Bp. Comptes Rend. xxxix.p. 1104 (1854) T.delagorguei.
This genus resembles Columba in most respects, but the size
is smaller and there is a patch of metallic colour on the hind neck,
while the sexes are dissimilar.
2
COLUMBIDE TURTUR@NA 165
Some four species, all confined to Africa, have been described ;
one, the type of the genus, is found in South ‘Africa.
633. Turturoena delagorguei. Delagorgue’s Pigeon.
Columba delagorguei, Delagorgue, Voy. Afr. Austr. ii, p. 615 (1847) ;
Gurney, Ibis, 1864, p. 354 [Natal] ; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p.257 (1867).
Turtureena delagorguei, Shelley, Ibis, 1883, p. 289; Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 563 (1884); Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi,
p. 828, pl. ix, figs. 1,2, (1893); Shelley, B. Afr.i, p. 135 (1896); Wood-
ward Bros. Natal B. p. 131 (1899); Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 417
(1901).
Description. Male——Head, cheeks, and nape dark slate with
green and pink metallic reflections, which are most conspicuous on
the nape ; between the nape and the mantle a crescent-shaped mark
of white; rest of the mantle and wing dark crimson, shading into
slaty-black on the lower coverts, shoulders and quills; rump, upper
. tail-coverts and tail also slaty, becoming almost black on the tail,
except for a narrow apical band, which is again paler ; below slaty-
grey throughout, the breast washed with pink gloss.
Iris dark brown, bill ashy, bare skin round eye, legs and feet
dark pink.
Length 12:0; wing 6°75; tail 5:0; tarsus ‘90; culmen ‘65.
In the female the forehead is slaty-grey, the crown and nape
rufous-red with pink and green metallic reflections, which extend on
to the slaty upper part of the mantle ; the rest of the upper surface,
including the wings and tail, dark slaty-black ; below grey, very
finely freckled with a yellowish-brown throughout. Dimensions
about the same as the male but a little smaller. Length 11:5;
wing 6°75; tail 4-5.
Distribution.—This Pigeon was first discovered and described
by M. Delagorgue, a French naturalist and sportsman, in the
neighbourhood of Durban; it has since been obtained by Ayres
and Millar in the same neighbourhood, but it appears to be
uncommon. The Woodwards obtained a single specimen, now
in the South African Museum, in the Ungoye Forest in Zululand.
No other South African locality is known. Two species, however,
(I. sharpei and T. harterti), have recently been described from the
neighbourhoods of Mount Elgon and Mount Kilimanjaro respec-
tively, which seem to be very closely allied to the Natal bird.
Habits.—Practically nothing is known of the habits of this bird ;
166 COLUMBIDE TURTUR
Ayres, the only observer who has recorded anything, states that the
stomach of one examined by him contained the frothy larve of a
Cicada, and that in the season it also feeds on mulberries growing
in the gardens along the Berea, in the neighbourhood of Durban.
Mr. Millar informs me that it is generally seen in pairs, though
sometimes in small flights, and that it is very fond of what is known
locally as the ‘‘ white-eye’’ berry, but that he had failed to discover
anything in regard to its nesting habits.
Genus III. TURTUR.
Type.
Turtur, Selby, Nat. Libr. Pigeons, p. 169 (1835)......... T. risorius.
Bill somewhat slender and delicate, the horny apex of the
mandible a good deal shorter than the soft basal portion ; wing long
and pointed, the second or third quill the longest; tail long, more
Fig. 52.—Left foot of Turtur capicola. x 14
than two-thirds the length of the wing, rounded or somewhat
graduated ; tail-feathers twelve in number ; tarsus naked, equal to or
longer than the middle toe without the claw, sole of the toes narrow,
adapted for walking; no metallic spots or patches in the plumage,
neck with a dark collar or scale-like patches on either side; sexes
alike. .
The true Doves form a large genus spread over the greater part
of the Old World, except Australia; out of some thirteen African
species four are found within our limits,
COLUMBIDA: TURTUR 167
Key of the Species.
A, With a black collar on the hind neck.
a. Larger, wing over 7:0; outer tail-feathers
with a terminal band of grey.
a’, Under tail-coverts grey .....sceesceseceeeeee T. semitorquata, p. 167.
b?, Under tail-coverts grey, margined with
WHILE: 5 cciwavede wanauataliagy desamaamasievvdendion T. ambiguus, p. 168.
b, Smaller, wing under 6:0; outer web of the
outer tail-feathers with a broad terminal
band of white.
a, Forehead and breast darker............500.06 fT. capicola, p. 169.
b'. Forehead and breast paler, almost
WIGS: caste waited douse Maken aeceasmanaians T. capicola
damarensis, p. 171.
B. Black collar on the hind neck replaced by a
series of bifid feathers with rufous tips and
black bases on the sides and front of the
MOC ir sain etserteansercmed haan noe uee el deab eaten T. senegalensis, p. 172,
634. Turtur semitorquatus. Red-eyed Dove.
Columba semitorquata, Riippell, Newe Wirbelth. Vig. p. 66, pl. 23, fig,
2 (1835).
Turtur erythrophrys, Swains., B. W. Afr. ii, p. 207, pl. 22 (1887)
Gurney, Ibis, 1862, p. 152 [Natal].
Turtur vinaceus (nec Gmel.) Layard, B. 8S. Afr. p. 259 (1867).
Streptopelia semitorquata, Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 234
(1872).
Turtur semitorquatus, Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 359 [Umfuli River]
Holub § Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 175 (1882); Shelley, Ibis, 1883,
p-. 803; Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. 8S. Afr. p. 566 (1884); Salvadori,
Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 416 (1893); Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 889;
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 136 (1896); Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 181
(1899); Marshall Ibis, 1900, p. 261; Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 428;
Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 409 (1901) ; Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 201.
“ Thobe”’ of the Zulus (Woodward).
Description. Adult Male.—Forehead and crown grey, shading
into pale pink on the cheeks and nape; this is followed by a very
distinct black half collar ; rest of the upper surface pale brown, the
greater wing-coverts and rump with a more bluish tinge, the wing-
quills darker brown, the concealed bases of the tail-feathers almost
black; below pinky-grey, becoming almost white on the chin and
bluish-grey on the flanks, under wing-coverts, abdomen and under
tail-coverts ; tail with the basal two-thirds black, the apical third
bluish-white.
168 COLUMBIDE TURTUR
Iris yellow to orange-red; bare skin round the eye red; bill
purple to black; feet reddish-purple.
Length about 13:5; wing 7:20; tail 5-0; culmen ‘80; tarsus ‘95.
Distribution.—The Red-eyed Dove is not very common in
South Africa, except in the more thickly wooded districts from
Swellendam eastwards; it is found along the south coast of the
Colony and extends to Natal, Mashonaland and the Zambesi, but it
does not appear to have been yet noticed in the Transvaal. Beyond
our limits it is spread over the greater part of Africa as far as
Abyssinia and Senegal.
The following are recorded localities : Cape Colony—Swellendam,
Knysna, Albany (Layard & S. A. Mus.), Hast London (Rickard),
King William’s Town (Trevelyan), Port St. John’s (8. A. Mus.);
Natal—common throughout (Woodward and Millar); Orange River
Colony (Holub) ; Bechuanaland — Lake Ngami (Andersson and
Fleck) ; Rhodesia—Umfuli River, October (Ayres), near Salisbury,
scarce (Marshall), near Victoria Falls (5. A. Mus.); German
South West Africa—Cunene River (Andersson); Zambesi valley
(Alexander).
Habits.—The Woodwards state as follows: ‘‘ These Doves are
very common throughout the country, and their loud and pleasant
cooing is heard wherever there is any cover for them during the
warmer months of the year. They are sometimes seen in large
flocks, but as a rule go about in pairs, and feed principally on tree
berries. The natives have no love for these birds, as they devour
a considerable quantity of grain during the planting season; but
there would not be much loss if care were taken to plant the seed
deeper. They get very fat during the summer and are excellent eating.
This Dove lays its two white eggs on a few sticks, which are merely
an apology for a nest, generally placed in a low tree.”
Two eggs taken near Durban on June 1, by Mr. A. D. Millar,
now in the South African Museum, are pure white, smooth and
rounded oval in shape; they measure 1:20 x -95.
635. Turtur ambiguus. Bocage’s Red-eyed Dove.
Turtur semitorquatus (nec Riipp.), Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 380.
Turtur ambiguus, Bocage, Orn. Angola, p. 386 (1881); Shelley, B. Afr.
i, p. 186 (1896) ; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 416 (1901).
Turtur decipiens (nec Finsch ¢ Hartl.) Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.S. Afr.
p. 567 (1884).
COLUMBIDE TURTUR 169
Description.—Closely resembling T. semitorquatus, but with the
forehead and crown darker and washed with sepia, the abdomen
white, tinged with grey on the sides, and the under tail-coverts pale
grey strongly edged with white. ,
e Iris yellow; skin round the eye red; bill dark brown; feet
pinkish.
Length about 12:0; wing 6-25; tail 4:75; culmen -60; tarsus 1:0.
Distribution.—This Dove was first discriminated by Bocage, who
received an example from Angola; it was obtained at Tete, by Kirk,
many years ago, while lately several specimens have reached the
South African Museum from Dr. Stoehr, obtained on the Luangwa
River and at N’tambwa’s, north of the middle Zambesi, near Feira.
It has also been met with round Victoria Nyanza and on the Upper
Nile.
636. Turtur capicola. Cape Turtle Dove.
La Tourterelle 4 collier du Cap, Levaillant, Ois. d’Afr. vi, p. 79 (1808).
Columha risoria, Burchell, Travels i, pp. 218, 318, 501 (1822).
Columba vinacea var. capicola, Sundevall, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. ii,
no. 3, p. 54 (1857); Grill, ibid, no. 10, p. 51 (1858) [Cape and
Knysna].
Turtur semitorquatus (nec C. semitorquata Gm.) Gurney, Ibis, 1860,
p. 214 [Natal] ; P. L. Sclater, P.Z.S., 1866, p. 23 [Windvogelberg];
Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 260 (1867) ; Gurney, Ibis, 1873, p. 259.
Turtur albiventris, Shelley, Ibis, 1875, pp. 60, 883; Holub § Pelzeln,
Orn, Siid-Afr. p. 172 (1882).
Turtur capicola, Finsch § Hartl. Vog. Ost-Afrikas, p. 548 (1870);
Gurney, Ibis, 1878, p. 259; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 322 (1881) ;
Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 338; Shelley, Ibis, 1883,
p. 313; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 567 (1884); Salvadori,
Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 424 (1893) ; Rendall, Ibis, 1896, p. 174; Shélley,
-B. Afr.i, p. 137 (1896); Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 132 (1899) ;
Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 261; Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 414 (1901);
Haagner, Ibis, 1902, pp. 573, 579; Whitehead, Ibis, 1903, p. 284.
Streptopelia capicola, Ayres, Ibis, 1873, p. 282, 1880, p. 109; Sharpe,
Ibis, 1904, p. 6 [Deelfontein].
“Tortel Duif’’ of Dutch; “TIhobi” (the same name as that given to
T. semitorquata) of the Zulus.
Description, Adult.—Crown and head mauve-grey, becoming
more pink on the lower neck, at the base of which is a broad black
semi-collar ; rest of the upper surface pale brown, becoming slaty-
blue on the wing-coverts and inner secondaries; primary coverts
170 COLUMBIDE TURTUR
and quills very dark brown, with narrow paler edgings ; central tail
feathers like the back, others tipped with white, increasingly so
towards the outermost pair, which are white on their outer webs
and on the apical half of the inner webs, the concealed bases being
black ; a black line along the lores between the eyes and the beak ;
lower surface pearly-grey with a slight pink tinge, shading into white
on the chin, abdomen and under tail-coverts ; tail below with the
basal half black, the apical white.
Iris black ; bill black; legs dark red to purple.
Length 11:0; wing 5°80; tail 4-5; tarsus ‘90; culmen ‘57.
The sexes are alike; a young bird is duller in colour and has
paler edges to the feathers.
Fic. 58.—Head of Turtur capicola. x 423
Distribution.—The Cape Turtle Dove is very common through-
out the greater part of South Africa, wherever there are a few trees
and water, though in thickly wooded districts, such as the lower
portion of Natal, it is not so common as the Red-eyed Dove. In
Damaraland, Nyasaland and Hast Africa it is replaced by the
subspecies, 7. c. damarensis, but intermediate forms occur, so
that it is difficult to draw a line of separation between their
ranges.
The following are the principal recorded localities : Cape Colony
—Cape division, where very common and resident (8S. A. Mus.),
Mossel Bay (Oates), Knysna (Victorin), Port Elizabeth and Hast
London (Rickard), Tulbagh, Caledon and Hanover (8. A. Mus.),
Deelfontein, rather local (Seimund), Windvogelberg in Cathcart
(Boulger), Orange River, near Aliwal North, rather common
(Whitehead) ; Natal—common in the upper country and in Zululand
(Woodward), Richmond road and Newcastle (Butler, Feilden and
COLUMBIDE TURTUR 171
Reid); Orange River Colony—Heilbron district (B. Hamilton) ;
Transvaal—Potchefstroom and Rustenburg (Ayres), Johannesburg
and Modderfontein (Ross and Haagner); Rhodesia—near Salisbury
(Marshall), Victoria Falls (S. A. Mus.).
Habits.—The Cape Turtle Dove is one of the commonest birds
in Cape Town and the suburbs, where its constant harsh cooing
becomes somewhat wearisome; it is generally about in pairs,
though a good many may sometimes be seen together feeding on
the ground; it is comparatively tame and allows a quite near
approach; its food consists of grain and seeds, and is almost
entirely obtained on the ground.
It nests near Cape Town in September, a little later, from
October to December, in Natal, while Eriksson and Marshall state
that it can be found breeding at almost any time during the year.
The nest is constructed of a few sticks, so loosely put together
that the eggs can usually be seen through when looked at from
below. The sticks form a flat platform, and on it are laid two
shiny white eggs of oval shape with equally round ends measuring
1:10 to 1:20 x :87 to-90.
637. Turtur capicola damarensis. Damara Turtle Dove.
La Tourterelle blonde, Levailiant, Ois. d’ Afr. vi, p. 78, pl. 268 (1808).
Turtur damarensis, Finsch § Hartl. Vig. Ost-Afr. p. 550 (1870);
Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 426 (1898); Fleck, Journ. Ornith.
1894, p. 389; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 187 (1896); Alexander, Ibis,
1900, p. 428.
Streptopelia damarensis, Gurney in Andersson's B. Damaraland, p.
238 (1872).
Turtur capicola damarensis, Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 414 (1901).
Description.-—Very similar to 7. capicola but paler throughout,
especially on the forehead, which is nearly white. Dimensions
slightly smaller than those of the typical form.
Distribution.—This bird was first clearly distinguished by Finsch
and Hartlaub, who described an example from Damaraland obtained
by Andersson. It appears to replace the typical form throughout
German South-west Africa, Angola, Nyasaland, and Hast Africa,
Two Turtle doves from Potchefstroom in the South African Museum
do not appear to be distinguishable from those obtained in the
neighbourhood of Cape Town, but a specimen collected by Bradshaw
172 COLUMBID& TURTUR
near Upington on the Orange River is distinctly paler throughout
and should undoubtedly be referred to the present subspecies.
Habits—In this respect the Damara Turtle Dove doubtless
agrees with the typical subspecies. Andersson writes as follows:
‘‘ This is the most abundant species of Dove in Damaraland and the
parts adjacent. It cannot be strictly said to be a gregarious
species; yet numbers are often found in close proximity both on
trees and on the ground, and rise in one flock when flushed, pro-
ducing a great noise by the rapid concussion of their wings above
their backs. They seek on the ground for their food, which consists
almost exclusively of insects. They build in small trees, generally
‘ at the extremity of a bough, constructing a rough nest of a few
twigs, with no lining of any kind. The eggs are two in number, of
a pure white. I have observed these Doves building on August 20,
and have found their eggs abundantly at the end of December; so
that it is probable they produce two broods in the year.”
638. Turtur senegalensis. Laughing Dove.
Columba senegalensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed, i, p. 283 (1766).
La Tourterelle maillée, Levaillant, Ois. d’ Afr. vi, p. 82, pl. 270 (1808).
Turtur senegalensis, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 261 (1867); Gurney, Ibis,
1868, p. 47 [Natal] ; Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 261 ; Gurney in Andersson’s
B. Damaral. p. 232, (1872); Ayres, Ibis, 1877, p. 346; Shelley,
Ibis, 1882, p. 859 [Mashonaland] ; Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool.
1882, p. 338; Shelley, Ibis, 1883, p.815 ; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B, S.
Afr. pp. 568, 854 (1884); Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p, 448 (1898) ;
Bryden, Gun and Camera, p. 289 (1893); Fleck, Journ. Ornith.
1894, p. 889; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 187 (1896); Rendall, Ibis, 1896,
p. 174; Sharpe, Ibis, 1897, p. 515 [Eshowe] ; Woodward Bros.
Natal Birds, p.182 (1899); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 261; Alexander,
Ibis, 1900, p. 428; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 406 (1901); Haagner,
Ibis, 1902, p. 578; Whitehead, Ibis, 1903, p. 234; Shortridge, Ibis,
1904, p. 201.
“‘Leeba Khoroana” of Basutos (Murray).
Description. Adult Male-——Head, cheeks and neck a greyish-
pink, becoming on the mantle and inner part of the wings rufous,
mottled slightly with slate; shoulders, wing-coverts and rump slaty-
blue; quills blackish with narrow light edges; upper tail-coverts
and two central pair of tail-feathers black, other tail-feathers with
increasing amounts of white towards the tip and black bases;
round the sides and front of the neck a collar of bifid feathers, the
tips of which are rufous red, the bases black ; breast and throat
pink, becoming almost white on the throat, slaty-blue on the lower
COLUMBID TURTUR 173
breast and white on the abdomen and lower tail-coverts; three
pairs of outer tail-feathers with marked black basal and white apical
halves.
Tris black to hazel; bill. black with-a purplish tinge; legs dark
red to purplish. Length 10°40; wing 5-45; tail 4:60; culmen ‘58;
tarsus ‘80.
The sexes are alike.
Distribution.—The Laughing Dove is found throughout the
African Continent from Algeria and Egypt to Cape Town; a closely
allied species replaces it in Western Asia, extending to Turkestan
and Central India. In South Africa the Laughing Dove seems to
be everywhere fairly common and occurs in all the Colonies and
territories, though it appears not to be quite so abundant as 7.
capicola.
The following are the chief recorded localities: Cape Colony—
Cape division (S. A. Mus.), Orange River near Aliwal North (White-
head), Grahamstown, rare (Layard), Port Elizabeth, rare (Brown),
King William’s Town, rare (Trevelyan), St. John’s River and Pondo-
land (8S. A. Mus.) ; Natal—Durban (8. A. Mus.), Mavritzburg (Fitz-
simmons), near Colenso (Reid), Eshowe in Zululand (Woodward) ;
Basutoland, common (Murray); Transvaal—Marico and Rusten-
burg (Ayres), near Barberton (Rendall), near Johannesburg
(Haagner) ; Bechuanaland—Lake Ngami (Andersson), north Kala-
hari (Bryden); Rhodesia—Mashonaland (Ayres), Mazoe (Marshall) ;
German South-west Africa—throughout (Andersson) ; Portuguese
East Africa—Tete (Kirk) and Chicowa (Alexander) on the Zambesi.
Habits.—The Laughing Dove is so called in consequence of its
peculiar note, which somewhat resembles a human laugh. It is a
tame and confiding bird and can often be seen about Cape Town and
the neighbourhood in much the same situations as the Cape Turtle
Dove, though it is not nearly so abundant as the latter. It is often
found about the thorn bushes along the rivers up country, and in
Marico, in the Transvaal, according to Ayres, frequents the open
threshing floors of the farmers in search of grain. The nest is built
in much the same situation, and of very much the same materials
as that of the Cape Turtle Dove. Eriksson found on December 6, on
the Limpopo River, in the North-east Transvaal, four nests, one with
only one egg, the others each with three, all fresh; while the South
African Museum has a clutch of two taken on the Umgeni, near
Durban, on November 10, by Mr. Millar. These are pure white
smooth and shiny, and measure 1:05 x ‘85.
174 COLUMBIDE GNA
Genus IV. CENA.
Type.
na, Swains., Class. Birds, ii, p. 849 (1837) ............ GE. capensis.
Bill very slender and pointed ; the horny portion exceeding the
soft basal portion in length; wings pointed, the second quill the
longest; tail very long and graduated; the middle feathers more
than twice as long as the outer pair and considerably longer than the
Fic, 54,—Tail of Gina capensis from below. x 2
wing ; feet slender, the tarsus about equal to the middle toe without
the claw; metallic spots present on the wings and two dark bands
across the rump; sexes distinct.
Only one species of this genus has been hitherto recognised ;
this is spread over Tropical and South Africa and extends into
Arabia and Madagascar.
639. Gna capensis. Namaqua Dove.
Columba capensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 286 (1766); Burchell,
Travels, i, pp. 827, 501 (1822) ; Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stockholm,
ii, no. 10, p. 51 (1858).
La Tourtelette, Levaillant, Ois. d’Afr. vi, p. 88, pls. 273-5 (1808).
Gina capensis, Gurney, Ibis, 1865, p. 270 [Natal]; Layard, B. S. Afr.
COLUMBIDE GNA 175
p. 258 (1867) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 261; Gurney, in Andersson’s B.
Damaral. p. 235 (1872) ; Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 385; Shelley, Ibis,
1875, pp. 62, 83; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 322 (1881) ; Shelley, Ibis,
1882, p. 359; Holub d Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 171 (1882);
Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 838; Shelley, Ibis, 1883, p.
328 ; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. pp. 572, 854 (1884) ; Symonds,
Ibis, 1887, p. 333; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 501 (1898); Bryden,
Gun and Camera, p. T0 (1893); Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 389;
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 188 (1896); Woodward Bros. and Sharpe,
Ibis, 1897, pp. 409, 516; Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 183 (1899);
Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 262; Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 428;
Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 429 (1901); Haagner, Ibis, 1902, pp.
578, 579; Whitehead, Ibis, 1908, p. 284; Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 7
[Deelfontein] .
“Namaqua Duif” of the Dutch ; ““Igombosa” of Zulus (Woodward).
Description. Adult Male.—Forehead, front of the head, chin,
throat and upper breast black ; rest of the head, sides of the neck
and most of the wing-coverts mauve-grey ; back, inner part of the
wings and rump pale brown; a patch of metallic peacock blue on
the outer web of some of the tertiaries, a double dark brown band
across the rump with a dirty white band between; wing-quills
cinnamon edged and tipped with black, upper tail-coverts and tail
ashy, the tail largely tipped with black, the outer feathers with an
apical edging of white; the lower breast and abdomen white, the
under tail-coverts black; axillaries black; under wing-coverts
cinnamon.
Iris brown, bill, base purple, apex orange ; legs purple. Length
(in flesh) 10°5; wing 4:2; tail 5°80; culmen ‘53; tarsus ‘55.
The female has no black on the head or breast, the forehead and
breast being white to mauve-grey; the crown and nape are brown
like the back; the white on the outer pair of tail-feathers also is
more developed, especially on the outer web; bill blackish; feet dark
purplish-grey.
The young bird is like the female but has a black band on the
chest; there is no metallic spot on the wings or transverse band on
the rump ; most of the wing-coverts and scapulars are conspicuously
tipped with white or pale fawn with a subterminal band of black ;
bill black.
Distribution.—The Namaqua Dove is found all over Africa from
Senegal and Khartoum southwards to Cape Colony, it also ranges
across the Red Sea into Arabia and has been obtained in the
Islands of Socotra and Madagascar.
176 COLUMBIDE NA
In South Africa it is generally distributed throughout, though
much more abundant in the dryer western and central portions. It
appears to be partially migratory, as although it has been met with
in the western Transvaal and German South-west Africa throughout
the year, it visits, so far as our records go, Cape Colony and Natal
only in summer.
ee
Sh il et
fi
es
*# ails
i
Fic. 55.—Cina capensis.
The following are recorded localities with dates : Cape Colony—
Cape division, December, Tulbagh, December, Worcester, December,
Beaufort West, October, Hanover, September (8S. A. Mus.), Wel-
Hington in Paarl division, January (Shelley), Deelfontein, resident
(Seimund), Orange River near Upington, January (Bradshaw),
near Aliwal North (Whitehead), Hay divison, September, December
(Burchell), Harts River, January (Ayres), Oudtshoorn, December
(Victorin), King William’s Town (Trevelyan) ; Natal—Ladysmith and
Blaauw Krantz River, November (Reid), Zululand, October (Wood-
ward Bros.) ; Orange River Colony—Kroonstad (Symonds), Vrede-
fort Road (B. Hamilton) ; Transvial—Potchefstroom, January, May
and July (Ayres), near Wolmeranstad, July (B. Hamilton), Upper
Limpopo, July (Oates), near Johannesburg (Haagner) ; Bechuana-
COLUMBIDE . TYMPANISTRIA 177
land — Mangwato, December (Ayres), Tati, September (Oates) ;
Rhodesia-—near Victoria Falls, September (S. A. Mus), Mashona-
land, scarce (Marshall); German South-west Africa—throughout,
most abundant in Great Namaqualand (Andersson and Fleck) ;
Portuguese East Africa—Chicowa on the Zambesi (Alexander).
Habits —The Namaqua Dove is a most abundant and familiar
bird in the interior of the country, and is generally to be seen in the
neighbourhood of farm houses, probably because food and water are
to be found in the vicinity.
From the dates of collection it appears to be probable that this
Dove is only a summer migrant to the greater part of the country,
though apparently resident in German territory and the western
Transvaal. It is a purely ground-feeding bird and runs very rapidly,
so that it was frequently mistaken by Layard for a rat! it feeds
entirely on grain and grass seeds, and has a deep plaintive ‘‘ coo.”
The males will coquet with any female they meet, and are described
by Layard as very salacious. The nest is usually placed in a mimosa,
not very high above the ground, sometimes, however, on the ground
or in a hole; it is the usual carelessly built loose platform of the
Family, made of sticks and fibrous roots ; the clutch consists of two
oval eggs equally rounded at both ends. These are white, rosy
tinted when fresh, owing to the yoke shining through the fine
smooth shell; when blown they have a slight greenish tinge. They
measure ‘80 x ‘60.
Genus V. TYMPANISTRIA.
Type.
Tympanistria, Reichenb. Nat. Syst. Vog. p. xxv. (1852) ... T. bicolor.
Bill moderate, the horny tip shorter than the swollen base ;
wings slightly rounded, the third and fourth quills the longest, the
difference between these and the longest secondaries barely equal to
the length of the tarsus ; first quill very peculiar, strongly attenuated
for its terminal third; tail moderate, shorter than the wing, some-
what rounded; metallic patches present on the wings; sexes differ-
ing slightly.
This genus contains only one species, confined to the Ethiopian
region, including Madagascar.
12 VOL. IV.
178 COLUMBID TYMPANISTRIA
640. Tympanistria bicolor. Tambourine Dove.
Le Tourterelle tambourette, Levaillant, Ois. d’Afr. vi, p. 86, pl. 272
(1808).
Columba tympanistria, Temm. & Knip, Pig. i, fam. sec. p. 80, pl. 36
(1808-11).
Peristera tympanistria, Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 214, 1864, p. 359 [Natal];
Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 262 (1867); Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 84.
Tympanistria bicolor, Reichenb. Nat. Syst. Vig. p. xxv (1852); Wood-
ward Bros., Ibis, 1898, p. 217; id. Natal Birds, p. 184 (1899) ; Short-
ridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 201.
Tympanistria tympanistria, Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882,
p. 8388; Shelley, Ibis, 1883, p. 826; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.S. Afr.
p. 571 (1884); Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 504 (1893); Shelley, B.
Afr. i, p. 188 (1896) ; Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 424 (1901).
‘“ White Breasted Dove” of some authors; ‘“‘Isebelu” of the Zulus.
— WS .
SSS
2S — i Z .
t “ify / EES ANS SS SSS <= —
“al oe CEE Zz ANS SSS ESS EST
’ if Wz gE SSS =
\ re — ay
—S ~)
hee ——
Description. Adult Male.—Front of the head, a patch above the
ear-coverts and a line above and below the eye connecting them,
white ; lores, posterior half of the crown, nape and back brown,
a little more ashy on the head; wing-quills cinnamon, with marked
brown edgings and tips; on the outer web of some of the inner
coverts and secondaries metallic spots of blackish-purple ; two not
well-marked bands of dark brown across the rump; central pair
of tail-feathers brown with a wash of cinnamon, outer pair ashy
with a broad subterminal band of black; below white throughout,
under wing-coverts and axillaries cinnamon, under tail-coverts and
flanks ashy-brown.
Tris dark brown, eyelids deep lilac ; bill and legs purplish.
Length in flesh, 8°75; wing 4°5; tail3'65; culmen ‘G0; tarsus 80.
COLUMBIDE TYMPANISTRIA 179
In the female the white of the face and under parts is tinged
with dusky ; the wing spots are black and not metallic.
A young bird is brown above throughout, with transverse bands
of rufous on the coverts and secondaries, and without the metallic
spots; the lower surface is grey and also shows signs of transverse
rufous and brown bands on most of the feathers of the neck and
breast.
Distribution —The Tambourine Dove is confined to the more
wooded portions of Africa, south of the Gold Coast in the west,
of Uganda in the centre, and of Mombasa in the east. It has also
been obtained in the islands of Fernando Po, Comoro and
Madagascar.
In South Africa the Tambourine Dove has been found only in the
wooded districts along the South and Hast Coasts, and is apparently
entirely absent from the central and western districts. The follow-
ing are the only recorded localities: Cape Colony—Knysna (Layard
and §. A. Mus.), Hast London, scarce (Rickard), King William’s
Town, scarce (Trevelyan), Port St. John’s, January to March
(Shortridge in 8. A. Mus.); Natal—near Durban, common (Shelley,
Reid and §. A. Mus.) ; Zululand (Woodward).
Habits—The Tambourine Dove is only met with in thickly
wooded districts, such as are usually found near the coast ; it derives
its name from its note; this is a soft and melancholy ‘coo coo,”
repeated slowly at first and afterwards more quickly, till finally it
ends in a more or less prolonged rattle resembling that of a tam-
bourine. Its note is often heard in the middle of the day, when
other birds are silent. According to Ayres it is seen in pairs or
singly, but not in companies; it is very active and lively, of rapid
flight, and feeds on the seeds of trees which have dropped on the
ground, the principal one being that of the castor oil plant.
180 COLUMBIDZ CHALCOPELIA
The nest is built in a low tree, and consists of the usual rough
platform of sticks, on which are laid two yellowish-white eggs.
A clutch of two, taken by Mr. A. D. Millar, on December 10th,
at Umgeni, near Durban, and presented by him to the South African
Museum, are oval, smooth and ivory-white, measuring ‘95 x ‘75.
Genus VI. CHALCOPELIA.
Chalcopelia, Bp. Consp. Av. ii, p. 67 (1854) oo. C. afra.
Bill slender, the horny tip shorter than the swollen basal portion,
wings moderate, not so rounded as in Tympanistria, the second
quill the longest, first quill normal, not attenuated ; tail shorter than
the wing, slightly graduated, the difference between the inner and
outer feathers about half the length of the tarsus; metallic spots
on the scapulars and wings; sexes only slightly different.
One species only, spread over Tropical and South Africa, has
been hitherto recognised.
641. Chalcopelia afra. Hmerald-spotted Dove.
Columba afra, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 284 (1766).
Le Tourterelle émeraudine, Levaill. Ois. d Afr.vi, p. 84, pl. 271 (1808).
Columba chalcospilos, Wagler, Syst. Av. Columba, sp. 83 (1827) ; Grill,
K. Vet. Akad. Handl. ii, no. 10, p. 51 (1858) [Knysna].
Peristera afra, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 262 (1867); Gurney, Ibis, 1868,
pp. 48, 164 [Natal].
Peristera chalcospila, Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 84.
Chalcopelia afra, Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral, p. 236 (1872) ;
Oates, Matabeleland, p. 322 (1881); Holub ¢ Pelzein, Orn. Siid-Afr.
p. 176 (1882); Shelley, Ibis, 1883, p. 323; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.
S. Afr. p. 570 (1884); W. Ayres, Ibis, 1887, p. 60 [Rovirand] ;
Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxi, p. 506 (1898); Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894,
p. 889; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 187 (1896); Rendall, Ibis, 1896, p. 174;
Sharpe, Ibis, 1897, p. 515 [Eshowe]; Woodward Bros. Natal B.
p. 184 (1899); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 270; Alexander, Ibis, 1900,
p. 428; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 426 (1901).
“ Tsikombazena’”’ of Zulus (Woodward).
Description. Adult male.—Crown and occiput slaty-grey, palest
on the forehead; mantle and wings earthy-brown; quills and
primary coverts cinnamon, edged on the outer web and largely
tipped with dark-brown; on the inner webs of some of the inner
coverts and inner secondaries some metallic patches of steely-green
COLUMBIDZ CHALCOPELIA 181
or blue; two broad black bands across the rump separated by a
pale earthy band; tail-coverts and tail brown, tipped with black,
the outer pair ashy at the base and tip, with.a subterminal band of
black and a white basal half on the outer web; below vinaceous-
pink, paler on the chin and abdomen ; under tail-coverts black, the
outer ones white; under wing-coverts and axillaries cinnamon.
Iris dark-brown, space round eyes slate colour ; bill deep purple
horn; legs deep lilac.
Length 8:5; wing 4:3; tail 3-40; tarsus ‘75; culmen ‘60.
The female is slightly smaller, has the metallic spots on the
wings of a golden-green, and is a darker vinous-pink on the lower
side.
Distribution—The Emerald-spotted Dove is found over the
greater part of Africa from Senegal, Abyssinia and Somaliland
southwards. In South Africa it is chiefly met with in the wooded
districts, but it is more widely spread and is more abundant than
the Tambourine Dove, extending to the Transvaal, Rhodesia and
the northern part of German South-west Africa,
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Worcester
and Long Kloof in Uniondale (Layard), Knysna, October (Victorin),
Uitenhage and Hast London (Rickard), King William’s Town
(Trevelyan); Natal—Durban and Pinetown, March (Shelley),
Blaauwkrantz river near Colenso, May (Oates), Eshowe in Zululand
(Woodward); Transvaal—Barberton (Rendall), Swaziland, July
(Buckley in Brit. Mus.), Rovirand in Zoutspansberg and Rustenburg
(W. Ayres); Bechuanaland—Moxowi in the Kalahari and Ngami
(Fleck) ; Rhodesia—near Victoria Falls common (W. L. Selater),
Shagari river in Mashonaland (Marshall); German South-west
Africa—N. Damaraland and Ovampoland (Andersson); Zambesi
Valley (Alexander).
Habits. —The Emerald-spotted Dove resembles the Tambourine
Dove in its habits, but frequents somewhat more open ground, such
as broken bush, clearings near the banks of rivers and such-like
localities ; it obtains its food, which consists chiefly of grass seeds,
on the ground, and has a gentle cooing note, ‘‘ hoo hoo hoo-hoo”’
in gradually descending scale, which is very characteristic, and once
heard is never likely to be forgotten. Its nesting habits resemble
those of other Doves; Andersson writes as follows :—‘‘ This Dove
constructs a nest of a few rough sticks in a bush or at the
extremity of a bough of some low stunted tree. The sticks compos-
ing the nest are so loosely put together that a person looking at it
182 COLUMBID& HAPLOPELIA
from below may see the two white eggs through the nest. It is
seldom that more than one egg is hatched. The young are usually
fledged by the middle of January.’’ Eggs in the South African
Museum, taken in November near Durban, are smooth, oval, and
white with a creamy tinge; they measure 1:0 x -75.
Genus VII. HAPLOPELIA.
Type.
Aplopelia, Bp. Consp. Av. ii, p. 66 (1854)... H, larvata.
Haplopelia, Sundev. Tentamen, p. 100 (1872) ..........06 H. larvata.
Form stout and robust; bill moderate, the terminal horny portion
shorter than the basal portion; wing somewhat rounded, the third
primary the longest, this exceeds the longest secondary by more
than the length of the tarsus; tail shorter than the wing, slightly
graduated ; tarsus stout and strong, slightly exceeding in length
the middle toe without claw; no metallic spots but a general
metallic sheen on the upper portion of the back; sexes closely
resembling one another.
Some four species of this genus, one of which is South African,
have been hitherto recognised; all are confined to the Hthiopian
Region.
642. Haplopelia larvata. Lemon Dove.
Le Tourterelle & masque blanc, Levaill. Ois. d’Afr. vi, p. 80, pl. 269
(1808).
Columba larvata, Temm. & Knip, Pig. i, fam. sec. p. 71, pl. 31 (1808-
11); Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. ii, no. 10, p. 51 (1858) [Cape divi-
sion and Knysna]. :
Peristera larvata, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 263 (1867); Gurney, Ibis,
1868, p. 47 [Natal] ; Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 84; Barratt, Ibis, 1876,
p. 208; Ayres, Ibis, 1876, p. 483.
Aplopelia larvata, Holub dé Pelzein, Orn, Siid-Afr. p. 176 (1882).
Haplopelia larvata, Shelley, Ibis, 1883, p. 298; Sharpe, ed. Layard's
B. 8S. Afr. p. 564 (1884) ; Salvadori, Cat. B, M. xxi, p. 588 (1893) ;
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 186 (1896) ; Sharpe, Ibis, 1897, p. 515 [Eshowe] ;
Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 185 (1899); Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i,
p. 420 (1901) ; Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 201.
“ Cinnamon” or ‘* Lemon Dove ” of English, “‘ Lamoen Duif” of Dutch.
Description. Adult.—Forehead and front of the face white,
becoming a metallic-pink (or green in some lights) on the crown,
occiput, hind neck and upper portion of the mantle; rest of the
upper surface, including the wings and two central tail-feathers
COLUMBIDZ HAPLOPELIA 183
dark earthy-brown ; lateral tail-feathers with the basal two thirds
black, the apical third ashy ; below the chin and cheeks are greyish-
white, the breast is pink and slightly metallic, changing to cinnamon
on the lower breast, abdomen and under tail-coverts ; under wing-
coverts, axillaries and sides of the body dark-brown.
Tris, inner circle dusky, outer pink, eyelids and bare skin round
the eye pink; bill black; legs and feet dark-pink.
Length 12; wing 6-0; tail 4:20; culmen ‘50; tarsus 1:05.
The female is slightly duller in colour and smaller in size. A
young bird has the front of the face dirty-white ; there is no metallic
sheen, and the general colour above and below is brown with narrow
rufous bars and tips to most of the feathers.
Distribution.—The Lemon Dove was first discovered by Levail-
lant in the Outeniqua forests of what is now the division of
Knysna; it is entirely confined to the densely wooded districts of
the Colony, Natal and the Transvaal; north of the Zambesi it
is replaced by three closely allied subspecies from Nyasaland,
Shoa and West Africa respectively.
The following are recorded localities; Cape Colony—Cape
division, January, June, July and November (Victorin and 8. A.
Mus.), Knysna, January, April, May and July (Andersson and
Victorin), George (Atmore), King William’s Town (Trevelyan), Port
St. Johns, rare (Shortridge) ; Natal—Durban, April (Shelley),
Eshowe in Zululand (Woodward) ; Transvaal—Macamac in Lyden-
burg, June, July (Barratt and Ayres).
Habits—The Lemon Dove is confined to the forest and thick
bush, and is seldom or ever found outside. It is generally seen on
the ground seeking its food, which consists chiefly of forest berries ;
it is shy and by no means easy to see or procure, but can often be
heard rustling among the fallen leaves, and thus causing disappoint-
ment to the sportsman who is lying in wait for buck; it has a
184 PTEROCLETES
peculiar short, melancholy coo. Shelley found two nests of this
bird on April 11th, in the bush near Durban; they were placed
about four feet from the ground in low creepers close to the path
and contained two eggs each. The nest was a flimsy structure of
sticks.
Eggs in the South African Museum, taken near Durban by Mr.
Millar in November, are oval in shape, white, with a slight tinge of
brown, and measure about 1:0 x ‘75.
Order XI. PTEROCLETES.
The Sandgrouse, for which this special Order was formed by
Huxley, are moderately sized birds, usually of a speckly yellowish
colour, and of swift flight; they are confined to the Old World
where they are found principally in desert or semi-desert districts.
The bill is small and without a cere; the feet are feathered to
the base of the toes, and the hallux is small, or in some cases
absent; the rectrices vary in number from fourteen to eighteen ;
the young are hatched, covered with down and able to care for
themselves.
This group was formerly associated with the Game-birds, but
shows in a good many of its anatomical characters a close relation-
ship to the Pigeons; this is especially the case as regards certain
osteological characters. Beddard also traces a connection with
the Limicole or waders.
The following are the principal anatomical characters: Skull
schizognathous and holorhinal ; basipterygoid processes present ;
aftershaft small; oil-gland nude; crop present; two carotids;
ceca long; the two deep plantar tendons fuse and then divide to
supply the anterior toes, the hallux having an independent tendon
altogether, the flexor hallucis brevis; all the five Garrodian thigh
muscles present.
All the Sandgrouse fall into a single family, divisible into three
genera, two of which are represented in South Afric.,
Key of the Genera.
A. Tail-featherg rounded ...........ccccececeeteeseeteeesesecnes Pterocles, p. 185.
B, Central tail-feathers elongated, attenuated and
pointed, extending beyond the others............... Pteroclurus, p. 191.
PTEROCLIDE PTEROCLES 185
Family I. PTEROCLIDA.
Genus I. PTEROCLES.
Type.
Pterocles, Temm., Man. Ornith. p. 299 (1815)......... P. arenarius.
Bill slender and arched, no cere; nostrils elongated, bordered
above by feathers; wings pointed and long; tarsi covered with
small feathers in front, reticulate behind; toes naked, hallux small,
almost rudimentary, jointed above the level of the other toes ; tail
of fourteen or sixteen feathers, rounded, central feathers not pro-
duced beyond the others to any extent.
This genus, containing some ten species, is spread all over Africa
including Madagascar, southern Europe and central and southern
Asia, from Spain to India. Three species occur within our limits.
xT
Key of the Species.
A, With little round white spots above and
below.
Ga Chin: slaby-Qrey ois scccenerines te vedernneusinendonsene P.variegatus, 3, p. 186.
6; -Clatry pale! UGE scisasigjsecsccvnrnesatucntagadeenaiiacien P. variegatus, 2, p. 186.
B. Not spotted with white above or below.
a. Under tail-coverts uniform deep chestnut.
a. Throat yellow, bordered by a black line... P. gutturalis, $, p. 187.
b'. Throat yellow without a black band... P. gutturalis, ?, p. 187.
b. Under tail-coverts closely barred with black.
a'. Chest uniform olive, followed by a bar of
white and another of black .............. P., bicinctus, 3, p. 189.
b', Throat spotted, rest of lower surface
barred with black ........ccc0cccccsseeseeeee P. bicinctus, 2, p. 189.
186 PTEROCLIDE PTEROCLES
643. Pterocles variegatus. Spotted Sandgrouse.
Tetrao (Pterocles) variegatus, Burchell, Travels, ii, p. 845 (1824).
Pterocles variegatus, Smith, Report Exped. C. Afr. p. 56 (1886) ; zd.
Ill. Zool. 8. Afr. Aves, pl. x (1888); Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 279
(1867) ; id. Ibis, 1869, p. 875; Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 262; Gurney, in
Andersson's B. Damaraland, p. 242 (1872); Elliot, P. Z. S. 1878,
p. 244; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 860 [Bechuanaland]; Holub ¢ Pelz.,
Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 181 (1882); Sharpe ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 578
(1884); Nicolls & Eglington, Sportsm. S. A. p. 111, pl. xi, fig. 56
(1892); Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 22 (1898); id. Game Bas. i,
p. 17 (1896); Fleck, Journ. Ornith, 1894, p. 884 ; Shelley, B. Afr. i,
p. 184 (1896); Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 307 (1900).
“ Gheel Patrijs” of Dutch (Nicolls & Eglington).
Description. Adult Male.—Crown of the head very dark brown
with pale buffy edges to the feathers ; back and wings ashy-black,
all the feathers largely tipped with olive-yellow; a number of small
white spots, generally distributed throughout ; quills dusky with
white shafts, some of the inner ones with paler whitish tips, edge
of the wing pale rufous; tail of fourteen feathers, dusky-black with
buff tips and cross-bars ; below, throat, lores and sides of the face,
above and below the eye, lilac-grey ; ear-coverts pale buff; breast
dull rufous, passing into buff on the abdomen and under tail-coverts ;
a number of round white spots on the breast, like those on the back.
Iris dark brown; eyelids gamboge; bill black; feet and claws
dusky-yellow.
Length 9:25; wing 6:0; tail 3:0; tarsus 1:1; culmen °35.
The female differs from the male in having the chin, throat and
eye-stripes pale buff; the belly and thighs are pale rufous-buff,
indistinctly barred with white.
Distribution.—The Spotted Sandgrouse does not appear to have
been met with south of the Orange River; but north of that river is
found throughout the -western portion of our area as far as the
Okavango River, though nowhere very abundant.
The following are recorded localities. Cape Colony — near
Griquatown (Burchell, type), Kimberley (Brit. Mus.), Fourteen
Streams in Griqualand West (B. Hamilton), near Kuruman (Smith
and Exton); Transvaal—on the Limpopo and Marico Rivers
(Ayres) ; Bechuanaland—Limonie Pan near Bamangwato (Ayres),
Kalahari (Fleck); German South-west Africa — Damaraland
(Andersson).
Habits.—This species, though less widely distributed and not so
common as the Namaqua Sandgrouse, resembles it in its habits.
PTEROCLIDE PTEROCLES 187
It is found during the day singly or in pairs scattered over the
grassy veld in search of seeds and berries which form its food;
in the morning and evening it resorts in large numbers, often
in company with the other sandgrouse, to watering places, circling
round high up in the air and descending very suddenly with a dash.
Its note is less shrill and piping than that of the other species.
The eggs are described by Layard as pale dull greenish-brown
spotted with light brown and indistinct purple, and further spotted
with dark brown. Eriksson states that three eggs of this bird
were brought to him by one of his hunters; they were laid on the
bare sand in a small depression.
644. Pterocles gutturalis. Yellow-throated Sandgrouse.
Pterocles gutturalis, Smith, Report Exped. C. Afr. p. 56 (1836); <d.
Illustr. Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pls. 3 (male), 81 (female), (1838-9) ;
Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 278 (1867) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1869, p. 297, 1871, p.
268, 1878, p. 298, 1885, p. 346; Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 885; Elliot,
P. Z. S. 1878, p. 241; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 823 (1881) ; Holub &
Pelz, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 182 (1882) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 359 ; Sharpe,
ed. Layard's B. 8S. Afr. p. 577 (1884); Nicolls and Eglington,
Sportsm. S. A, p. 112, pl. xi, figs. 54, 55 (1892); Grant, Cat. B. M.
xxii, p. 25 (1893); Bryden, Gun and Camera, pp. 289, 477 with fig.
(1893); Grant, Game Birds, i, p.19 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr.i, p. 184
(1896) ; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 805 (1900); Haagner, Ibis, 1902,
p. 5738.
‘Nacht Patrijs ’ of the Dutch.
Description. Adult Male.—Crown of the head dusky-black ;
back and wings yellowish-olive, with black bases to the feathers ;
primaries, primary coverts and inner secondaries black with pale
tips and edges ; tail-feathers 16 in number, centre pair like the back,
lateral ones black tipped and barred with chestnut; a black band
from the base of the bill to the eye; eyebrow, chin, throat, cheeks
and ear coverts very pale yellow, followed by a semicircular black
band running up to behind the ear-coverts; breast bluish-grey,
deepening into a rich chestnut on the abdomen, under tail-coverts
and thighs, the latter showing strong traces of transverse black
barring.
Tris dusky brown, bill light bluish-horn, toes dusky.
Length about 11:0; wing 8°5 ; tail 3°75; culmen ‘65; tarsus 1:5.
The female is buffy-yellow, variegated and speckled with black
above; the primaries and their coverts black, as in the male; chin,
188 PTEROCLIDE PTEROCLES
throat and ear-coverts, yellowish-buff; breast pale buff, mottled and
streaked with black; abdomen, thighs and under tail-coverts rich
chestnut, narrowly barred with black; centre tail-feathers like the
back, buffy-yellow barred with black, lateral ones black, barred and
tipped with pale chestnut ; size about the same as the male.
The young bird resembles the female but the transverse bands on
the mantle are smaller and finer.
Distribution.—The Yellow-throated Sandgrouse was first dis-
covered by Sir Andrew Smith in the neighbourhood of Kurrichaine
in the present Rustenburg district of the Transvaal. From the
western Transvaal it extends to Bechuanaland and the northern
Kalahari, while beyond our limits it is recorded from Nyasa-
land, Masailand and the mountains of Abyssinia. It does not
appear to reach Damaraland. Dr. Howard tells me it is common
in Little Namaqualand.
The following are localities. Cape Colony—Litakun near Kuru-
man (Smith in §. A. Mus.) ; Transvaal—Potchefstroom and Rusten-
burg (Ayres), Marico (Holub), near Johannesburg, scarce (Haagner) ;
Bechuanaland—N. Kalahari (Bryden), Shashi River (Oates).
Habits.—This is the largest and perhaps the most handsome of
all the South African Sandgrcus3; both in voice and appearance it
is likened by Bryden to the Grouse of Scotland. It is usually found
in companies of from three to twelve individuals on bare ground not
far from water, where it feeds on seeds and small bulbous roots.
When crouched on the ground it is very difficult to detect; when
flushed it does not run, but rises at once with a powerful flight,
accompanied by a whirring sound made by the wings. The note,
only heard on the wing, is a short and somewhat harsh “ tweet.”
Like other Sandgrouse they resort to water daily, but not at such
regular hours as the other species. They are specially fond of the
grain of the Kaffir corn and resort in large numbers to the fields
when ready for cutting; in consequence perhaps of this they are
generally very good eating, especially when split open and grilled
with butter. The eggs, usually three in number, are laid on the bare
ground among the grass. They are dusky tawny, marked with lines
and blotches of umber forming a zone towards the base, and measure
about 1:7 x 1:09.
PTEROCLIDA PTEROCLES 189
645. Pterocles bicinctus. Dowble-banded Sandgrouse.
Pterocles bicinctus, Temm. Pig. et Gal. ili, pp. 247, 713 (1828) ; Strick-
land and Sclater, Contr. Orn. 1852, p. 157; Layard B. S. Afr. p.
278 (1867); Ayres, Ibis, 1869, p. 298, 1871, p. 269, 1886, p. 292;
Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaraland, p. 241 (1872); Buckley, Ibis,
1874, p. 885; Hiliot, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 255; Oates, Matabeleland, p.
323 (1881) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. pp. 575, 854 (1884) ;
Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsm. S. A. p. 111 (1892) ; Bryden, Gun and
Camera, pp. 285, 476 (1898); Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 80 (1898) ;
id. Game Birds, i, p. 21 (1896); Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, pp. 358,
384; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 184 (1896); Alexander, Ibis, 1900,
p. 449: Reichenow, Vog. A/r. i, p. 809 (1900).
Description. Male.—Forehead and a transverse band across the
crown, white, between which is a wider black band; crown of the
head pale reddish-brown streaked with black, nape of the neck,
sides of the face, chin, breast and fore half of the wings olive; rest
of the upper surface black mottled and barred with pale chestnut,
Fia. 60.—Head of Pterocles bicinctus, ¢. x 43
many of the feathers tipped with white ; primaries, primary covert
and secondaries black, slightly tipped with white; below, the olive
breast is bounded by a narrow white, followed by a narrow
black, transverse band; rest of the lower surface narrowly trans-
versely banded with black and white; feathers on the tarsus
greyish; under tail-coverts pale chestnut with a few bars of
black.
Iris hazel, skin round the eye chrome yellow ; bill yellowish-
brown ; legs yellowish.
Length about 9:0; wing 6-75; tail 3:0; culmen ‘7; tarsus 1:05.
The female has the whole of the upper parts including the head
and neck as well as the breast, like the back of the male, black,
mottled and barred with pale chestnut, and often tipped wich white ; ~
190 PTEROCLID PTEROCLES
wing-quills as in the male; chin and throat buffy grey finely
spotted with black ; lower breast and abdomen as in the male.
Examples from Damaraland and from Griqualand West are, as
has been remarked by Ogilvie Grant, much paler and lighter in
colour, so much so that they might very well be distinguished under
a subspecific name.
Distribution.—This Sandgrouse was first discovered by Levail-
lant on the banks of the Great Fish River in the southern part of
Great Namaqualand. It does not appear to extend south of the
Orange River except in Little Namaqualand, where Dr. Howard tells
me it is common, but northwards it reaches the southern part of
Angola and the Zambesi Valley. Its headquarters appear to be
Bechuanaland.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Griqualand
West, October (S. A. Mus.), Kuruman (Moffat); Transvaal—Lim-
popo, May (Ayres), Selati and Sabi Rivers in Lydenburg, April and
August (Francis, in 8. A. Mus.); Bechuanaland—Makalapsi and
Makloutsi Rivers, August (Oates), Kanye (Exton), near Palachwe
(Bryden) ; German South-west Africa, throughout (Andersson and
Fleck); Portuguese Hast Africa—Zambesi Valley, from Tete to
Chishomba (Alexander).
Habits —The Double-banded Sandgrouse very much resembles
the other species in habits; it is generally found in flocks, which,
however, split up during the breeding season. Its flight is swift and
its note a curious shrill whistle. The following is Alexander’s
account of its habits in the Zambesi Valley. ‘ These birds frequent
open spots in the woods, where the soil is loose and stony, and the
slopes of hilly banks that are coated with dry grass. They are fond
of basking in the sun, remaining in a sleepy condition during most
of the day. When on the ground it is difficult to see them, and
one almost treads upon them before they rise up, startling one with .
their flare of wings and noisy ‘‘ chuk chuk”’ notes, which are given
out simultaneously and with great zest. Out of the breeding season
they go together in large batches, sometimes of 30 or 40 in one flock.
In habits they might almost be termed crepuscular. Every evening
as regular as clock work, and just as dusk is closing in, they wing their
way to their watering spots, while, should the night be moonlight,
they feed in the vicinity of water.”
Ayres found this bird breeding on the banks of the Limpopo in
May and June; the eggs, 3 or 4 in number, are laid on the bare
ground amongst the short grass. The hen sits very close. The
PTEROCLIDE PTEROCLURUS 191
eggs are brownish-pink, spotted and blotched all over, especially
at the thicker end, with a darker shade of the same colour. They
measure about 1:37 x +93.
Eriksson, who found nests later in August, also on the Limpopo,
gives a similar account. :
A clutch of two eggs, from about twenty miles north of the
Oliphants River in Portuguese East Africa, near the Transvaal
border, obtained by Major Sparrow on June 13, agrees well with the
description given above, but measure 1-5 x 1:1.
Genus II. PTEROCLURUS.
Type.
‘Pteroclurus, Bp. Comptes Rend. xlii, p. 880 (1856) ...... P. alchata.
=
es
ER
SSN
Fic. 61.—Tail of Pteroclurus namaqua. x }
This genus only differs from Pterocles in having the two central
tail-feathers produced and somewhat attenuated and pointed; tail
of sixteen feathers.
Five species are recognised, spread over Southern Hurope and
192 PTEROCLIDE PTEROCLURUS
Asia from Spain to the Indian Peninsula and Africa. Only one of
them is found within our limits.
646. Pteroclurus namaqua. Namaqua Sandgrouse.
Tetrao namaqua, Gmel., Syst. Nat. i, p. 754 (1788); Burchell, Travels
_ i, pp. 265, 803 (1822).
Pterocles tachypetes, Temm. Pig. et Gall. iii, pp. 274, 715 (1815) ;
Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 277 (1867) ; id. Ibis, 1869, p. 75 ; Ayres, Ibis,
1871, p. 262; Bryden, Kloof and Karoo, p. 815 (1889) ; id. Gun and
Camera, p. 289 (1893) ; id. Nature and Sport, p. 33 (1897).
Pteroclurus namaqua, Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 242
(1872); Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 10 (1898) ; id. Game Bds. i, p. 11
(1896) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 183 (1896); Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i,
p. 818 (1901); Whitehead, Ibis, 1903, p. 234; Sharpe, Ibis, 1904,
p. 4 [Deelfontein].
Pterocles namaqua, Elliot, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1878, p. 252; Bocage, Orn.
Angola, p. 896 (1881); Holub ¢ Pelz. Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 182 (1882) ;
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. pp. 574, 854 (1884); Ayres, Ibis,
1886, p. 292; Symonds, Ibis, 1887, p. 383; Nicolls and Eglington,
Sportsm. S. A. p. 109 (1892) ; Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 884.
‘‘Namaqua Partridge’’ of English, ‘‘Namaqua Patrijs” or ‘Kelkje
Wijn” of Dutch Colonists.
Fic. 62.—Head of Pteroclurus namagua. x 11
Description. Adult male. — Head and back pale brown, the
cheeks, sides of the neck and nape suffused with a mustardy yellow
tinge, most of the feathers of the back and wing-coverts with a
subterminal buffy yellow blotch and a lilac blue, darkening to black,
terminal spot; primary-quills dusky black, the inner ones with white
inner webs and tips; the greater coverts like the quills; tail of
sixteen feathers, the two central ones dusky, becoming black at the
-tip and produced into a point; lateral ones with conspicuous buff
tips ; below the chin and throat orange-butf, shading through yellow
into pale brown on the chest becoming darker on the lower breast ;
PTEROCLIDE PTEROCLURUS 193
thighs and abdomen yellowish-buff; across the breast a narrow
white band bordered with rich chocolate-brown ; tarsus, feathered
to the base of the toes, pale buff.
Iris dark brown, bill bluish-slate, feet and claws lavender.
Length in flesh 10°75; in skin 10:0; wing 6:25; tail 3-30;
culmen ‘50; tarsus ‘80. (This appears to be a rather small bird
compared with that one the dimensions of which are given in the
British Museum Catalogue).
The female, which differs considerably from the male, is streaked
and mottled with black and on the shoulders with dark brown and
white as well; wings and tail as in the male, the central feathers
being elongated and attenuated; below buffy-brown, the chin and
throat with minute spots, the breast with brown streaks and the
lower breast with transverse bars of black; abdomen, under tail-
coverts and tarsal feathers pale buffy, unspotted ; soft parts as in
the male.
Length in flesh 11:25; in skin 10:5; wing 6:5.
A young male resembles the female, but the top of the head and
back are more rufous and more barred with black ; below, the throat
is paler and the breast more rufous than in the adult male.
Distribution.—The Namaqua Partridge, as it is generally called,
is found throughout the drier and more desert portion of South
Africa from the Karoo and Namaqualand to the Cunene, but not in
Natal, the eastern Transvaal or Mashonaland.
The following are localities: Cape Colony—Malmesbury, Tulbagh,
Worcester, December, Orange River, near Upington, November,
December (8. A. Mus.), Aliwal N., May (Whitehead), Hast London,
rare (Wood), King William’s Town district, rare (Pym), Deelfontein,
resident (Seimund), Kimberley, June (Brit. Mus.); Orange River
Colony—Kroonstad, September (Symonds), Vredefort Road (Hamil-
ton); Transvaal—Potchefstroom, August, November, Marico (Ayres),
Irene, November (Shortridge); Bechuanaland—Kalahari (Fleck),
Lake Ngami (Bryden); German South-west Africa—throughout
(Fleck and Andersson).
Habits.—This bird is found in great abundance all over the
Karoo and throughout the dry country ; it appears to be a resident
in some parts and a partial migrant in others; it is spread all over
the country during the day, generally in pairs or small parties,
searching for its food, which consists chiefly of grass and other
seeds. In the morning just about sunrise and in the evening just
before sunset it resorts to pools and rivers, circling round in large
13 VOL. Iv.
194 GALLINE
flocks at a great height above the ground and then suddenly
descending to drink. At such times large numbers can easily be
shot. Its flight is very powerful and swift, and it also runs quickly,
though its legs are very short. When flying it often gives vent to
a shrill, sharp cry not unlike that of an English plover, whence the
Dutch name Kelkje Wijn (i.¢., kelkie vane), which is a near imita-
tion of the sound.
The eggs, two in number, are of alight cream colour, spotted with
brown and purple; they are oblong, measuring 1:50 to 1:30 x 1:0,
and are laid in a slight hollow on the ground. There are examples
in the South African Museum, taken by Major Sparrow on the
18th August at Welgevonden, in the Orange River Colony.
The flesh of this bird is very tough, and it is best eaten skinned
and stewed.
Order XII. GALLINA.
This Order contains the true Game-Birds, such as the Pheasants,
Grouse, Turkeys, Brush-Turkeys and Curasows; they can be easily
recognised by their short, arched bills, their strong legs, well adapted
to walking, and their rounded, rather feeble wings; the tarsus is
very generally armed, especially among the males, with a strong
sharp spur; the hallux is always present and in all the South
African forms is jointed above the level of the other toes; the wing
has ten primaries and the fifth secondary is present. The nest is
usually placed on the ground, and the young, when hatched, are
covered with down and are able to fly almost at once.
The more important anatomical characters are as follows :—
Sixteen cervical vertebre ; skull schizognathous and holorhinal,
basipterygoid processes represented by sessile facets, situated far
forward on the sphenoidal rostrum ; sternum with two deep notches
on both sides posteriorly ; plantar tendons galline (see Vol. III.,
p. 2, fg. 2b) ; oil gland nearly always present and generally tufted ;
crop present ; ceca large; two carotids nearly always present; the
five Garrodian thigh muscles present in all the South African
species.
Two suborders are generally recognised : one, the Peristeropodes,
containing the Brush-Turkeys (Megapodiide) and the Curasows
(Cracide) confined to the Australian and Neotropical Regions
PHASIANIDZ FRANCOLINUS 195
respectively, the other, the Alectoropodes, in which the hallux is
raised above the level of the other toes.
The latter suborder also contains only two families—the Grouse
(Tetraonide) and the Phasianide; all the South African Game
Birds are included in the last named family.
Key of the Genera.
A. Head, neck and throat normal, covered with
feathers.
a. Tail of fourteen feathers; birds of large size
with strong bills and round wings ..............- Francolinus, p. 195.
b, Tail of ten or twelve feathers very short, soft ,
and concealed by the upper tail-coverts; small
birds with short beaks and pointed wings...... Coturnia, p. 220.
e. Tail of eight feathers, short and concealed ;
small birds with short beaks and rounded
WINGS css)s sinoensiaaiens ons se aie audtsmensaeswemeneatimiaeeys Excalfactoria, p. 226.
B. Head and neck covered with feathers, throat
bare :desiascuapeawstinnsewed oedeniee stec nian sdadeadecdetooweas Pternistes, p. 214.
C. Head and neck naked; a bony outgrowth or
helmet on the Crown ........cssscccesesceseesesseeeunes Numida, p. 227.
D. Head and neck naked; a tuft of curly feathers
GRINS CLOW, cviccsias nevscveneasnncsdchineneucdiapers scene Guttera, p. 233.
Family I. PHASIANIDA.
Nostrils never concealed by feathers; tarsi partially or entirely
naked and often armed with spurs; hallux jointed to the tarsus
above the level of the other toes.
Genus IJ. FRANCOLINUS.
Type.
Francolinus, Stephens in Shaw's Gen. Zool, xi, p. 316
(TB1O) .cnes ceesaespembevmdatimerartih asceivexedaameen seis F. vulgaris.
Bill rather stout and hooked ; nostrils with an over-hanging
operculum ; throat feathered ; wings somewhat rounded, . first
primary about equal to the sixth or seventh, second and third
generally the longest; tarsi naked, with spurs usually present,
especially in the males; tail of fourteen feathers, short, about
half the length of the wing.
196 PHASIANIDE FRANCOLINUS
Sexes sometimes alike, sometimes differing considerably ;
plumage chiefly mottled and streaked with shades of brown and
yellow.
This is a large genus, containing some forty-five species, chiefly
found in Africa but extending into southern Asia from Cyprus to
southern China. Out of forty-two African species, recognised by
Shelley, ten occur within our limits.
Key of the Species.
A, Back and scapulars with whitish or buff shaft-
marks.
w. Lower breast and belly pale, uniformly barred
With, DAC racsickawtserisen Mleccehstweadsceds sdiaieoens F. coqui, p. 197.
b. Lower breast and belly not uniformly barred
with black.
a’. Rump and upper tail-coverts without whitish
shaft marks; below buffy-white, faintly
mottled with black ........cccsscssscesesseeeeeeenes F. sephena, p. 199.
b'. Rump and upper tail-coverts with whitish
shaft marks like the rest of the upper
surface.
PHASIANIDE FRANCOLINUS 197
a’, Throat white, more or less spotted with
black ; primaries uniform brown on the
WATE H WED: scusciiaisasan vashawaivenivarsdeeaubnadadstese F. africanus, p. 201.
b?, Throat white or whitish surrounded by a
line of mottled black and white feathers.
a’, Black and white superciliary stripes
coalescing on the nape of the neck ;
primaries chiefly rufous ..........02:.00.0005 F. levacllanti, p. 203.
63, Black and white superciliary stripes not
meeting on the nape, but curving round
towards the throat.
a‘, Lower breast and belly rich buff,
streaked and mottled with chestnut
black and white...........:cscccesssecesseees F. gariepensis, p. 205.
b‘. Lower breast and belly pale buff,
almost immaculate ........cce:cccsssseeees F, jugularis, p. 207.
ce’, Lower breast and belly whitish with
more or less distinct V-shaped bars... F’. shelleyi, p. 208.
B. No white or other marked shaft stripes on the
back.
a. Beneath nanowly transversely barred with black
Bd WIT: scaeidains.cssasusraasneeniccustenescgadciwewes sanenaes F. adspersus, p. 209.
b. Striped or mottled, not barred beneath.
a. Back and scapulars blackish-brown, the
feathers margined and vermiculated with
WVDILE: cs soso nasaatulsvon aniueaesharebwapeuuemapeatiesuians F, capensis, p. 210.
b'. Back and scapulars olive-brown, finely vermi-
culated with black ........ccccceecsseeeseseeesenees F. natalensis, p. 212.
647. Francolinus coqui. Coqut.
Perdix coqui, Smith, Rep. Exped. C. Afr. p. 55 (1836).
Francolinus subtorquatus, Smith, Ill. Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pl. 15 (1838) ;
Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 215 [Natal] ; id. P. Z. S. 1864, pp. 8, 6 [Oka-
vango River]; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 273 (1867) ; Gurney, Ibis, 1868,
p. 467 [Limpopo]; Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 886; Shelley, Ibis, 1875,
p. 85; Ayres, Ibis, 1880, p. 110; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 861, [Bula-
wayo]; Sharpe ed. Layard's B.S. Afr. p. 600 (1884); Ayres, Ibis,
1884, p. 282; W. Ayres, Ibis, 1887, p. 61; Nicolls § Eglington,
Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 103 (1892) ; Bryden, Gun and Camera, pp. 282)
471 (1893) ; Rendall, Ibis, 1896, p. 175.
Scleroptera subtorquata, Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaraland,
p. 246 (1872).
Francolinus schlegeli (nec Heugl.), Sharpe ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr.
p. 602 (1884).
Francolinus coqui, Schaeck, Mem. Soc. Zool. Fr. iv, p. 349 (1891) ;
Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 148 (1898) ; id. Game Bds. i, p. 111 (1896) ;
198 PHASIANIDE FRANCOLINUS
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 180 (1896); Woodward Bros. Natal Bds. p. 160
(1899) ; Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 262; Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 492
~~ (1901).
“‘TIswempe” of Zulus (Woodward).
Description. Adult Male.—Crown of the head and a stripe from
behind the eye to the upper ear-coverts reddish-chestnut; sides of
the face and neck all round ochre-yellow, paling into white on the
chin ; rest of the upper surface grey and pale chestnut, most of the
feathers with conspicuous shaft stripes of yellow-buff; primaries
and secondaries slaty-black, the latter banded on the inner webs with
chestnut ; tail chestnut and black ; below, including the sides of the
breast, white, shading on the under tail-coverts to pale buff with
transverse bands of black, which gradually disappear on the
abdomen and under tail-coverts; a single moderate spur.
Tris light hazel-brown ; bill ashy-horn, yellow at the gape; tarsi
and feet bright yellow.
Length 11:0; wing 5:4; tail 2°7; culmen ‘80; tarsus 1-4.
The female has a black superciliary line running above the eyes
and ear-coverts, which nearly joins a second one; this commencing
on the lores and running below the eye, passes down the neck and
then across to join its fellow, circumscribing the white throat; the
back is much more chestnut than in the male; the breast is reddish-
chestnut with very narrow yellow shaft lines: asa rule the tarsus
bears no spurs.
Distribution.—The Coqui was first discovered and described by
Sir Andrew Smith from the neighbourhood of Kurrichane, in the
present Rustenburg district of the Transvaal; it is found throughout
that Colony (especially in the bushveld), Bechuanaland, Rhodesia
and Natal, extending to the Okavango River and southern Angola in
one direction, and through Nyasaland, and German and British Hast
Africa, as far as Mombasa in the other.
The following are recorded localities: Natal—near Durban
(Shelley and Millar), Howick (Woodward); Transvaal—Potchef-
stroom and Rustenburg (Ayres), Barberton (Rendali), Zoutspansberg
(S. A. Mus.); Bechuanaland—Kanye (Exton, in 8. A. Mus.),
Bamangwato (Buckley), Ngamiland (Bryden); Rhodesia—Buluwayo
(Ayres), Zambesi (Bradshaw), near Salisbury (Marshall). —
Habits.—This, the smallest and perhaps the handsomest of the
South African Francolins, is usually found in small coveys of from
6 to 12 individuals; it frequents open bush country where the grass
is fairly short and the ground is dotted with scrub, and is seldom far
PHASIANIDE FRANCOLINUS 199
from water. It has a shrill call-note, somewhat resembling its name,
heard usually in the early morning and evening, and likened by
most observers to that of the English partridge. It roosts on the
ground, and several usually nestle together for warmth, but it will
occasionally resort to trees when disturbed. Its food consists of
seeds, berries and insects, such as beetles, coccide and ants. It
affords good sport, but sits very close, and can only be flushed with
a good dog. Three eggs of this species, now in the South African
Museum, were sent by Mr. Eriksson from Mataeko on the
Omaramba River about 150 miles from its junction with the
Okavango in Ondonga; the nest was under a bush in a small cavity.
The eggs are a very pale greenish white, somewhat conical in shape,
and the shell is exceedingly thick and hard; they measure 15 x 1:2.
The flesh is excellent eating.
Mr. Millar writes ‘‘ These birds are plentiful throughout Natal,
although more partial to the coast lands; they are resident all the
year round. Old mealie fields and Kaffir gardens are their favourite
haunts, the coveys consisting of three or four brace; they seldom
settle in trees, although they occasionally run into cover. The cock
bird calls frequently during the day, uttering a loud, defiant note,
and is said to be very pugnacious, its spurs being long and pointed.
These birds nest in the open grass. The last clutch coming
under my observation consisted of five eggs, creamy white in
colour, and almost round in shape, and measuring 1:25 x 1:0.
They were slightly incubated when found on March 10.”
648. Francolinus sephena. Crested Francolin.
Perdix sephena, Smith, Rep. Exped. C. Afr. p. 55 (1836).
Francolinus pileatus, Smith, Ill. Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pl. 14 (1838) ;
Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 272 (1867); Ayres, Ibis, 1869, p. 297; Finsch
& Hartlaub, Vog. Ost-Afr. p. 586 (1870); Ayres, Ibis, 1873, p. 282;
Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 386; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 328 (1881);
Holub & Pelz. Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 186 (1882); Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p.
360; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 593 (1884); Ayres, Ibis,
1886, p. 292; W. Ayres, Ibis, 1887, p. 61 [Lehtaba River] ; Schaeck,
Mem. Soc. Zool. Fr. iv, p. 355 (1891) ; Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsm.
S. Afr. p. 108 (1892); Bryden, Gun and Camera, p. 473 (1893).
Francolinus sephena, Newton, Ibis, 1868, p. 269; Grant, Cat. B. M.
xxii, p. 146 (1893) ; id. Game Birds, i, p. 113 (1896) ; Shelley, B. Afr.
i, p. 180 (1896); Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 446; Woodward Bros.
Ibis, 1900, p. 518; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 495 (1901).
200 PHASIANIDE FRANCOLINUS
Scleroptera pileata, Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 247
(1872).
“ TInkwali” of the Zulus (Millar).
Description. Male.— Crown of the head dark olive-brown,
bounded on each side by a band of white, running back from
behind the eye ; centre of the back and wing-coverts rich chestaut
with conspicuous white shaft stripes; quills dark brown with paler
outer webs ; rump and upper tail-coverts dark olive-brown ; central
tail-feathers brown, lateral ones almost black, dark chestnut towards
the base ; chin and throat white, cheeks spotted with pale rufous;
under parts pale buff, the feathers of the lower parts of the
throat and upper breast with dark chestnut wedge-shaped shaft
spots, those of the lower breast and flanks finely pencilled with pale
brown.
Tris hazel; bill dark brown ; legs red, a sharp and stout spur on
the tarsus.
Length 12:25; wing 6-4; tail 3-55; culmen ‘95; tarsus 1:9.
The female differs from the male in having no spurs and in
the centre of the back, wing and tail-coverts being finely barred
and vermiculated with brown and black. Young males resemble
the females, but are provided with spurs.
Distribution.—The Crested Francolin, like the Coqui, was also
first discovered by Sir Andrew Smith, in very much the same
country, i.e., the Marico and Rustenburg districts of the Transvaal.
It is spread over Bechuanaland, as far as the Zambesi and Southern
Angola in one direction, and in the other as far as Zululand and
Southern Mozambique. In Kast Africa it is replaced by other closely
allied species.
The following are localities: Zululand— Dukuduku bush
(Woodward); Transvaal—Marico and Limpopo Rivers (Smith,
Ayres and Oates), Lehtaba River in Zoutspansberg (W. Ayres) ;
Bechuanaland—Kanye (Exton in 8. A. Mus.), Macloutse River
(Oates), Gokwe River (Ayres); German South-west Africa—
Okamabute (Andersson); Portuguese Hast Africa—Metacania and
Mesangue on the Zambesi (Alexander), Inhambane (Peters).
Habits.—The Crested Francolin seems everywhere to be a some-
what scarce bird. It is shy and retiring, and is generally to be
found in the dense undergrowth running along the banks of rivers;
it usually occurs in small coveys and is difficult to flush; it takes
refuge in trees, and there with crest erect and tail uplifted it gives
vent toa harsh metallic “ Chiraka.” Like others of the genus, its
PHASIANIDE FRANCOLINUS 201
food consists of small bulbs, seeds, berries and insects, and its
flesh is excellent eating. No observer has hitherto described the
nest and eggs,
Mr. Millar met with these birds plentifully in Zululand on the
White Umvolosi River, near its junction with the Black Umvolosi;
he found them shy, and so much addicted to close cover that they
were difficult to procure.
649. Francolinus africanus. Grey-wing or Cape Partridge.
Perdix afra, (nec Afiill.), Lath. Ind. Orn. ii, p. 648 (1790).
Francolinus africanus, Steph. in Shaw's Genl. Zool. xi, p. 823 (1819) ;
Grant, Ibis, 1892, p. 48; id. Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 152 (1898) ; id. Game
Birds, i, p. 117 (1895); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 181 (1896) ; Woodward
Bros. Natal Birds, p. 162 (1899) ; Outes, Cat. B. Eggs, i, p. 38 (1901).
Francolinus afer, P. L. Sclater, P. Z. S. 1866, p- 23 [Cathcart division] ;
Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 270 (1867); Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 84; Barratt,
Ibis, 1876, p. 208; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 823 (1881); Holub &
Pelz. Orn, Siid-Afr, p. 188 (1882); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr.
p- 595 (1884); Bryden, Kloof and Karoo, p. 312 (1889); Schaec*,
Mem. Soc. Zool. Fr. iv, p. 851 (1891); Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsm.
S. Afr. p. 101 (1892); Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 485 (1901); Sharpe,
Ibis, 1904, p. 3 [Deelfontein].
“ Patrijs’’ or “ Berg Patrijs” of the Dutch; ‘“ Intendele” or “ Isikwat-
sha” of the Amaxosa (Stanford) also applied to the Redwing;
“ Khuale ” of Basutos (Murray).
Description. Male.—Crown and nape black, varied with fale
rufous edgings to most of the feathers; sides of the neck barred
with black and white, with a patch of rufous in between it and the
base of the nape; rest of the upper surface greyish-brown clouded
here and there with darker brown, and with narrow bars of pale
chestnut-brown and longitudinal shaft streaks of pale buff; primaries
uniform brown on the inner web, slightly mottled with rufous on the
outer; chin and throat white, barred with black, especially at the
sides and below ; a narrow line of rufous running from the lores
below the eye, through the ear-coverts along the side of the neck,
separate this from the black and white patches at the side of the
neck ; upper breast pale rufous with dark rich chestnut spots plenti-
fully disposed, especially along the sides of the breast and flanks ;
lower breast white and dark chestnut, the former chiefly in spots,
the latter chiefly in rings, giving an ocellated appearance to this
202 PHASIANIDE FRANCOLINUS
part; thighs and under tail-coverts barred with buffy white and
black.
Tris light brown; bill brown; legs and feet yellowish-brown ; a
short, stout tarsal spur.
Length 14:0; wing 6:0; tail 2-60; culmen 1:05; tarsus 1:6.
The female differs only in having no spurs; wing 5:75;
tarsus 1:5.
The young birds have white throats and paler lower mandibles.
Distribution.—The Grey-winged Francolin is found throughout
the greater part of Cape Colony, the Orange River Colony, the
southern parts of the Transvaal and the upper and more elevated
portions of Natal.
The following are recorded localities; Cape Colony—Cape,
Stellenbosch, Caledon, Paarl and Hanover divisions (S. A. Mus.),
Beaufort West (Layard), Deelfontein in Richmond (Sloggett), Port
Elizabeth (Rickard), Grahamstown, Dordrecht (Trevelyan), Cathcart
(Boulger) ; Natal—Spurs of Drakensberg. (Millar and Woodward) ;
Transvaal—near Standerton (Oates), Lydenburg and Potchefstroom
(Barratt).
Habits—The Cape Partridge is usually found on open stony
ground at low elevations in maritime districts, but in the interior
chiefly about the mountain sides. It is generally in coveys of from
12 to 16 birds, and when flushed rises quickly and flies off strongly,
but rarely goes far. It feeds early and late, digging up bulbs and
roots with its powerful bill, and also devouring insects. It some-
times ravages freshly sown mealie and corn fields. During the
middle of the day it usually rests in sheltered places.
The nest, a loose structure of grass roots, sometimes lined with
feathers, is placed on the ground in a depression usually undér the
shelter of bushes or among high stuff. The eggs, from 6 to 8, or
even 12 in number, are greenish or dark brown minutely spotted
with brown pin-points and measure from 1:60 to 1:55 x 1:2 to 1°15.
Mr. Millar states that in Natal this bird is known as the Berg
Grey-wing from the fact of its being found only in the vicinity of
the Drakensberg ; when flushed they are usually on the brow of the
hill, and all rising together with a shrill, squeaky alarm, dive quickly
round the corner, and are out of sight before a shot can be fired;
if, however, they can be marked down they will rise singly and then
afford good sport.
PHASIANIDE FRANCOLINUS 203°
650. Francolinus levaillanti. Cape Redwing.
Perdix levaillanti, Valenc. Dict. Sct. Nat. xxxviii, p. 441 (1825).
Perdix levaillantoides, Smith, Rep. Exped. Centr. Afr. p. 55 (1836).
Francolinus levaillanti, Smith, Illws. Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pl. 85 (1848) ;
Gurney, Ibis, 1864, p. 354, 1865, p. 274 [Natal] ; Layard, B. 8. Afr.
p- 270 (1867); id. Ibis, 1869, p.875; Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool.
1882, p. 388; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p.596 (1884); Bryden,
Kloof and Karoo p. 818 (1889); Grant, Ibis, 1890, p. 847, 1892,
p- 45; Schaeck, Mem. Soc. Zool. Fr. iv, p. 888 (1891); Dzstant,
Transvaal, p. T5 (1892); Nicolls §& Eglington, Sportsm. 8. Afr.
p- 100 (1892); Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 154 (1898); id. Game
Bas. i, p. 119 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 181 (1896); Woodward
Bros., Natal Birds, p. 161 (1899); Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 484
(1901) ; Whitehead, Ibis, 1908, p. 235.
“ Redwing”’ of the Colonists, “Hill Redwing” of Natal, ‘‘Itendele ’’
of the Zulus (Millar). ;
Description. Adult Male——Crown of the head dusky-brown,
bounded on each side by a superciliary stripe of black and white
feathers, which extend down on both sides and coalesce in the
middle of the nape and run on to the mantle, separating the
rufous neck patches; general colour of the upper surface brown
and black with narrow transverse bars of pale rufous and longitu-
dinal shaft stripes of a somewhat, lighter shade; primaries, their
coverts and secondaries light chestnut, slightly mottled with brown
at the tips; space in front of the eye continued above it and the
ear-coverts to a considerable patch on either side of the neck
rusty-brown, below this is a narrow line of black and white feathers
running from the lores below the eye, through the ear-coverts and
down the neck to the upper breast, there forming a considerable
patch of white feathers edged and tipped with black ; centre portion
of the chin and throat white, surrounding portion pale rusty; rest
of the lower surface pale buff, the feathers of the breast edged with
chestnut; those of the flanks and under tail-coverts barred with
very dark brown.
Tris hazel; bill dusky yellow at the base; legs dull yellow;
spurs present or absent, but generally small.
Length 13:0; wing 6:55; tail 3-0; tarsus 1:7; culmen 1:1.
-The sexes are alike, but the female is usually without spurs.
Distribution.—The Cape Redwing is not found north of the Lim-
popo, and seems to be most abundant in Cape Colony. Even here
it is somewhat local, being chiefly confined to the southern districts,
and it does not appear to reach the more westerly or north-western
204 PHASIANIDE FRANCOLINUS
portions of the Colony. It has not been obtained, so far as I am
aware, in the neighbourhood of Cape Town or to the northwards.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Swellen-
dam (Layard), Riversdale and Mossel Bay (Atmore), Port Hliza-
Fic. 64.—Nest and eggs with female of the Cape Redwing, from a photograph
taken by Mr. R. H. Ivy near Grahamstown,
beth and East London (Rickard), Willowmore (Bryden) and King
William’s Town (Trevelyan and Pym), Orange River near Aliwal
North, common (Whitehead) ; Natal—plentiful in the upper dis-
PHASIANIDE FRANCOLINUS 205
tricts (Ayres), Newcastle (Reid); Orange River Colony—Kroonstad
(Brit. Mus.); Transvaal—Vaal River near Potchefstroom (Brit.
Mus.), Pretoria (Distant), near Barberton (Gilfillan).
Habits.—Thé Cape Redwing is a somewhat locally distributed
bird, being plentiful in some districts and entirely absent in
others; it is usually mét with in small coveys of from five to eight
individuals, generally in secluded valleys, where there is plenty
of long grass and rushes; Layard particularly mentions its
preference for the thick palmiet beds, which are so often found
along the rivers of the southern part of the Colony; everyone
remarks that it lies very close and requires a very good dog
to flush it, and that after this has been done once it is almost
impossible to make it rise again, so much so that if carefully
marked down it can almost be caught in the hand. Its flight is
rapid and strong. The call-note, heard morning and evening, is
Joud and harsh, and its food consists chiefly of small bulbous roots.
The nest is usually well hidden in a depression in the ground
among long grass, generally not far from water; the eggs, five
to eight in number, vary somewhat, but are usually a dark tawny,
spotted throughout with dark brown. Whitehead found a fresh égg
in December, and young birds a few weeks’ old in June, so that they
appear to breed most of the year.
In Natal Mr. Millar states that the Redwing is found on the
higher levels from about ten miles inland from the coast. The
coveys consist of two or three brace, and the birds sit very close
until flushed, when they fly to a considerable distance. Their call-
note, though resembling that of F. shelleyi, is not so distinct, and
ean be readily distinguished.
Mr. Wood tells me that this Francolin is found in fair numbers
about Hast London, though at times, when there is much dry
weather about the breeding season, they become rather scarce.
They are particularly fond of the bulbs of Gladiolus and Watsoma,
and are generally to be found where these are growing in any
numbers. They nest in the long grass, in the vicinity of water
and lay from eight to ten eggs, pairing in early August.
651. Francolinus gariepensis. Orange River Francolin.
Francolinus gariepensis, Smith, Ill. Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pls. 83, 84
(1843); Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 272 (1867); Ayres, Ibis, 1873, p. 282 ;
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8S. Afr. p. 599 (1884), [in part] ; Ayres,
Ibis, 1886, p. 292; Schaeck, Mem. Soc. Zool. Fr, iv, p. 340 (1891) ;
Grant, Ibis, 1890, p. 847, 1892, p. 45; id. Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 155
206 PHASIANIDE FRANCOLINUS
(1898) ; id. Game Bds.i, p. 120 (1896) ; Nicolls & Eglington, Sportsm.
S. Afr. p. 101 (1892); Bryden, Gun and Camera, pp. 99, 468 (1893) ;
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 181 (1896) ; Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 488 (1901).
Francolinus levaillanti (nec Valenc.), Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 261.
“Redwing” of Colonists, applied to this species as well as to F.
levaillantt.
Description. Male-—Crown of head dark brown edged with
rufous-brown ; round the hind neck a somewhat vaguely defined
collar of pale rufous; rest of the upper parts ashy-brown, suffused
in the middle of the back with a richer brown; all the feathers
with longitudinal shaft stripes and transverse bands of pale rufous ;
primaries, primary coverts and secondaries brown, mottled with
chestnut; two narrow bands of black and white mottled feathers
starting in front of the eye run above and below; the lower one of
the two meets its fellow in the middle line, enclosing the white chin
and throat, the other ends in a patch of the same colour on each
side of the base of the neck; ear-coverts and space between the
two bands pale rufous; below pale buff throughout, feathers of the
breast and flanks heavily blotched with dark rich chestuut, and
some of those of the upper breast margined with black as well;
under tail-coverts and sometimes the lower flanks banded with
black.
Iris hazel, bill dark Horn, nearly black, legs dull yellowish-brown.
A sharp tarsal spur.
Length about 13:0; wing 6:5; tail 3-0; culmen 1:0; tarsus 1:6.
The female only differs from the male in being unprovided with
spurs, though sometimes possessing a blunt knob in their place.
Distribution —The Orange River Francolin was first obtained by
Sir A. Smith, at the head waters of the Caledon River, in what is
now Basutoland ; it has not been found south of the Orange River ;
northwards it occurs through Griqualand West, Bechuanaland,
Orange River Colony and the Southern Transvaal, its place being
taken by other closely allied species to the westwards and east-
wards.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Griqualand
West (S. A. Mus.), Maritzani River near Mafeking (Bryden) ;
Orange River Colony—Basutoland (Smith), Vredefort Road (B.
Hamilton); Transvaal—Potchefstroom and Limpopo River (Ayres),
Christiana (B. Hamilton).
Habits.—This Francolin is usually found on grassy slopes and
among low kopjes not far from river courses, it has a long and shrill
PHASIANIDZS FRANCOLINUS 207
ery generally heard in early morning and about sundown ; it lies
well, but does not appear to be difficult to flush; it is a strong flyer
and is very good eating.
Ayres found it nesting in rough grass in a dry place not far
from water; the eggs are dark tawny spotted with brown; they
are somewhat abruptly pointed at the short end and measure
1:43 x 1-06.
652. Francolinus jugularis. Buittckofer's Francolin.
Francolinus gariepensis (nec Smith), Strickl. and Scl. Contrib. Ornith.
1852, p. 157; Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, pp. 378, 891.
Scleroptera gariepensis, Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 245
(1872).
Francolinus jugularis, Biittikofer, Notes Leyd. Mus. xi, pp. 76, 77, pl. 4
(1889); Schaeck, Mem. Soc. Zool. Fr. iv, p. 342 (1891); Grant, Ibis,
1890, p. 348, 1892, p. 45; id. Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 156 (1893); id.
Game Bds. i, p. 121 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 181 (1896) ;
Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 489 (1901).
Description.—Closely resembling F’. gariepensis, but rather paler
both above and below and with the chestnut spots on the breast
hardly developed except on the upper chest and flanks, where they
are much smaller and less conspicuous.
Length 13:0; wing 6:9; tail 3-20; tarsus 1°45; culmen 1:1.
Distribution—This bird takes the place of. the Orange River
Francolin in the extreme western portion of our area, being found
throughout German South-west Africa and Southern Angola. It
was obtained at Reheboth in Gt. Namaqualand by Andersson, and
at Mutschumi in the Kalahari by Fleck.
Habits—Andersson gives the following account: “I only met
with this beautiful Francolin on the high tablelands of Damara and
Great Namaqualand, but there it is frequently very abundant in
coveys usually of six or eight individuals, though sometimes as few
as three birds, and at others as many as fourteen compose the
covey.
‘‘These Francolins invariably frequent grassy slopes sprinkled
with dwarf bush; they lie very close, and after having been once
or twice flushed, are not easily found again, even with the assistance
of dogs. They feed on bulbs, grass, berries and seeds, and their
flesh is very good for the table.”
Fleck, who gives us a somewhat similar account, states that it
208 PHASIANIDE FRANCOLINUS
has a loud cry, heard in early morning and shortly after sundown, as
follows: ‘‘O-ti-pidlib, O-ti-pidlid, O-ti-pidlib.”’
653. Francolinus shelleyi. Shelley's Francolin.
Francolinus gariepensis (nec Smith) Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 861 [Umfuli
River]; Butler, Feilden, and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 338.
Francolinus shelleyi, Grant, Ibis, 1890, p. 848, 1892, p. 45; zd. Cat.
B. M, xxii, p. 157, pl. 6 (1893); id. Game Birds, i, p. 121 (1896) ;
Schaeck, Mem. Soc, Zool. Fr. iv, p. 847 (1891); Shelley, B. Afr.
i, p. 181 (1896); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 262; Reichenow, Vig. Afr.
i, p. 490 (1901).
Francolinus levaillanti, Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 161 (1899).
“Thorn Red-wing ” of Natalians; ‘“Isendele’’ of the Zulus
(Millar).
Description.cMuch resembling F. gariepensis on the upper
surface but rather darker and blacker; below the throat is white
surrounded by the usual black line, usually with a patch of black
and white feathers on the crop; the chest and flanks are chestnut,
most of the feathers with paler inner webs barred with black ; the
centre of the breast is mottled black and white, the black in V-
shaped markings, tending to form transverse bars; thighs, vent and
under tail-coverts pale buff irregularly barred with darker.
Iris dark brown, bill grey, base of lower mandible yellow, legs
yellow; a sharp tarsal spur,
Length about 12:0 ; wing 6:8; tail 3-10; tarsus 1:4; culmen 1:2.
The female is like the male, but has no spur, or only a blunt
tubercle.
Distribution.—Shelley’s Francolin replaces the Orange River
Francolin on the eastern side of our region, extending from Natal to
Mashonaland ; north of the Zambesi it has been found in Nyasa-
land and German East Africa, as far north as Zanzibar.
The following are recorded localities: Natal—near Durban,
June (Millar), near Colenso, November (Reid); Swaziland (Buckley);
Rhodesia—Umfuli River, September, whence came the type
(Ayres), Chiromwe on the Zambesi (Stoehr in 8. A. Mus.) ; Portu-
guese Hast Africa—Inhambane (Peters).
Habits——Mr. Millar informs me that this bird is generally
distributed throughout Natal, frequenting the coast-lands as well as
the “thorns” up country; like most other Francolins it calls at
dawn and late at night with a clear and distinct whistle. The
PHASIANIDE FRANCOLINUS 209
covey consists ag a rule of two or three brace; they nest in the
grass or in the vicinity of some old field which they frequent ; Mr.
Millar found a nest on August 8, which contained five fresh eggs
these were minutely spotted, and measured 1:5 x 1:0.
Mr. J. ffolliott Darling writes me that this Francolin is widely
distributed in Mashonaland and is found in every sort of country,
except near the vleis; it is probably most abundant in lightly
wooded country ; sometimes a covey will haunt a bare kopje without
a bush on it or scarcely a blade of grass; there the birds would
hide between the stones and rocks, and so close do they lie, even
when a dog points to them, that it is often possible to catch them
in the hand; the Mashonas often follow them and, watching where
they pitch, kill them with sticks. They are fond of digging up roots
of grass in the dry season and become very fat in consequence ;
they also gorge themselves on locusts.
The nest is a slight structure of dry grass in a shallow
depression, sometimes in the open, sometimes under the shelter of a
small bush. Mr. Darling has found eggs in every month from June
to November, and states that the clutches average four.
654. Francolinus adspersus. fed-billed Francolin.
Francolinus adspersus, Waterhouse, in Alexanders Eaped. Int, Afr
fi, p. 267, with fig. (1838); Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 269 (1867); 2d.
Ibis, 1869, p. 875; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 590 (1884) ;
Schaeck, Mem. Soc. Zool. Fr. iv, p. 358 (1891); Grant, Ibis, 1892,
p. 46; id. Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 159, pl. vii, (1893); id. Game Birds, i,
p. 124 (1896); Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 104 (1892);
Bryden, Gun and Camera, pp. 282, 470 (1893); Fleck, Journ.
Ornith. 1894, pp. 242-8, 891; Shelley B. Afr. i, p. 181 (1896);
Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 474 (1901).
Scleroptera adspersa, Gurney, in Andersson's B, Damaral. p. 247
(1872).
Description. Adult Male.—Whole of the upper surface, except
the upper part of the mantle finely vermiculated, with brown and
dirty white ; primaries brown, not vermiculated ; lores and feathers
in front of the eye nearly black; whole of the lower surface,
including the sides of the neck and mantle, very finely barred with
brown and white.
Tris brown, bare skin round eye pale yellow, bill, legs and feet
coral red; toes and spurs purple; tarsus with sharp spur in the
male.
Length 18:0; wing 7:0; tail 3-5; culmen 1:07; tarsus 1-7.
14 VOL. IV.
210° PHASIANIDE FRANCOLINUS
Young birds have the mantle similar to the rest of the upper
parts; some of the scapulars blotched with black at the extremities,
and the under parts brownish white, finely vermiculated with black ;
the bill is dark purple and legs paler than in the adult.
Distribution.—The Red-billed Francolin was first obtained by
Sir James Alexander in the early part of the last century in
Great Namaqualand; it is spread all over German South-west
Africa as far as southern Angola, and extends eastwards throughout
the Northern Kalahari to the upper waters of the Limpopo and
Marico Rivers in the North-west Transvaal.
The following are localities: Transvaal—Limpopo and Marico
Rivers (Nicolls and Eglington) ; Bechuanaland—north of Molopo
(Bryden), Notwani River (Nicolls and Eglington), Botletli River
(Bryden); German South-west Africa—Great Fish River in Great
Namaqualand (Alexander, type), Otjimbinque and Walvisch Bay
(Andersson in Bt. and §. A. Mus.).
Habits —This bird, which replaces the so-called Pheasant of the
Colony in German South-west Africa and the Kalahari is found in
coveys of from ten to fourteen individuals usually in very thick bush
and never far from water; it is one of the most difficult of the
Francolins to flush, and when this is done, it almost invariably takes
refuge among the thickest branches of a tree or bush, where it
remains motionless and concealed till the danger is past.
It is a very swift runner, and is not shy, being seen not in-
frequently among Native kraals picking up fallen grain.
It feeds early in the morning and late in the evening on seeds,
berries and insects ; its voice is a “ succession of hysterical laughs,
at first slow, but increasing in rapidity and strength till suddenly
they cease.” The eggs are laid on the ground, in a slight hollow
under the shelter of a bush. Fleck found one nest with ten, another
with only four eggs; in the latter case incubation was almost com-
pleted. The eggs are stated by Layard to be rather peculiarly
shaped, being truncated at both ends, and the shell being very
thick, dense and heavy ; the colour is a pale creamy white and the
measurements 1:6 x 1-1.
655. Francolinus capensis. Noisy Francolin or Cape Pheasant.;
Tetrao capensis, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i, p. 759 (1788).
Perdix clamator, Temm. Pig. et Gall. iti, pp. 298, '717 (1815).
Perdix capensis, Burchell, Travels i, p. 270 (1822); Grill, K. Vet.
Akad. Handl. ii, no. 10, p. 52 (1858).
Franeolinus clamator, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 268 (1867); Sharpe, ed
PHASIANID FRANCOLINUS 211
Layard’s B.S. Afr. pp. 591, 854 (1884); Bryden, Kloof and Karoo,
p- 808 (1889) ; Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsm. 8. Afr. p. 105, fig. 42
(1892).
Francolinus capensis, Shelley, Ibis, 1875, pp. 62, 85; Schaeck, Mem.
Soc. Zool. Fr. iv, p. 848 (1891); Grant, Ibis, 1892, p. 48; id. Cat.
B. M. xxii, p. 165 (1898) ; id. Game Birds i, p. 129 (1896); Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 181 (1896); Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 473 (1901);
Oates, Cat. B. Eggs B. M. i, p. 89 (1901).
‘“ Pheasant ”’ of the English, “‘ Fazant”’ of the Dutch Colonists.
Description. Adult Male.—Above very dark brown, almost black,
the feathers of the crown slightly edged and tipped with lighter,
those of the back and wings with V-shaped or narrow wavy bands
Fic, 65.—Head of Francolinus capensis, x +
of ashy or pale rufous-white giving a scaly look to the upper surface ;
feathers of the sides of the face and neck, chin and throat black
edged with white; feathers of the upper breast marked like those
of the back ; lower breast and rest of the lower surface black with
conspicuous white shaft marks and white edgings and mottlings to
all the feathers.
Iris reddish-brown ; bill dark horn, lower mandible orange to
yellow ; legs dark yellow; tarsus usually with a pair of blunt spurs.
Females as a rule without spurs, though in exceptional cases,
probably very old birds, they are sometimes found.
212 PHASIANID FRANCOLINUS
Length (female) 16:5; wing 7:75; tail 3-75 ; tarsus 2°25 ; culmen
1-1; the male is a little larger, wing 8:0; tail 4:10.
Distribution.—This is the largest of the South African Fran-
colins; it is found only within the Cape Colony, and chiefly in the
southern and south-western portions of it.
The following are localities. Cape Colony—Cape division
(Victorin), Stellenbosch, Worcester and Caledon (8. A. Mus.),
Ceres and Tulbagh (L. Peringuey), Uitenhage (Bryden), Karee
river in Sutherland (Burchell), Orange river (Bradshaw).
This Francolin is very abundant on Robben Island in Table Bay,
where it was introduced many years ago.
Habits.—The Cape Pheasant is found chiefly in the maritime
districts; it is especially abundant in bushy kloofs and along
water courses, where there is a thick growth of rank vegetation and
low underwood. It is common in the immediate vicinity of Cape
Town. Like the Red-billed Francolin it is flushed with great
difficulty, preferring to squat or to run when possible ; it resorts to
the lower branches of thick trees, and there remains concealed just
beyond the reach of dogs; like other Francolins it feeds early and
late on tender shoots, especially of green fern, as well as on grain
and on insects. Its voice is a loud and drawn out chuckle, generally
heard when disturbed and flying off to shelter.
The nest is placed on the ground, usually under a bush; eight
~to fourteen eggs are laid of a greenish-brown or brownish-cream
colour; they measure 1:95 to 1:8 x 1:5 to 1:4, according to Oates.
656. Francolinus natalensis. Natal Francolin.
Francolinus natalensis, Smith, S. Afr. Quart. Jowrn. ii, p. 48
(1834) ; td. Illws. Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pl. 18 (1838); Gurney, Ibis,
1860, p. 214 [Natal]; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 273 (1867); Gurney,
Ibis, 1868, p. 467 [Transvaal]; Layard, Ibis, 1869, p. 875; Buckley,
Ibis, 1874, p. 887; Drummond, Large Game, p. 414 (1875) ; Barratt,
Ibis, 1876, p. 209 ; Ayres, Ibis, 1880, p. 110; Oates, Matabeleland,
p. 828 (1881); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8, Afr. p. 592 (1884); Ayres,
Ibis, 1886, p. 292; Schaeck, Mem. Soc. Zool. Fr. iv, p. 845 (1891) ;
Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 105, pl. xi, fig. 58
(1892); Bryden, Gun and Camera, p. 478 (1893); Grant, Ibis, 1892,
p. 49; id. Cat. B. M. xxii, p.-166 (1893); id. Game Birds i, p. 180
(1896) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 181 (1896); Woodward Bros., Natal B.
p. 162 (1899) ; Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 446; Reichenow, Vog. Afr.
i. p. 475 (1901).
PHASIANIDE FRANCOLINUS 213
Perdix lechoho, Smith, Rep. Exped. C. Afr. p. 54 (1836).
“Coast Partridge” of Natal; “‘Namaqua Pheasant” of Transvaal
Boers; ‘“Insekvehle’’ of Zulus; ‘“Lesogo” (z.¢., Lesoho) of
Bechuanas.
Description. Adult.—Crown sepia-brown, sides and nape of the
neck darker brown with whitish edgings to the feathers; rest of the
upper surface pale brown, vermiculated with darker, most of the
feathers of the mantle and wings with reddish-brown shafts and
conspicuous dark brown shaft-marks, primaries brown not mottled ;
ear-coverts buffy-brown, sides of the face and neck, chin and throat
white spotted with black ; rest of the lower surface white, barred
and motiled with black, varying in arrangement from transverse to
V-shaped bars in different individuals.
Tris dark hazel; bill and legs coral-red; male with one or two
tarsal spurs; if the latter the second pair blunt; females usually
without spurs.
Length 13:5; wing 6°75; tail 3°5; tarsus 1:9; culmen 1-05.
The female is smaller, wing 6:3.
Distribution.—The Natal Francolin takes the place of the Cape
Pheasant in the Eastern portion of our area, being found in Natal,
Swaziland, the Transvaal and Bechuanaland, and extending proba-
bly to Rhodesia, though not yet definitely recorded thence ; it has
been met with, however, on the Zambesi by Alexander.
The following are recorded localities: Natal—near Durban
(Smith, type, and Ayres); Transvaal—Swaziland (Bt. Mus.), Lim-
popo and Marico river (Smith and Ayres), Rustenburg (Ayres) ;
Bechuanaland — Mahura’s country (Arnot), Makalapsi rivcr in
Bamangwato (Oates); Portuguese Hast Africa—Matacania on the
Zambesi (Alexander).
Habits.—Like the Cape Pheasant and the Red-billed Francolin,
this is essentially a bush-loving bird, being found only where there
is dense underwood, as along the courses of rivers or in Natal along
the sea coast. It is a good runner and shy and difficult to obtain ;
at night it roosts in the trees, while, if flushed, its flight is straight
and strong. It feeds at sunrise and sunset on seeds and insects,
and is often seen in the neighbourhood of native kraals, where it
resorts to obtain Kaffir corn. The Woodwards state that its call
is a pleasing one; Ayres likens it to that of the Guinea fowl.
Two eggs sent to Mr. Layard from Mahura’s Country by Mr.
Arnot and now in the South African Museum are some what rounded
very pale brown and immaculate, and measure 1°68 x 1-4.
914 PHASIANIDES PTERNISTES
Mr. Millar sends me the following note on this bird: ‘ The
Natal Pheasant is very common and plentiful along the coast; it
frequents bush-land, cane-fields and deserted ground; the coveys
usually consist of two or three brace, and when flushed nearly
always make for the bush, settling on trees and brambles and wait-
ing until the davger has passed, when they call to one another and
again congregate. The note is loud and harsh, several of the covey
often joining in the chorus. They nest on the ground, laying a
creamy white egg measuring 1°75 x 1:25; a nest’ found on the
20th June near Durban contained three fresh eggs.”’
Genus II. PTERNISTES.
Type.
Pternistis, Wagler, Isis, 1832, p. 1229 0... eee P. nudicollis.
This genus resembles Francolinus except for the fact that the
throat is completely bare of feathers, and frequently brightly
coloured.
Nine species, all confined to Africa, are recognised by Grant; of
these, three are South African.
Key of the Species.
A, Feathers surrounding the bare throat not white
nor contrasting with their neighbours.
a. Feathers of the breast and belly with white
centres and black or rufous edges............000008 P. nudicollis, p. 214.
b. Feathers of the breast and belly brown, with
darker brown centres, and in some cases rufous-
HYOWMEUSINGS: jeccsisncavaapnaaie cd cedeaeaesernneseoess P. swainsoni, p. 217.
B. Yeathers surrounding the bare throat pure white,
forming a marked ring..........ccccesccsecceuseusceeeeees P. humboldti, p. 216.
657. Pternistes nudicollis. Red-necked Francolin.
Tetrao nudicollis, Bodd. Tabl. Pl. Enl. p. 11 (1788).
Perdix nudicollis, Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stockh. ii, no. 10, p. 52:
(1858) [Knysna].
Francolinus nudicollis, Layard, B. 8S. Afr. p. 268 (1867); id. Ibis,
1869, p. 875; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 209; Holub & Pelzeln, Orn.
Siid-Afr. p. 187 (1882); Bryden, Kloof and Karoo p. 811 (1889);
Schaeck, Mem. Soc. Zool. Fr. iv, p. 814: (1891).
Pternistes nudicollis, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B, S. Afr. p. 589 (1884) ;
PHASIANIDZS PTERNISTES 915
» Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 104 (1882); Grant, Ibis,
1892, p. 53; id. Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 174 (1893); id. Game Bas. i,
p. 186 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 179 (1896); Woodward Bros.,
Natal B. p. 163 (1899); Reichenow. Vog. Afr. i, p. 461 (1901); Oates,
Cat. B. Egqs, i, p. 40 (1901).
“ Pheasant” ati Knysna, in other parts of the country generally known
as the ‘‘ Red-necked Pheasant.”
Description. Adult Male.—General colour above, brown, on
the nape with white edgings to some of the feathers, those of the
mantle, wings and rest of the upper surface with strongly marked
dark brown centres ; wing-quills brown ; sides of the face including
a line over the eye and forehead black; upper breast ashy with
black centres to the feathers; lower breast and flanks black and
white; the black along the shaft and edges, the white in two narrow
bands on both sides of the shaft; abdomen and under tail-coverts
brown, with darker shaft-marks like the back.
Iris brown, bare skin round the eye and on the throat bright
crimson; bill and legs orange-red, a pair of sharp, strong tarsal
spurs. Length 15; wing 8-25; tail 3-45; culmen 1:3; tarsus 2°45.
In the female the feathers on the nape and sides of the neck are
more strongly edged with white; the bird is smaller and has no
spurs. Length 15; wing 7:5.
In a young male in the South African Museum, the feathers of
the lower breast and flanks are broadly edged with rich dark
chestnut.
Distribution.—This bird is found only along the south coast of
the Colony in the more thickly wooded districts from Swellendam
to Natal. It has been recorded from Lydenburg, in the Transvaal,
but probably in error.
The following are recorded localities : Cape Colony—Swellendam
and George (Layard), Knysna (Victorin), Willowmore (Bryden),
Albany (S. A. Mus.), Port Elizabeth (Rickard), East London
(Wood), King William’s Town (Trevelyan and Pym); Natal—Up-
country districts (Woodward), Dargle, June (Millar); Transvaal—
Lydenburg (Barratt).
Habits.—Little of any special interest is recorded about the habits
of this bird; it is found only in forest or thick bush, and is seldom
far from water; it has a loud, cackling note, heard at early morn
and in the evening ; when flushed it usually takes refuge in a tree
and conceals itself effectually. It is generally met with in coveys
of from six to twelve birds, these being a family party which only
breaks up at the commencement of the following breeding season.
216 PHASIANID PTERNISTES
The nest is placed in long grass usually at the foot of a bush or tree;
six to eight eggs form the clutch; these are reddish-buff minutely
spotted with dark reddish-brown or purple, and measure 1°55 x 1:15
according to Oates.
My. Millar sends me the following note: ‘These birds apparently
confine themselves to the upper districts of Natal, where they asso-
ciate in pairs or small coveys, frequenting the Yellow-wood forests
in the vicinity of Karkloof, Dargle, and elsewhere; their loud harsh
call is constantly heard during early morning and evening; they are
usually found about the outskirts of the bush, but are not easily
shot, as they seldom venture far from covert, where they imme-
diately take refuge when disturbed, settling on trees or in thickets.
658. Pternistes humboldti. Mumboldi’s Francolin.
Francolinus humboldti, Peters, Monatsb. Akad. Berlin, 1854, p. 184
(Tete); Finsch. € Hartl. Vog. Ost-Afr. p. 581 (1870); Schaeck,
Mem. Soc. Zool. Fr. iv, p. 818 (1891).
Pternistes humboldti, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 589 (1884) ;
Grant, Ibis, 1892, p. 53; td. Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 176 (1893); id. Game
Bads.i, p. 186 (1896) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 179 (1896); W. U. Sclater,
Ibis, 1899, p. 112 [Inhambane]; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 462
1901).
tebe nudicollis (nec Bodd.) Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 262.
“TInkwari” at Inhambane (Peters).
Description. Adult Male.—Forehead, a narrow line above the
eyes and a spot behind the ear-coverts white, separated from the
brown crown by a few black spotted feathers; nape and upper
mantle black with white edgings; rest of the upper surface brown
with darker centres to the feathers, most conspicuous on the middle
of the back ; sides of the face, ear-coverts and a band surrounding
the patch of bare skin on the throat, pure white; sides of the neck
and a line running over the ear-coverts towards the eye, black;
breast and sides of the body ashy-grey, with black centres to the
feathers ; lower breast black, with one or two white shaft marks at
the sides; abdomen and under tail-coverts brown.
Tris dark hazel, bare skin round the eye and on the throat bright
red, approaching vermilion; bill, legs and feet bright red with a
fine lead-coloured pencil line along the junction of the scales of the
tarsus, two pairs of tarsal spurs, the upper pair generally short and
blunt.
Length (in the flesh) 16°75; wing 7-5; tail 3:0; culmen 1-4;
tarsus 2°3.
PHASIANIDE PTERNISTES 217
The female resembles the male in most respects, but the lores
are black and white; there is more white on the breast and belly,
and there are no spurs; wing 7:0; tail 2-9; tarsus 2:2.
In the immature bird the cheeks and sides of the face are white
with black shaft-stripes, and there is a good deal more white on the
breast and abdomen.
Distribution.—This Francolin was first obtained by Dr. Peters
at Tete, on the Zambesi; southward of this it is spread over
Mashonaland and Portuguese East Africa, northward through
Nyasaland and German and British East Africa as far as the river
Tana.
The following are South African localities: Rhodesia—near
Salisbury (Marshall), Mazoe (ffoliott Darling) ; Portuguese East
Africa —Tete (Peters), Inhambane (Francis).
Habits.—Francis found this bird plentiful and common near
Inhambane ; he states that it frequents thick scrubby and inacces-
sible spots during the day, but is always to be found in the Kaffir
gardens early in the morning and late in the evening. On perceiv-
ing anyone, it immediately runs off into the scrub or other thick
stuff and generally rises behind trees or other obstructions, so that
it is difficult to get a shot at it. Like other bush Francolins, on
being suddenly flushed by a dog, it generally takes refuge in the
branches of the nearest tree. It is very fond of scratching up the
ground-nuts in the Kaffir gardens, and also grubs up the roots of the
manioc plant. It is a bird of strong flight and is generally found in
pairs, although often in larger parties, but never more than five or
six individuals together.
Mr. ffoliott-Darling tells me that this species is plentiful along
the banks of rivers and in marshes near Mazoe in Mashonaland; he
also states that the nest is well concealed and more pretentious than
that of most Francolins.
The eggs, according to Reichenow, are smooth, yellowish-white,
covered somewhat sparsely with fine darker spots; they measure
1:65 x 1:40.
659. Pternistes swainsoni. Swainson’s Francolin.
Perdix swainsoni, Smith, Rep. Exped. Centr. Afr. p. 54 (1836).
Francolinus swainsoni, Smith, Ill. Zool. 8. Afr. Aves. pl. 12 (1838) ;
Strickland and P. L. Sclater, Contr. Ornith. 1852, p. 157; Layard,
B. S. Afr. p. 269 (1867); Ayres, Ibis, 1869, p. 297, 1877, p. 346,
1880, p. 109; Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 886 ; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 209;
218 PHASIANID PTERNISTES
Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 8360; Schaeck, Mem. Soc. Zool. Fr. iv, p. 327
(1891).
Pternistes swainsoni, Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 244
(1872); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 587 (1884) ; Ayres, Ibis,
1886, p. 292; Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsm. 8. Afr. p. 102 (1892) ;
Bryden, Gun and Camera, p. 471 (1893) ; Grant, Ibis, 1892, p. 54 ;
id. Cat, B. M. xxii, p. 179 (1898) ; Flech, Journ. Ornith, 1894, p. 891 ;
Grant, Game Birds, i, p. 1839 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 179
(1896); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, pp. 262, 270; Alexander, Ibis, 1900,
p. 445 ; Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 456 (1901).
Description. Adult Male—General colour above umber-brown,
most of the feathers centred and mottled with darker; primaries
plain brown ; feathers round the eye brown edged with grey; ear-
" )
NN
S ay ‘ vi
coverts grey; round the neck a somewhat ill-defined collar of
mottled black and white feathers; below greyish-brown, with dark
brown shaft-marks; the feathers on the abdomen and flanks mostly
margined with rich chestnut.
Iris brown, bare skin round the eye and on the throat
vermilion, the lower mandible also red, rather paler towards the tip,
upper mandible brown, except the nasal operculum, which is red ;
legs and feet black, with a reddish tinge; tarsus with a strong and
sharp spur, and usually a second rudimentary one higher up.
PHASIANID PTERNISTES 219
Length about 13:0; wing 7:25; tail 3:20; culmen 1:20;
tarsus 2°25.
The female resembles the male, but is without the chestnut
edgings to the feathers of the lower breast and flanks, and has no
spurs on the tarsi; wing 6-9; tarsus 1:9.
Distribution.—Swainson’s Francolin was first discovered by
Smith along the rivers south of Kurichane, that is on the northern
slopes of the Magaliesberg. It does not appear to extend its range
much south of this point but to the northwards is common enough
throughout the country up to the Zambesi.
The following are the chief recorded localities : Cape Colony—
Maritzani River, near Mafeking (Bryden); Transvaal—Rustenburg
and Waterberg (Ayres), Zoutspansberg and Sabi River in Lyden-
burg (5S. A. Museum); Bechuanaland—Tati, Jan. (S. A. Mus.);
Rhodesia—Inslungeen (t.e., Shangani) and Quaequae (i.e., Kwekwe),
Rivers (Ayres), Lundi Nuanetzi and Shagari Rivers (Marshall),
Zumbo (Alexander), Sinde River near Victoria Falls (S. A. Mus.) ;
German South-west Africa—Omuveroom to Okavango (Andersson),
Omaruru (Eriksson in §. A. Mus.), Matschawa, west of Ngami
(Fleck). ;
Habits.—This bird very closely resembles the other Bush-
Francolins in its habits; it is never found far from water and bush,
it roosts in trees, and when feeding in the open and disturbed
escapes by running, if possible, towards the shelter of brushwood.
Its ery is frequent and harsh and is heard early in the morning and
in the evening, at which time it also regularly descends to the
watering-places to drink; its food consists of bulbs, seeds, berries
and insects, while Alexander states that on the Upper Zambesi it
does a good deal of damage among the Marpela grain fields of the
natives. Ayres founda nest on June 4, on the Shangani River;
it was placed in rough, high grass near the river in a slight cavity
and was constructed of soft dry grass and feathers; the eggs, six
in number and slightly incubated were a pinkish cream colour,
finely speckled with chalky white, and measured about 16 x 1-4.
Alexander also found a nest on December 23; in this case,
leaves were used to line the nest and the eggs were five in number,
pale dirty green in colour and measured 1:5 x 1:2.
220 PHASIANIDE COTURNIX
Genus III. COTURNIX.
Type.
Coturnix, Bonn., Tabl. Encyl. Méth.i, pp. 1xxxvii,
216 (1790) ..........e Perea eer rere C. communis.
Bill small, short and conical; head and throat fully feathered ;
wings long and pointed, the first primary being almost as long as
the second, which is generally the longest; axillaries white; tarsus
unfeathered; no spurs in either sex; tail very short and soft,
covered by the upper tail-coverts, less than half the length of the
wing and consisting of ten or twelve feathers.
Fic. 67.—Left foot of Coturnia africana. x +
About six species of this genus are generally recognised; they
are spread all over the Old World, including Australia and New
Zealand. Two species are found within our limits, one of which is
generally regarded as merely a subspecies of the common European
Quail.
Contrary to what is usual in this order, the Quails are migratory
in habits.
Key of the Spectes.
A. Outer web of primaries brown, mottled and
barred with buff.
a. With a longitudinal black band on the
EAPO coo ansaiienetewacaesinccuse eve seaceauntrnedicvnien C. africana, 3, p. 221.
6. No black band on the throat... C. africana, 2, p. 221,
B. Outer web of the primaries uniform brown.
a. Centre of breast and belly black............... C. delagorguet, f, p. 224.
6, Centre of breast and belly pale rufous
slightly mottled with darker ...........0...... C. delagorguei, 9, p. 224.
PHASIANIDAS COTURNIX 221
660. Coturnix africana, Cape Quail.
Coturnix vulgaris africana, Temm. ¢ Schleg., Fauna Jap. p. 108 (1850).
Coturnix dactylisonans (nee Temm.) Strickland and Sclater, Contr.
Ornith., 1852, p. 157; Ayres, Ibis, 1860, p. 216; Layard, B.S. Afr.
p. 274 (1867) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1874, p. 103; Barratt, [bis, 1876, p. 208;
Gurney, Ibis, 1878, p. 410; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 824 (1881);
Holub ¢ Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 188 (1882).
Coturnix communis (nec Bonn.), Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 467; id. in
Andersson's B. Damaral., p. 248 (1872); Ayres, Ibis, 1878, p. 298;
Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool., 1882, p. 889; Symonds, Ibis, 1887,
p. 333; Seebohm, Ibis, 1887, p. 342-3; Nicolls and Eglington,
Sportsm. S. A., p. 106 (1892); Bryden, Gun and Camera, p. 474
(1898).
Coturnix capensis, Gray, Handl. Bds. ii, p. 268 (1870); Grant, Ann,
Mag. N. H. (6) x, pp. 167-170 with fig. (1892) ; id. Cat. B. M. xxii, p.
237 (1893); id. Game Bds.i, p. 183 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p.
178 (1896); Woodward Bros., Natal B., p. 164 (1899); Marshall,
Ibis, 1900, p. 262; Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 4 [Deelfontein].
Coturnix coturnix, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. pp. 608, 854 (1884)
Fleck Journ. Ornith., 1894, p. 892; Rendall, Ibis, 1896, p. 175.
Coturnix coturnix africana, Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 506 (1901).
““Kwartel” of the Dutch, “Isagwityi”’ of the Amaxosa (Stanford) ;
“ Kue Kue” of Basutos (Murray).
Fic, 68.—Head of Coturnix africana, 9. x +
Description, Adult Male. In the breeding season. — General
colour above reddish brown varying to black, especially on the
rump and scapulars, many of the feathers with V-shaped cross bars
of yellowish and others with broad longitudinal shaft marks of
almost white ; these latter form a distinct white line along the centre
of the head and neck; primaries, primary coverts and secondaries
blackish-brown, mottled in the former case on the outer webs, in the
latter on both webs with buff; lores and a stripe over the eye buffy-
white; cheeks and sides of the throat rufous; a black patch com-
mencing on the chin and widening out below on the throat; chest
pale rufous with white shaft-marks passing to pure white on the
222 | PHASIANIDAE COTURNIX
abdomen and under tail-coverts; sides of the chest and flanks rich
rufous with white and black shaft lines.
Tris light brown; bill dark, almost black; legs pale pinky
yellow. Length 7:0; wing 3-85; tail 1:60; culmen ‘40; tarsus 1:0.
The female has the throat pure white and unspotted; the sides
of the head and neck, the breast and the flanks are all white, profusely
spotted with black and slightly tinged round the spots with pale
chestnut.
Males in non-breeding plumage and young males differ from the
breeding adults in having no black patch on the throat.
This bird differs from the European Quail (Coturnix communis)
in having the lores, sides of the head, chin and throat rufous instead
of white and in being slightly smaller (wing 3:70 to 3:90 against 4:2).
It is only recently that Mr. Grant has separated the South African
Quail as distinct from the European bird, which is found throughout
the greater part of Hurope and Asia, breeding towards the North
and wintering in Africa and Southern Asia. Mr. Grant further
believes that the European bird reaches our limits and occasionally
interbreeds with our resident Cape subspecies. All the specimens
which I have come across, however, from South Africa are
undoubtedly referable to the red-cheeked Coturnix africana; more-
over there are no specimens of the white-cheeked form from South
Africa in the list of those preserved in the British Museum, though
there are two stated to be intermediate between the subspecies from
the Cape Colony and Natal respectively. This seems to point to
the fact that the true European Quail does not as a rule, at any
rate, extend its migrations so far south as the Zambesi.
Distribution.—The Cape Quail is found all over South Africa
from Cape Town to the Zambesi; beyond our limits it has been
noticed in Nyasaland, Madagascar, the Comoros, Cape Verde and
Canary Islands, Madeira and the Azores.
The following are localities: Cape Colony—Little Namaqualand,
September, October (Howard), Cape division, July, Stellenbosch,
October, Worcester, December (S. A. Mus.), Deelfontein (Seimund),
Middelburg, December to January (Gilfillan), Graham’s Town,
March (Layard), Port Elizabeth (Rickard), King William’s Town
September to January (Trevelyan and Pym), Pondoland, July (S. A.
Mus.), Lady Grey, September to January (Lawrence) ; Natal—near
Durban, April to June (Ayres), Maritzburg, November and Decem-
ber, near Newcastle, May, July, October (Butler, Feilden and
Reid) ; Orange River Colony—Kroonstad, April (Symonds), Vrede-
PHASIANID# COTURNIX 293
fort Road (B. Hamilton), Basutoland, January to September
(Murray); Transvaal—Potchefstroom, March and July (Ayres)
Rustenburg and Pretoria (Barratt), Johannesburg August to
February (Gilfillan), Barberton, February (Rendall); Rhodesia—
near Salisbury (Marshall) ; German South-west Africa—Damara-
land (Andersson), Kalahari, May (Fleck); Portuguese East Africa
—Inhambane (Peters).
Habits.—A certain number of Quails can be found at all times
of the year in most parts of South Africa where suitable conditions
exist, but the bulk of the birds are irregular migrants, the move-
ments of which seem to depend on the rainfall and the consequent
existence of fresh grass; in most cases the migrating flocks remain
about a month or six weeks in one spot and then disappear.
A glance at the list of localities will show how varied are the
times of their appearance. As in HKurope, their migratory move-
ments take place at night, hence the suddenness of their coming
and going so often remarked upon. Layard states that they arrive
in the neighbourhood of Cape Town about the middle or end of
August; at first they are chiefly found about the grassy plains
covered here and there with stunted bush, subsequently, as the corn
springs up, in cultivated fields.
Tkey feed chiefly on grass seeds, but also on insects, and they are
very quick on the wing, though seldom flying far when flushed.
The note, generally heard in the afternoon, is a “ whitt-whitt whitt
whitt,”’’ pronounced sharply with the lips, the second “ whitt”
being accentuated.
The eggs, six to twelve in number, are laid in a depression in
the ground, lined with grass, sometimes in the standing crops,
sometimes under the shelter of a bush; they are a yellowish-brown
spotted with darker brown, sometimes very finely marked, some-
times with the spots forming large, irregular blotches; they measure
on an average 1:15 x ‘90. Eriksson found a nest in the North-
western Transvaal on March 3; in the neighbourhood of the Cape
and most parts of the Colony they breed soon after they arrive in
September or October.
Mr. Wood writes that the Quails arrive in the neighbourhood of
East London as a rule early in September. They hardly make a
nest at all and as often ag not lay their eggs on the bare ground;
the clutch numbers nine or ten; by the middle of November the
young are on the wing and as a rule they will all have moved off
early in December.
294 PHASIANID COTURNIX
661. Coturnix delagorguei. Harlequin Quail.
Coturnix delagorguei, Delagorgue, Voy. Afr. Austr. ii. p, 615 (1847) ;
Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 249 (1872); Oates, Matabele-
land, p. 824 (1881); Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 861-[near Vryburg] ;
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 605 (1884) ; Nicolls and Eglington,
Sporism. S. A. p. 106 (1892) ; Bryden, Gun and Camera, p. 474 (1893) ;
Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 248 (1893); td. Game Birds i, p. 187
(1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 179 (1896); Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p.
445; Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 507 (1901); Tredgold, Proc. Rhod.
Sc. Assoc. iii, p. 8 (1902).
Coturnix histronica, Hartl., Rev. Mag. Zool. i, p. 495 (1849) Layard,
B. S. Afr. p. 275 (1867) ; id. Ibis, 1869, p. 75; Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p.
262.
Coturnix fornasini, Bianc., Spec. Zool. Mosamb. p. 299, pl. 1, fig. 2 (1865).
“ Leguatha” of Matabele (Oates).
Description. Adult Male—General colour above blackish-brown
slightly mottled with rufous about the nape, with narrow paler
transverse bars and conspicuous pale yellow shaft streaks; primaries
blackish-brown not mottled ; a medium black patch extending down
the throat from the chin with two wings bending round to the ear-
coverts separating a white patch on both cheeks and a narrow band
of white running from the ear-coverts round the front of the neck ;
eyebrow white, ear-coverts dusky black; breast and rest of the
lower surface rich chestnut, the whole of the centre of the breast
occupied by a large patch of velvety black; a streak of the same
colour extends on to the flanks.
Iris rich brown ; bill black ; legs salmon.
Length 5:85; wing 3°60; tail 1:0; culmen °45; tarsus ‘95.
The female has the chin and throat white, the sides of the neck
and cheeks buffy white spotted with black, the rest of the lower
surface dull chestnut with black spots and motitlings on the upper
breast and along the flanks.
Mr. Tredgold found the female to be a little larger, averaging
7-06 against 6:8 for the male and also weighing a little more, 3-6
oz. against 3°2 oz.
Distribution.—The Harlequin Quail, which was first discovered
by the French traveller Delagorgue, on the banks of the upper Lim-
popo, and to which he attached his own name, appears to be found
~ over the greater part of Africa from the Island of St. Thomas in the
west and Kordofan and the middle Nile in the east, southwards to
Cape Colony.
Within our limits it is met with chiefly in the eastern half of
PHASIANIDE COTURNIX 225
the Colony, extending northwards to Rhodesia, the Zambesi and
Ovampoland. It is only between the months of October and March
that it is to be seen in any great numbers, though it is possible
to come across a few stray birds at all times of the year. In Hast
and Central Africa it appears to have been obtained during all the
months of the year, but our knowledge of its movements is still very
imperfect.
South African localities are as follows :—Cape Colony—Swellen-
dam, Grahamstown (Layard), East London (Wood), King William’s
Town (Trevelyan), Makara River, near Vryburg (Ayres); Natal
(Bt. Mus.) ; Orange River Colony—near Lindley, breeding December
(Sparrow) ; Transvaal—Upper Limpopo River, February (Dela-
gorgue, type), Marico River (Ayres), Barberton and Swaziland,
November to February (Gilfillan); Bechuanaland — near Lake
Ngami, March (S. A. Mus.); Rhodesia—Bulawayo, October to
March (Oates and Tredgold), near Salisbury, very abundant
February, 1904 (Marshall) ; German South-west Africa—Ondonga,
March (Andersson); Portuguese Hast Africa—Tete (Bt. Mus.),
Chicowa and Kafue River (Alexander).
Habits.—Like the commoner species the Harlequin Quail appears
from time to time in enormous numbers in certain localities, the
movement being probably connected with copious rainfall; it has
certainly been noticed that there is a correspondence between the
rainfall and the appearance of this species in the neighbourhood
of Bulawayo, where during the summer of 1901-2 there was an
immense irruption of these little birds. An account of the matter
has been given by Mr. Tredgold, to whom I am further indebted for
most of the following particulars.
The birds appeared first in December, when they were very thin
and appeared to be somewhat bedraggled after their journey; in
January and February they increased enormously and got into very
good condition; the food consisted almost entirely of little black
grass seeds, together with an occasional caterpillar or termite; the
note was observed to be a double one as opposed to the triple one of
the common Quail. Soon after their arrival they began to breed ;
no nest was made, but the eggs, varying in number from seven to
twelve, were laid on the bare ground under the shelter, as a rule, of
a tuft of grass ; the eggs are very like those of the common Quail,
being dirty white or olive with dark brown spots, these varying
from pin points to considerable splashes ; the female sits very close
all day, leaving her duties only in the evening in order to feed.
According to Kuschel, eggs laid in captivity measure 1-1 x 0:95.
15 VoL. IV
226 PHASIANIDE EXCALFACTORIA
Genus IV. EXCALFACTORIA.
Type.
Excalfactoria, Bp. Comptes Rend. xlii, p. 881 (1856) ... E. chinensis.
This genus resembles Coturnix in most respects but differs in
having a much more rounded wing, the Ist primary being about
equal to the 6th and the difference between the length of the
primaries and secondaries about equal to half the length of the
middle toe; the tail consists of eight very short feathers completely
hidden underneath the upper tail-coverts.
Only three species are known; two of these inhabit Southern
Asia from India to Australia and New Britain; the third is confined
to Africa.
662. Excalfactoria adansoni. Blue Quail.
Coturnix adansonii, Verr., Rev. Mag. Zool. 1851, p. 515; Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 606 (1884).
Excalfactoria adansoni, Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 255 (1893) ; id. Game
Birds i, p. 197 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 178 (1896); Woodward
Bros., Natal B. p. 164 (1899) ; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 509 (1902).
Coturnix emini, Reichenow, Journ. Ornith, 1892, p. 18, pl. 1, fig. 3.
Description. Adult Male-—Crown, neck and back blackish-
brown washed with slate; scapulars, wing-coverts and upper tail-
coverts chestnut with slaty-blue shaft stripes; wing-quills greyish-
brown ; below chin and throat black, cheeks and lower throat white ;
chest and remainder of lower surface slaty-blue with a few patches
of chestnut on the flanks.
Tris red ; bill black ; legs golden yellow.
Length 5:2; wing 3:0; tail 1:12; culmen ‘3; tarsus ‘80.
The female is brownish rufous above, the crown with scaly
marks of buff; back varied with black, each plume with a central
streak of white ; underneath pale fulvous with scaly marks of dusky
fulvous.
Tris reddish-brown ; bill greyish-black ; legs light yellow.
Distribution.—This little Quail has hitherto been found only in
West Africa from the Gold Coast to Gaboon, in Nyasaland and
within our limits in Natal and the eastern part of Cape Colony.
Here the only definite recorded localities are King William’s Town
(Trevelyan) and Pinetown in Natal, March (Ayres).
Habits.—Mr. Hutchinson states that this little Quail is pretty
common in Natal though not appearing every season ; it frequents
PHASIANID & NUMIDA 227
long grass and reeds, breeds in the country and migrates as soon as
the young are old enough to travel. Mr. Crawshay designated it as
a bird of swift and strong flight, twisting on the wing like a common
Quail.
_ Dr. Reichenow found a nest in the Cameroons in West Africa in
November ; it was placed in a slight hollow in the ground, lined
with grass stalks and sheltered by a tussock; the eggs, eight in
number, were light yellowish, blunt and not shiny ; they measured
about ‘80 x -70.
Genus V. NUMIDA.
Type.
Numida, Linn., Syst. Nat., 12th. ed. i, p. 273 (1766) ... N. meleagris.
Head and neck naked, except for a few strong bristles; on the
crown of the head a bony elevation, cylindrical, conical or flattened
—the helmet; a pair of fleshy wattles at the gape of the mouth;
wings very rounded, the primaries shorter than the secondaries,
the first primary shorter than the tenth, the fourth or fifth the
longest; tail of sixteen feathers somewhat rounded; tarsi naked
and stout without spurs. Plumage black, spotted with white.
This genus is confined to Africa and Madagascar; Reichenow
recognises ten species, of these two are found within our area, a
third just enters our limits.
Key of the Species.
A. Bony helmet long, elevated, compressed and
i curved backwards; height 1:0 to 1°5, length
along the base ‘9; no papille between the-
THOS CEILS s,s siniieraiss des eticiathieSia aaeisiha caisinio os oaeR ae aaRRURaMe haw N. coronata, p. 227.
B. Bony helmet elevated, cylindrical and slightly
curved backwards ; height 2°1, length along the
base *55; with papille or warts between the
NOBELILS: sins. coenerevidabynnedveseidatnawedenomiedndegesesamans N. papillosa, p. 231.
C. Bony helmet short, stout and conical; height ‘8,
length along the base "9 .......cceseeeseeee sence eee N. mitrata, p. 232.
- 663. Numida coronata. Crowned Guinea-fowl.
Numida meleagris (nec Linn.) Sparrman, Travels, 8vo ed. ii, p. 20
(1785). ; <<
Numida coronata, Gray, List of B. iii, Gail. p. 29 (1844); Gurney, Ibis,
1868, pp. 253, 463 [Natal] ; Elliot, Mon. Phas. ii, pl. 40 (1870) ;
Ayres, Ibis, 1877, p. 346, 1880, p. 265; Butler, Feilden and Reid,
Zool. 1882, p. 338; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 360 [Mashonaland] ;
228 PHASIANIDE NUMIDA
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s, B. S. Afr. pp. 581, 854 (1884) [in part] ;
Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 8376 (1893); id. Ibis, 1894, p. 536, fig. 2 ;
Distant, ibid. p. 569: Rendall, Ibis, 1896, p. 175; Shelley, B. Afr.i,
p. 183 (1896); Grant, Game Birds, ii, p. 90 (1897); Newmann, Orn.
Monatsb. 1898, p.19 ; Woodward Bros., Natal B. p. 165 (1899) ;
Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 262; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 441, fig. 8
on p. 436 (1901) ; Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, i, p. 63, pl. vii, fig. 2 (1901).
Numida mitrata (nec Pall.) Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 266 (1867).
Numida cornuta, Finsch ¢ Hartl. Vog. Ost-Afr. p. 569 (1870) ;
Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 886; Holub § Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 183
1882).
Re transvaalensis, Neumann, Orn. Monatsb. 1899, p. 26.
Further information regarding this bird may be found in the following
works :—
Burchell, Travels, i, p. 426 (1822); Drummond, Large Game of South
and South-east Africa, p. 415 (1875); Bryden, Kloof and Karoo,
p. 814 (1889) ; id. Gun and Camera, p. 467 (1898); id. Nature and
Sport, p. 67 (1897); Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsman S. A. p. 108,
pl. xi, fig. 58 (1892); Kirby, Hawnts of Wild Game, p. 561 (1896).
*“ Tarantal”’ of Dutch; “Impangele”’ of Amaxosa (Stanford) and Zulus
(Woodward); ‘‘ Dicawka’’ of Bechuanas (Nicolls and Eglington).
Description. Adult—Bony helmet long, curved backwards,
flattened laterally and compressed ; plumage black throughout, with
rounded white spots, smallest on the neck, largest on the abdomen ;
the spots on the back are separated from one another by a network
of dotted white lines; on the secondaries the spots are elongated to
form short bars; head and neck naked, save for a few black bristles
below the eye, round the ear and on the nape.
Tris brown ; bill yellowish-horn ; top of head, base of the helmet
and tip of the gape-wattles red; rest of the head and neck, and
base of the gape-wattles bluish-black; legs and feet dark horn to
black.
Length (of a male in the flesh) 23°5; wing 11-0; tail 6-4; culmen
1:7; tarsus 2‘9. Weight of male about 34 lbs.
The helmet varies considerably in length, in one case measuring
3°25, in another only 2-0 along the upper margin.
The sexes are alike.
Distribution.—This Guinea-fowl is found all over the eastern half
of Cape Colony and Natal, whence it extends northwards to the
Zambesi; here it merges into the East African N. mitrata, while to
the west in German South-west Africa it meets the closely-allied
N. papillosa.
The following are localities: Cape Colony—Middelburg and
Graaf Reinet (S. A. Mus.), Sunday River in Uitenhage (Sparrman
PHASIANIDA NUMIDA 229
and Bryden), Fish River in Albany (Barber), East London (Rickard),
Lady Grey div. (Lawrence), King William’s Town (Trevelyan),
Orange River at Upington (Bradshaw), near Douglas (Burchell),
near Kimberley and Kuruman (8. A. Mus.), Setlagoli River, near
Mafeking (Bryden); Natal—about Escourt and Ladysmith (Butler,
Feilden and Reid), rare along the coast, Ubombo in Zululand
(Woodward) ; Orange River Colony—Rhenoster River (Ayres),
Fig. 69.—Head of Numida coronata. x 14
Dornkop, breeding November (Sparrow); Transvaal—Lydenburg
district (Rendall), Potchefstroom (Ayres in 8. A. Mus.), Rustenburg
(Ayres); Bechuanaland—Bamangwato (Buckley), Notwani and
Botletli Rivers (Nicolls and Eglington) ; Rhodesia—near Salisbury
(Marshall).
This Guinea-fowl has been introduced into the woods on the
slopes of Table Mountain by Mr. Rhodes, and also into the Stellen-
bosch district, and ig now very abundant in both these places, but
there is no reason to believe that it was found there originally. It
930 PHASIANIDE i NUMIDA
has also been introduced into the plantations round Johannesburg,
where it is preserved for shooting. Ashy birds with white feathers
are often found among these coveys, and are probably due to the
admixture of the domestic breed.
Habits.—The Guinea-fowl is gregarious, being found, especially
in the dry season, in large flocks of as many as 200 birds; it usually
resorts to the scrubby bush which borders streams and rivers, and,
as a rule, is seldom far from water ; if disturbed in the open it runs
with great rapidity, faster than a man on foot, and takes refuge in
the bush, perching on the lower branches of trees, where it can be
easily seen and obtained ; it is difficult to flush, though, if this can be
managed, it is an easy bird to shoot, as it is somewhat heavy on
the wing.
During the day it is usually found in the open, where it obtains
its food, consisting of grass and other roots as well as insects, such
as locusts and their eggs; it is specially fond of small bulbs.
Bryden states that the Bushmen in Bechuanaland, when they kill
these birds, cut out the crops, which are full of these bulbs, and
skewer them together and hang them up to dry, as they consider
them a particularly dainty morsel. As a rule the Guinea-fowl
drinks once every twenty-four hours, resorting in the evening to the
nearest water and then retiring to roost on a tree for the night.
Their cry, ‘‘ Kek, kek, kek,” is heard morning and evening and is
very monotonous. The eggs, which are laid on the ground in a small
rounded depression, generally sheltered by long grass or scrub, are
from seven to ten in number (Andersson and Pym state fifteen to
twenty); they are somewhat sharply pointed at the small end and
rounded at the other, and are of a pale brown colour with the pores
darker, forming a series of pin points. They measure about 1:7 x
1:42; the breeding season is usually in September in the Colony,
though Major Sparrow took some fresh eggs at Dornkop, in the
Orange River Colony, on November 27, which he preeee to the
South African Museum.
The Guinea-fowl is tame and easily domesticated, and is often
found on farms; sometimes the eggs are taken and placed under
hens, sometimes the young chicks are caught, but it is stated that
they never breed in captivity nor do they mate with the domestic
race. The latter can be distinguished at once by their smaller size
and by their white primaries and breast, and were probably origin-
ally derived from the West African species (N. meleagris).
At the same time Distant states that he has seen among the
PHASIANIDE NUMIDA 931
numerous wild Guinea-fowls brought into the Pretoria market for
sale an individual with white quills though without the charac-
teristic white breast.
664. Numida papillosa, Damaraland Guinea-fowl.
Numida cornuta (nec Finsch ¢& Hartl.) Gurney, in Andersson's B.
Damaral. p. 238 (1872); Grant, Cat. B.M. xxii, p. 878 (1893); id.
Game Birds ii, p. 92 (1897).
Numida coronata, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 581 (1884) [in
part].
Numida papillosa, Reichenow, Orn. Monatsb. 1894, p. 145; Fleck,
Journ. Ornith, 1894, pp. 389, 390 [with col. fig. of head] ; Neumann,
Orn. Monatsb., vi, p. 20 (1898); Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 444,
fig. 7, on p. 486 (1901).
py Mihi int
¢ A i ane oN
Lil Na
Fic. 70.—Head of Numida papillosa. x 4}
2
Description.—Resembling N. coronata but with the bony helmet
more elevated, almost cylindrical and not flattened. Iris dark
932 PHASIANIDE NUMIDA
brown ; naked skin of the face clear blue, helmet vermilion, naked
part of the neck purplish-blue, wattles the same, scarlet at the tips;
a number of small wattles on top of the beak between the nostrils ;
beak light brown, feet dark greyish.
Length 22:0; wing 10-9; tail 6:3; tarsus 2-7; helmet, height
from middle of base 2:1; along the base 55.
Distribution.—This bird takes the place of the commoner Guinea-
fowl (which it closely resembles) in German South-west Africa from
‘Great Namaqualand to the Cunene, extending eastwards into the
Kalahari some distance; it has also been obtained in the
Mossamedes province of Angola.
Habits. —In this respect the Damaraland bird doubtless resembles
the common form. Fleck states that he found a nest of this specieS
on February 27, containing sixteen eggs; the nest was in a hollow
in the sand and the eggs were thick in the shell, creamy brown
without darker spots. Some of these were hatched out under a hen
and the following year a pair of these young birds bred and pro-
duced nine young ones. This contradicts the prevalent idea in
South Africa that these birds will not breed in captivity.
665. Numida mitrata. Hast African Guinea-fowl.
Numida mitrata, Pallas, Spic. Zool. fasc. iv, p. 18, pl. 8 (1767); Kirk,
Ibis, 1864, p. 830; Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 878 (1893); id. Game
Birds ii, p. 94 (1897); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 183 (1896); Alexander,
Ibis, 1900, p. 447; Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i. p. 488 (1901).
“ Inkanka”’ of Zambesi natives (Alexander).
Description.—Closely resembling N. coronata, but distinguished
by the shape of the helmet, which is small, conical and stumpy, only
about *5 inch high; the feathers round the base of the neck are
finely barred with black and white. Iris black. Top of the head
scarlet, helmet paler, naked skin of the side of the face and neck
blue, wattles blue, red-tipped; bill yellowish-horn, legs and feet
brownish-horn.
Length about 22; wing 10:7; tail 5-2; tarsus 2°8..
Distribution.—EHast Africa from the Zambesi northwards to
Mombasa. Also found in Madagascar, the Comoro Islands and
Rodrigues, where it has probably been introduced.
Within our limits it has been obtained by Alexander along the
Zambesi and is specially recorded from Tete.
PHASIANIDE GUTTERA 233
Fig. 71.—Head of Numida mitrata. x 13
Genus VI. GUTTERA.
Type.
Guttera, Wagl., Isis, 1832, p. 1225 «0... G. cristata.
Head and neck naked and bare, except for an elongated crest of
curly black feathers along the middle line from the base of the bill
to the occiput ; gape wattles present or absent; wing, tail and legs
as in Numida. Plumage as in Numida except that the first four
or five secondaries are margined with white.
Four species of this purely African genus are recognised ; only
one of these comes within our limits.
666. Guttera edouardi. Crested Guinea-fowl.
Numida cristata (nec Pall.) Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 830; Layard, B.S.
Afr. p. 267 (1867) ; Drummond, Large Game S. E. Afr. p. 415 (1875).
Numida edouardi, Hartlaub, Journ. Ornith. 1867, p. 36; ad. Ibis, 1870,
p. 444; P. L. Sclater, P.Z.S. 1871, p. 495.
Numida pucherani (nec Hartl.) Sharpe, ed Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 586
(1884),
234 PHASIANIDA GUTTERA
Numida verreauxi, Elliot, Ibis, 1870, p. 800 [Natal] ; P. L. Sclater,
P.Z.S. 1870, p. 883; Layard, Ibis, 1871, p. 105 [Zululand]; Elliot,
Monogr. Phas. ii, pl. 44 (1872); Gurney, Ibis, 1878, p. 255; Sharpe,
ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 585 (1884); Seebohm, Ibis, 1887, p. 350;
Woodward Bros., Natal Birds, p. 165 (1899).
Guttera edouardi, Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 382 (1898); Shelley, B.
Afr. i, p. 183 (1896); Rendall, Ibis, 1896, p. 175; Sharpe, Ibis, 1897,
p. 516 [Swaziland]; Grant, Game Bds. ii, p. 98 (1897); W. DL.
Sclater, Ibis, 1899, p. 112 [Inhambane] ; Alexander, Ibis, 1800, p.
448; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 451 (1901); P. L. Sclater, P.Z.8.
1901, p. 1 [Wankies].
Numida sp. P. L. Sclater, P.Z.S. 1890, p. 86, pl. xii[nr. Victoria Falls].
“ Inkankatori ” of the Zambesi natives (Alexander). .
Description. Adult Male.—Crown of the head with a crest of
curly erect black feathers extending from the base of the beak to the
occiput; the rest of the head and the greater part of the neck bare ;
feathers on the lower neck forming a black collar slightly washed
with chestnut, the collar extending downwards and over the upper
part of the breast; rest of the plumage black with little round spots
of bluish white and faint indications of chestnut ones interspersed,
the feathers all narrowly edged with the same colour; primaries
dark brown, four or five of the outer secondaries broadly edged with
dirty white, all the secondaries with longitudinal parallel lines of
pale blue formed by confluent spots.
Tris bright blood red; bill yellowish-horn; base and bare parts
of head and neck shiny leaden-black, a loose flap of skin below the
occiput extending forwards over the ear-openings almost to the gape
“dirty bluish-white ; legs black.
Length 20:0; wing 10-5; tail 4-5; culmen 1:12; tarsus 2°80.
Distribution.—The Crested Guinea-fowl is found only in one or
two districts of Natal, whence its range extends to the Zambesi and
Nyasaland.
The following are recorded localities: Natal—Karkloof Forest,
near Howick (Hutchinson), Coastlands north of Durban (Ayres) ;
Zululand—Umgoye Forest and St. Lucia Bay (Layard) ; Transvaal—
Zambana’s country on Swaziland border (Woodward); Rhodesia—
Wankies (Zool. Soc.) near Victoria Falls (Kirk and Reid); Portu-
guese East Africa—Inhambane (Francis in S. A. Mus.), Shupanga
(Kirk) and Zumbo (Alexander) on the Zambesi.
Habits—This bird, which is far handsomer than the common
Guinea-fowl, is found in small flocks of seven or eight individuals
and frequents only the very densest and thickest bush.
FHASIANIDE ~ GUPTERA 235
Mr. Alexander gives the following account of it :-—‘ By nature
this bird is far more. retiring than the Helmeted Guinea-fowl and
possesses even a greater aptitude for running, seldom making use of
flight. We were fortunate enough to obtain two specimens of. this
species near the river, above Zumbo, while on another océasion,
when pitching our tent for the night we heard a flock close to the
water and not far off another one, but of the Helmeted species
(Numida mitrata), enabling us to observe to a nicety the difference
between the cries of the two species. The call of the former, other-
wise the same as the latter, was varied now and again by a
tremulous whistle towards nightfall and kept up long after night
had set in.
“The Zambesi natives look upon this bird with a certain amount
of superstition. Nothing would induce them to eat it, and they
told us that its flesh was poisonous.”
936 TURNICIDE TURNIX
Order XIII. HEMIPODII.
The members of this little group, sometimes known as Button-
Quails, closely resemble the true Quails externally in shape and
plumage, but the birds are a good deal smaller, and (in the only
South African genus) the hind toe or hallux is absent. Asa rule
the female is larger and more brightly coloured, and the male per-
forms the duty of incubation. The eggs are laid on the ground,
with little or no attempt at a nest, and the young are hatched
covered with down, and able to run at once.
The following are the principal anatomical characters—Skull
egithognathous and schizorhinal: vertebre all distinct from one
another; sternum with only one deep notch on each side pos-
teriorly ; aftershaft present; oil gland tufted; accessory femoro-
caudal muscle absent (in Turniz).
There are only two genera, which are in many respects very
distinct from one another, and should perhaps be placed in separate
families. As, however, only one of these (Turnix) is represented in
South Africa, its position as regards the other (Pedionomus), which
is confined to Australia, is immaterial to our purpose.
Family I. TURNICIDA.
Genus I. TURNIX.
Type.
Turnix, Bonnat. Tabl. Encycl. Méth. i, pp. \xxxii, 5
(L790) cee ecieckatlt ae tihettn vet aac ean ca sim aoe getcetine T. sylvatica.
Bill slender and straight; wings somewhat rounded, the first
three primaries about equal in the African species; tarsus bare ;
three toes only, the hallux being absent.
Some twenty-one species of this genus, spread over Southern
Europe, Asia and Australia, from Spain to China and Tasmania,
and the whole of Africa including Madagascar, are known; three
of these are found within our limits.
Key of the Species.
A. Scapulars margined with white or greyish-
white; a rusty patch on the chest, the
black spots confined to the sides of the
breastisnssesnseaevaswns swwemiemaeaas wesutawnaanas T. lepurana, p. 288.
TURNICIDE TURNIX 237
B. Scapulars margined with golden-buff.
a. Throat white, breast thickly spotted with
DIG seer ccieck sannovassdennanaeenanwades tots tautewes T. hottentotta 3, p. 237.
b. Throat and breast rufous, spots not very
TUT GEOUS © 25.0% aise reajaveiswajaanreeneseeas alecenes T. hottentotta 9, p. 287.
c. Throat white, no spots, sides of the breast
barred T. nana, p. 240.
Fic. 73.—Left foot of Turnix lepurana. x +
667. Turnix hottentotta. Hotientot Hemipode.
Hemipodius hottentottus, Temm. Pig. et Gall. iii, pp. 636, 757 (1815).
Turnix hottentottus, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 276 (1867); id. Ibis, 1869,
p. 375; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 607 (1884) ; Grant, Ibis,
1889, p. 464; id. Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 542 (1893) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i,
p. 178 (1896); Grant, Game Bas. ii, p. 275 (1897) ; Reichenow, Vég.
Afr. i, p. 303 (1900).
“Sand Quail’’ of English, ‘‘ Reit Quartel”’ of Dutch Colonists.
Description. Adult Male.—General colour above, dark rufous ;
most of the feathers barred with black and edged with white, giving
a general mottled appearance; scapulars conspicuously margined
with golden-buff; wing-quills blackish-brown, the outer primary
strongly margined with white; lores, space round the eye and
cheeks mottled buff and white, chin and throat white; rest of the
under parts also white, covered with semicircular black spots, most
numerous on the chest; a slight wash of pale buff on the chest as
well; tail elongated and pointed.
Length 6:0; wing 2:90; tail 1-40; culmen ‘40; tarsus ‘90.
In the female the chin, throat and chest are rusty-rufous and
the abdomen and under tail-coverts white, the spots are very much
fewer in number, in one specimen being almost absent. Wing 3:2.
Distribution.—This bird is apparently confined to the southern
portion of the Cape Colony; it does not seem to reach Natal, nor
has it hitherto been met with north of the Orange River.
238 TURNICIDE TURNIX
The following are localities: Cape division, July (S. A. Mus.),
Swellendam (Atmore), George (Bt. Mus.), Port Elizabeth and East
London (Rickard) ; possibly the other species (7. nana) and not the
present one may be met with at the two last-mentioned places, as it
(T. nana) has been noticed at King William’s Town.
Habits.—This species is found sparingly in Cape Colony; it is
generally solitary, though occasionally two may be seen together ;
it is found on grassy plains or among the reeds of dried-up vleis ;
when flushed it flies a short distance, quickly settles down again,
and then makes off at a run; it feeds on seeds and insects, and is
usually very fat; it is a resident.
Atmore, who found a nest on a rocky mound near Swellendam,
states that the eggs are five in number; examples in the South
African Museum obtained many years ago by Miss A. van der Byl
are very pointed at one end, of a yellowish-grey colour, very thickly
speckled with spots and blotches of a yellowish and darker brown ;
they measure ‘90 to ‘96 x °75 to ‘80.
668. Turnix lepurana. Kurrichane Hemipode.
Ortygis lepurana, Smith, Rep. Exp. Centr. Afr. p. 55 (1836).
Hemipodius lepurana, Smith, Ill. Zool. 8. Afr. Aves, pl. 16 (1838).
Turnix lepurana, Strickl. and P. L. Sclater, Contr. Ornith. 1852,
p. 158; Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 216 [Natal]; Layard, B. S. Afr. p.
276 (1867) ; Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaraland, p. 249 (1872) ;
Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 887; Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882,
p. 889; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 361 [Bechuanaland]; Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s, B. 8. Afr. p. 608 (1884) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1885, p. 346, 1886,
p. 292; Symonds, Ibis, 1887, p. 3383; Grant, Ibis, 1889, p. 462;
Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsm. S. A. p. 107 (1892); Bryden, Gun
and Camera, p. 474 (1898); Grant, Cat. B. M. xxii, p. 539 (1893) ;
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 178 (1896); Grant, Game Bas. ii, p. 272 (1897) ;
Woodward Bros., Natal Bds, p. 166 (1899) ; Marshall, Ibis, 1900,
p. 263; Alexander, Ibid. p. 444; Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 301
(1900) ; Oates, Cat. B. Eygs, i, p. 71, pl. vii, fig. 1 (1901).
“ Riet-Quartel” of the Dutch, “ Button-quail ” of the English ; also
applied to the other species of the genus; ‘‘ Mabuaneng”’ of the
Basutos (Murray).
Description. Adult Male.—General colour above, brown, most
of the feathers with narrow wavy bars of black edged with white,
giving a scaly appearance to the whole; a white band down the
middle of the head ; lores, sides of the head, and neck white, tipped
with black; wing-quills ashy-brown, first primary conspicuously
edged with buff on the outer web; chin and throat white; sides of
TURNICID TURNIX 239
the breast pale buff, each feather with a dark brown semicircular
spot, centre of the chest and under tail-coverts pale rusty, becoming
white on the abdomen ; central pair of tail-feathers elongated. and
pointed.
Iris very pale yellow; bill bluish-horn with black tip; feet pale
brownish-yellow.
Length 5:25; wing 2:90; tail 1:10; culmen -40; tarsus ‘80.
The female is larger and more distinctly marked throughout ;
the rusty patch on the chest is markedly darker than that of the
male. Length 5°75; wing 3°3; tarsus 90.
This bird is regarded by Grant as merely a subspecies of Turnix
sylvatica of Southern Europe and Northern Africa, from which it
only differs in its slightly smaller size.
Fia. 74.—Head of Turnix lepurana, x
Distribution.—As in the case of so many other birds this Button
Quail was first obtained and described by Sir A. Smith, from the
neighbourhood of Kurrichane, now in the western Transvaal.
It is widely distributed throughout the whole of South Africa,
except perhaps in the western half of Cape Colony. Beyond our
limits it extends northwards to the Gold Coast and to north-east
Africa and Aden.
The following is a list of localities as recorded, but as there has
been a certain amount of confusion in regard to the identification of
the species of this genus, too much reliance must not be placed on
it, especially as regards the older records: Cape Colony—Port
Elizabeth (Rickard), East London (Wood), Morokweng, Mafeking
district (Bryden); Natal—Newcastle, August, and Pinetown (Butler,
Feilden and Reid), Alexandra County and Zululand (Woodward) ;
Orange River Colony—Kroonstad, April (Symonds) ; Transvaal—
Potchefstroom, September (Ayres) ; Bechuanaland—near Palapye,
December (Ayres); Rhodesia—Matopos, near Bulawayo, October
(S. A. Mus.), near Salisbury (Marshall); German South-west Africa
240 TURNICIDE TURNIX
—Gt. Namaqualand (Andersson); Portuguese East Africa—Senna
and Chicowa, September (Alexander).
Habits.—The Kurrichane Hemipode seems to be everywhere
somewhat scarce; it is found in the valleys among thick, dank
grass, near the water of pools or rivers, and, asa rule, is solitary,
never more than two being found together ; it runs with great speed
and lies very close, almost allowing itself to be trodden on rather
than rise on the wing; its food consists of small seeds and insects.
Apparently from the dates given it must be a partial or irregular
migrant, its movements probably depending on rain and the presence
of suitable food.
Andersson noticed it only in the rainy season, Symonds only in
April, at Kroonstad. Mr. Eriksson found a number of nests on the
Limpopo, in the Rustenburg district of the Transvaal, in December.
These were merely slight hollows in the ground lined with grass,
and contained four eggs in each case when incubation had com-
menced. The eggs were abruptly pointed, of a dirty, green-coloured
ground, densely spotted with indistinct purple, and light and dark
brown.
Mr. Oates gives the measurements of ‘87 to ‘88 x 68 to'72 in
the case of eggs taken in Hast Africa,
669. Turnix nana. Natal Hemipode.
Hemipodius nana, Sundevall, Oefvers. K. Vet. Akad. Forh. 1850,
. 110.
iene hottentotta (nec Temm.), Shelley, Ibis, 1875. p. 85 [Natal];
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 607 (1884).
Turnix nana, Grant, Ibis, 1889, p. 463; id. Cat. B. M. xxii. p. 541
(1898); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 178 (1896); Grant, Game Bas. ii, p. 275
(1897) ; Rewchenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 803 (1900).
Description. Adult Male.—General colour above, black, mottled
and barred with white and rufous; the rump and upper tail-coverts
nearly pure black; scapulars margined with golden-buff; wing-
quills brown, the outer ones margined with white; wing-coverts
chestnut, most of the feathers with subterminal or terminal bands
of black and white; lores, sides of the head and nock, mottled
rufous and white; chin and throat pure white; chest rust colour;
sides of the chest and flanks barred with black and white; abdomen
white ; under tail-coverts pale buff; tail elongated and pointed.
Tris brown ; bill horn; upper mandible darker than the lower;
legs and feet pale flesh.
FULICARIE 241
Length 5:0 (6:0 in flesh); wing 2-9: tail 1:0; culmen ‘40;
tarsus *85.
The female is a little larger and somewhat more brightly
coloured. Wing 3:2.
In the young bird the buff on the breast is not nearly so marked,
and the transverse bars extend entirely across.
Distribution.—This little Button Quail was first discovered by
Wahlberg, in ‘‘ Lower Caffraria’’ (i.e., Natal), and was apparently
lost sight of until recently, when Mr. Grant brought it into notice
again. It has hitherto been obtained only at Pinetown in Natal,
in March by Shelley, and in December by Stark, and at King
William’s Town (Bt. Mus.) ; outside our limits it has been met with
in Nyasaland.
Habits.—Dr. Stark found two nests of this species near Pine-
town, in Natal, on December 220d and 28rd. In both cases the
nest consisted merely of a slight hollow about three inches across,
and about three-quarters of an inch deep in the sandy soil, lined
with a few fine grass stalks. The nest was slightly sheltered in the
one case by a broad-leaved plant, in the other by a tuft of grass,
and in both cases the situation was a rough sandy piece of ground,
with scanty herbage, near a little stream.
The eggs, which are now in the South African Museum, were, in
both cases, three in number, and in one case had been incubated ;
they are very pale greenish-white, very thickly covered with small
spots and blotches of a yellowish and a darker shade of brown. In
shape they are nearly even ovals; they measure ‘95 to ‘90 x -76
to ‘75.
Order: XIV. FULICARIA.
The Rails and the Finfoots constituting this Order are marsh
or water birds of skulking habits, running through and hiding in
the grass and reeds. The lower portion of the tibia is bare of
feathers, all the toes are long and slender and the hind toe is jointed
at a higher level than the others; the young are hatched covered
with down and can run and swim almost at once.
The skull is schizognathous and holorhinal, and the basipterygoid
processes are absent; the sternum has only one notch on each side
posteriorly ; there are two carotids; the cxca are long and the oil-
16 VOL. IV.
949 FULICARIZ
gland is tufted; the ambiens, femorocaudal, accessory femorocaudal
and semitendinosus muscles are always present.
There are two families only, both represented in our fauna.
Key of the Genera.
A, Toes simple, with no lateral marginal lobes or
webs.
a. Culmen distinctly longer than the middle toe
ANG, ClAW sucscneweacesinnaneusaevsnssssasevsinreveseas veaes Railus, p. 243,
b. Culmen distinctly shorter than the middle toe
and claw.
a’, No frontal shield at the base of the upper
mandible.
a’, Tarsus equal to or longer than the middle
406 and. ClaWrcccsesscsad covey rsseencetednsasionas’s Crea, p. 245.
b*, Tarsus distinctly shorter than the middle
toe and claw.
a’, Wings pointed, the secondaries falling
short of the primaries by about the
length of the hind toe and claw ......... Ortygometra, p. 249.
6’, Wings more rounded, the difference
between the longest primaries and
secondaries less than the length of
the hind toe and claw.
a‘, Tail-feathers soft and decomposed ... Sarothrwra, p. 252.
ob‘. Tail-feathers normal, not decomposed.
a’, Outer secondaries white ............04 Coturnicops, p. 257.
bo’. Outer secondaries not white.
a’, Plumage variegated with white
SULORKS) “sees isien conver sasionanases aa sare Limnobenus, p. 258.
68, Plumage black ..........cescseseeeeeee Limnocoraz, p. 259.
b'. Upper mandible prolonged on the forehead to
form a frontal shield.
®. Wings long and pointed ; first primary longer
than the secondaries; toes with a narrow
lateral margin ; plumage dusky .............. Gallinula, p. 261.
b?, Wings rounded, first primary equal to the
second; toes with no lateral margins,
plumage blue and green........ccececesessceueeees Porphyrio, p. 266.
B. Toes with lateral marginal expansions or lobes
corresponding to the phalanges.
a. Tail soft and short, about a quarter the length
OL THE WING: ssaveraial apcasane tue dee seay deamatuacoians Fulica, p. 269.
b. Tail longer, about two-thirds the length of
the wing; feathers stiffened, pointed and
Braduated c.cjsicrssnesvoaensv eas useatnadeaemecs ashes Podica, p. 278,
RALLIDE RALLUS 243
Family I. RALLIDZ.
Aftershaft present in the contour feathers but rather small;
fourteen or fifteen cervical vertebre ; from ten to fourteen rectrices ;
all five Garrodian thigh muscles present; deep plantar tendons
galline (see vol. iii, p. 2, fig. 26).
Genus I. RALLUS.
Type.
Rallus, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 261 (1766) ... R. aquaticus.
Bill long and slender, the culmen longer than the middle toe
and claw; no frontal shield; nostrils elongated ovals, in a long
well-marked nasal groove, situated nearer to the base of the bill
than to the anterior end of the groove; wings short and rounded,
Fig. 75. —Left foot of Rallus caerulescens. x 3}
the secondaries falling short of the primaries by very little; tail
short, less than half the length of the wing ; tarsus shorter than
the middle toe and claw; toes unwebbed.
This is an almost cosmopolitan genus containing the Water
Rails; about ten species are generally recognised, only one of which
is found in the African Continent, while another is known from the
Island of Madagascar.
944 RALLIDE RALLUS
670. Rallus cerulescens, Kafir Rati.
Rallus caerulescens, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 716 (1788); Grill, K. Vet.
Akad. Handl. Stockh. ii, no. 10, p. 54 (1858) [Knysna and Oudt-
shoorn]; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 837 (1867) ; Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p.
471; id. in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 816 (1872); Ayres, Ibis, 1873,
p- 283, 1874, p. 107, 1877, p. 851; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, pp. 188, 218 ;
Holub ¢ Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 295 (1882) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s
B. 8. Afr. p. 610 (1884); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 25 (1894);
Shelley, B. Afr. i. p. 175 (1896); Woodward Bros., Natal B., p. 168
(1899) ; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 275 (1900).
Rallus aquaticus (nec Linn.), Gurney, Ibis, 1859, p. 249 [Natal], 1868,
p. 261 [Damaraland].
Description. Adult.—General colour above dark brown, darkest
on the wings and tail and becoming a dark slaty-black on the
crown ; sides of the face, neck and breast dark slaty-blue, becoming
white on the throat; flanks, thighs and abdomen black, trans-
versely banded with narrow bars of white; under tail-coverts
white ; axillaries and under wing-coverts black, barred and mottled
with white.
Fic. 76.—Head of Rallus caerulescens. x ar
Tris red brown to blood red; bill and feet bright red.
Length 10°5; wing 4:20; tail 1:5; culmen 1.70; tarsus 1:5.
The young bird is browner than the adult, the sides of the neck
and breast are brown, the chin and centre of the breast whitish
tinged with rufous brown; the abdomen, flanks and under tail-
coverts are brown, irregularly barred with rufous brown ; iris dusky
tawny, bill dusky-brown inclining to reddish about the tip and
nostrils, legs dull brown.
Distribution.—Though nowhere very common, this Rail is widely
spread over the greater part of South Africa and extends beyond
our limits to southern Angola, Nyasaland and German East Africa ;
RALLIDE CREX 245
it has also been met with in the Island of St. Thomas in the Gulf
of Guinea.
The following are the chief recorded localities: Cape Colony—
Cape div. November, Stellenbosch, September, and Paarl, April
(S. A. Mus.), Beaufort West and Colesberg (Layard), Knysna,
August, and Oudtshoorn, December (Victorin), near Port Elizabeth
(Rickard), King William’s Town (Trevelyan) and Kuruman (Berlin
Mus.) ; Natal—Durban (Bt. Mus.), Maritzburg (Buckley), St. Lucia
Lake (Woodward); Transvaal—Potchefstroom, September, Novem-
ber (Ayres); Rbodesia—Pandematenka (Holub); German South-
west Africa—Omanbonde (Andersson).
Habits.—Like other Rails this bird is seldom seen though
probably not uncommon in suitable localities. It is found in
swamps, haunting reedy thickets, bordered by rank grass and other
aquatic vegetation. It runs and swims with great agility but is
feeble on the wing and difficult to flush. It is a noisy bird with a
loud and startling cry; the food consists of insects and worms,
the remains of crabs have also been found in the stomach.
Mr. Millar has sent me the following account of the breeding
habits of this Rail, which do not appear to have been hitherto
described: ‘Last Saturday, August 16, I was fortunate when
searching Clairmont Vlei (near Durban) to find a nest contain-
ing two eggs slightly incubated. The nest was about forty yards
from the edge of the vlei amongst a dense mass of rushes grow-
ing in about two feet of water, and could only be seen by parting
the rushes. The bird ran off the nest, allowing me to approach
within a few feet before taking fright. The nest was constructed
entirely of dried rushes densely packed within a few inches of the
water. It was a deep cup-shaped structure, lined at the bottom
with the flowery heads of the rushes.
‘“‘ The eggs are pointed at both ends, measuring 1:25 x -90; the
ground colour is creamy white profusely spotted and clouded heavily
at the obtuse end with various shades of brown, purple and grey, but
only minutely and sparingly spotted at the other end.”
Genus II. CREX.
Type.
Crex, Bechst. Orn. Taschenbd. p. 336 (1803) ............ C. pratensis,
Crecopsis, Sharpe, Bull. B. O. C. i, no. 5, p. 28 (1893) C. egregia.
Bill short and stout, about two-thirds the length of the middle
toe and claw; nostrils oval; no frontal shield ; wings broad and
246 RALLID CREX
rounded, the secondaries almost as long as the primaries, the
second primary the longest, the first about equal to the fifth or
sixth ; tail very short, less than half the wing; tarsus equal to the
middle toe and claw or rather longer ; toes quite free.
Two species may be included in this genus, one the well-known
European Corn Crake, which is only a migrant to Africa, the other
a resident African species.
Key of the Species.
A. Under wing-coverts and axillaries chestnut ......... C. pratensis, p. 246.
B. Under wing-coverts and axillaries barred with
WHC as sccacrcnsag saversatnawelsanens ts edessintessen see iacteee C. egregia. p. 248.
671. Crex pratensis. Huropean Corn Crake.
Rallus crex, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 261 (1766).
Crex pratensis, Bechst. Gem. Naturg. Deutschl. ii, p. 461 (1803) ;
Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 831 [Natal] ; Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 388;
Ayres, Ibis, 1877, p. 851; Dresser, B. Eur. vii, p. 291, pl. 499 (1878) ;
Oates, Matabeleland, p. 324 (1881); Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 366
[Palapye]; Woodward Bros., Natal B. p. 168 (1899); Marshall,
Ibis, 1900, p. 270; Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 444.
Ortygometra crex, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 838 (1867); 1d. Ibis, 1869,
p. 877; Barrati, Ibis, 1876, p. 213.
Crex crex, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.S. Afr. p.611 (1884) ; 1d. Cat. B. M.
xxiii, p. 82 (1894); Rendall, Ibis, 1896, p. 175; Shelley, B. Afr. i,
p. 176 (1896) ; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 277 (1900).
Description. Adult.—Above pale brown, with black centres to
the feathers, especially on the head, back and wing-coverts ;
primary coverts and quills rufous-brown, the outer edge of the first
primary being butfy-white, secondaries like the back; sides of the
face, eyebrows and body below ochraceous-brown ; chin, centre of
the breast and abdomen somewhat paler, flanks darker, almost
rufous, transversely barred with white; axillaries and under wing-
coverts rufous.
Tris hazel; bill and legs pale brown.
Length 9°75; wing 5:3; tail 2-0; tarsus 1:6; culmen ‘85.
During the European summer (when the bird is not found in
South Africa) the eyebrows, sides of the face and breast are grey and
not ochraceous. The nestling is covered with black down.
Distribution.—The Corn Crake is found over the greater part of
Europe and Northern and Central Asia, from the British Isles to
RALLIDE CREX 247
the Yenesei during the northern summer. In the autumn it
migrates southwards and winters in Arabia and throughout Africa.
Within our area it is most common in the northern portion. It is
stated by Marshall to be plentiful in Mashonaland, but in Cape
Colony it is certainly a rare bird and seldom met with. It usually
arrives late, 7.e., in December, and stays till March.
The following are recorded occurrences: Cape Colony—Cape
division, only once, in 1864 (Layard), near Grahamstown (Ather-
stone), Kast London, January (Rickard), King William’s Town,
‘‘early in the year’’ (Trevelyan); Natal—Pinetown, March (Ayres),
Drakensberg, December (Buckley), Zululand (Bt. Mus.); Trans-
vaal—Barberton, December (Rendall), Macamac, in Lydenburg,
December (Barratt, in Bt. Mus.), Potchefstroom, March (Ayres) ;
Fic. 77.—Head of Crex pratensis. x 142
Bechuanaland — near Palapye, December (Ayres), Tati, March
(Oates); Rhodesia—near Salisbury (Marshall), Zambesi Valley,
near Feira (Stoehr, in 8. A. Mus.), at Metacania, January
(Alexander).
Habits. —The Corn Crake or Land-Rail does not appear to be
anywhere very common, and only occurs in South Africa during the
summer months, from December to March. It is generally found
lurking in long grass and is difficult to flush. It runs with great
speed and is said by Ayres to endeavour to escape the pursuit of
dogs by taking considerable leaps up into the air over the grass
with closed wings, thus breaking the line of scent. The power of
flight is stated to be feeble, but yet we know that it makes a double
journey every year of about 6,000 miles. Its food consists of
insects. Both Buckley and Marshall notice that they have not
heard the characteristic creaking call-note of the male in South
Africa ; probably it is only made use of during the breeding season
in northern lands.
248 RALLIDE CREX
Mr. Fitzsimmons has sent me an egg which he believes to be
that of this bird, and of which a good many specimens have been
brought to him, so there can be little doubt that the Corn Crake,
like some other European migrants, breeds in South Africa; the
egg sent is white, slightly spotted, especially towards the blunter
end, with pale grey and rufous-brown. It measures 1-4 x 1:05.
672. Crex egregia. African Crake.
Crex egregia, Peters, Monatsb. Akad. Berlin, 1854, p. 184; Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B, S. Afr. p. 612 (1884) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1877, p. 852, 1885,
p. 346, 1886, p. 298; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 176 (1896); Reichenow,
Vog. Afr. i, p. 278 (1900).
Ortygometra egregia, Finsch § Hartlaub, Vog. Ost-Afr. p. T78 (1870) ;
Oates, Matabeleland, p. 824 (1881).
Crecopsis egregia, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 81 (1894) ; Marshall,
This, 1900, p. 268.
Description. Adult—General colour above olive-brown, most of
the feathers, especially on the wings, centre of the back and tail
with dark brown to black centres; primary quills plain dark brown ;
ear-coverts and sides of the face silvery-slate; chin and a streak
from the nostrils to above the eye white; upper breast slaty washed
with olive; rest of the under surface, including the axillaries and
under wing-coverts, transversely banded with black and white.
Iris crimson-lake, orbital skin vermilion; bill slaty-green, red-
dish at the base of the lower mandible ; feet pale brown.
Length 7:5; wing 4:7; tail 1:5; culmen 1:0; tarsus 1-70.
Young birds are browner and less olive than the adults; the eye-
brow is brown; the sides of the face washed with brown; the breast
is brown, not slaty, and the bars on the under surface are broader
and not so distinct as in the adults.
Distribution.—This Crake was first obtained by Dr. Peters many
years ago at Tete, on the Zambesi; though widely distributed over
the greater part of Africa from the Gambia and White Nile south-
wards, it is everywhere rare, and has not been met with, so far as I
am aware, in Cape Colony.
The following are recorded localities: Natal—near Durban,
frequent (Millar), Pinetown, March (Ayres); Transvaal—Potchef-
stroom, February, May, July (Ayres); Rhodesia — Bulawayo,
December (Oates), Makabusi River, near Salisbury (Marshall), Zam-
besi Valley, near Feira, February (Stoehr in 8. A. Mus.); German
RALLIDE ORTYGOMETRA 249
South-west Africa—Damaraland (Eriksson) ; Portuguese Hast Africa
—at sea, twenty miles off the mouth of the Limpopo River (S. A.
Mus.), Tete, on the Zambesi (Peters).
Habits.—This scarce Crake is found in marshy places, where it
lives on worms and aquatic insects; little has been recorded about
its habits. Mr. Marshall gives me the following note: ‘‘ This species
was first brought to my notice by Mr. Swynnerton, who shot one on
the Makabusi River, quite close to Salisbury. Since then I have
seen two more examples, and they are probably not uncommon, as
on one wet day I heard them calling in some numbers in a
dense and impenetrable reed-bed, lower down the Makahusi. The
stomach of Mr. Swynnerton’s specimen contained ants and some
vegetable matter.”
Mr. A. D. Millar tells me that this Rail is not uncommon in
the marshes about Durban, generally solitary, but sometimes in
pairs, but that they are always difficult to flush even withdogs. Mr.
Alfred Millar shot a female off the nest on November 18th; in the
nest were three pink eggs, while a fourth, rather more brightly
coloured, was found in the oviduct of the bird itself.
Genus III. ORTYGOMETRA. -
Type.
Ortygometra, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Bds. Bt. Mus,
PDE (ISIC) ioe sus naciseelgabenareoucns sinned Geant nine wei tae O. parva.
Porzana, Vieillot, Analyse, p. 61 (1816) .........e O. porzana.
Bill of moderate length and rather compressed, the culmen about
two-thirds the length of the tarsus; nostrils oval; no frontal shield ;
wings less rounded than in the other genera, the secondaries falling
short of the primaries by about the length of the hind toe and
claw ; tarsus distinctly shorter than the middle toe and claw; toes
not webbed.
Some fourteen species of this almost cosmopolitan genus have
been hitherto recognised ; two of these occur in South Africa.
Key of the Species.
A. Larger, wing about 5:0; bill yellow, breast spotted O. porzana, p. 250.
B. Smaller, wing about 3°5; bill dark green, breast
UNSPOthEd newesuens pew ednsaias a werrenieinnsce demeagmerainns ta O. pusilla, p. 251.
250 RALLIDE ORTYGOMETRA
673. Ortygometra porzana. Spotted Crake.
Rallus porzana, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 262 (1766).
Ortygometra maruetta, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Bds. Bt. Mus. p. 34
1816).
ae: maruetta, Dresser, B. Eur. vii, p. 267, pl. 496 (1878) ; Shelley,
Ibis, 1882, p. 366 [Bechuanaland].
Porzana porzana, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 613 (1884) ; id.
Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 93 (1894); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 176 (1896).
Ortygometra porzana, Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 383; Reichenow,
Vog. Afr. i, p. 283 (1900).
Description. Adult.—General colour above olive-brown, with
a few black centres to the feathers, especially in the middle of the
back ; the nape of the neck, wings and back, further ornamented
with little white spots and lines; crown of the head unspotted and
rump almost black; sides of the face, neck and breast olive, very
thickly spotted with white, chin almost pure white; ear-coverts
unspotted olive-brown ; lower breast and abdomen white, becoming
straw-coloured on the under tail-coverts ; flanks broadly barred with
white and olive-brown ; axillaries and under wing-coverts brown,
barred with white.
Tris brown; bill yellow, orange-red at base, dusky on the
culmen, and at the tip; legs and feet green.
Length about 8:25; wing 5:0; tail 2°25; culmen ‘75; tar-
sus 1:2.
The female has the sides of the face more mottled than the
male.
Distribution.—The Spotted Crake is found throughout Europe
and Western Asia from the British Isles to Yarkand during the
summer months; in the winter it migrates southwards to India
and Africa.
It can hardly be called a South African bird as it has only been
recorded twice from within our limits. A female was obtained by
Ayres while travelling with Mr. Jamieson at Selenia Pan, in
Sechele’s country in Bechuanaland, in December, and Fleck pro-
cured ‘a second example at Namas in the Kalahari, in December.
The South African Museum has recently received several examples
from the Zambesi Valley, near Feira, presented by Dr. Stoehr.
RALLIDZ ORTYGOMETRA 251
674. Ortygometra pusilla. Baillon’s Crake.
Rallus pusillus, Pall. Reis. Russ. Reich. iii, p. 700 (1776).
Rallus intermedius, Hermann, Obs. Zool. i, p. 198 (1804).
Rallus minutus, Pall. Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii, p. 155 (1811).
Rallus bailloni, Vieill. N. Dict. Hist. Nat. xxviii, p. 548 (1819),
Gallinula pygmea, Brehm, Lehrb. Naturg. Eur. Vog. ii, p. 641 (1824).
Ortygometra pygmea, Gurney, Ibis, 1865, p. 273 [Natal]; id. in
Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 817 (1872); Ayres, Ibis, 1878, p. 288,
1874, p. 107.
Ortygometra minuta, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 888 (1867).
Porzana pygmea, Ayres, Ibis, 1877, p. 851.
Porzana bailloni, Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p.426; Sharpe,
ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 614 (1884) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1885, p. 846.
Porzana intermedia, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 103 (1894); Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 176 (1896).
Porzana obscura, Newmann, Orn. Monatsb. 1897, p. 191.
Ortygometra pusilla obscura, Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 284 (1900).
Fic. 78.—Head of Ortygometra pusilla. x 4
Description. Adult.—General colour above rich olive-brown ;
the feathers of the back and wings with black centres and white
spots and frecklings; rump blackish, also with a few white mark-
ings; primaries ashy-brown, the first with a narrow white border
along the outer web ; sides of the face and neck, including the ear-
coverts, eyebrows and lores, throat and breast, bluish-slate ; abdo-
men, flanks and under tail-coverts spotted and banded with white;
under wing-coverts and axillaries ashy, with a few white spots.
Tris orange to red; bill dark green, darker along the culmen and
at the tip ; legs and feet olive.
Length 7:25; wing 3°5; tail 1:75; culmen ‘65; tarsus 1:0.
The male in winter (October to March) has a somewhat whiter
and paler throat. The young bird is rather more rufous in tone
above, the sides of the face and eyebrow are rufous-brown ; lores
252 RALLIDZ SAROTHRURA
whitish ; throat, breast and abdomen dull white; foreneck and
chest rufescent barred with dusky. Ivis light ashy-brown.
Distribution.—Baillon’s Crake is spread over the greater part of
Europe, from England, where, however, it is only a straggler, to
Lake Baikal in Central Asia, and southwards throughout Hast,
South and South-west Africa and Madagascar. It appears to be
a resident in Africa.
Reichenow considers the African bird distinct from the true
Baillon’s Crake of Europe and Western Asia, and distinguishes it
as a subspecies, under the name of O. pusilla obscura. However
this may be, our bird is widely spread over suitable localities in
South Africa, as the following list of recorded localities shows:
Cape Colony—Cape division, November, near Vryburg, September
(S. A. Mus.), Swellendam (Layard), Port Elizabeth, not common
(Brown); Natal—Maritzburg (Ayres), Newcastle, September,
October (Butler) ; Transvaal—Potchefstroom, January, April, July
(Ayres), Pretoria (S. A. Mus.); Bechuanaland—Lake Ngami dis-
trict (Andersson); German South-west Africa—Omanbonde, On-
donga and Okavango (Andersson).
Habits.—Baillon’s Crake is found about vleis and stagnant pools
or even along small streams where there is sufficient rank grass to
form a shelter; like all rails it is somewhat difficult to flush ; when
on the wing it flies rather heavily and but a short distance, dropping
down again into the herbage and making off on foot. Minute
crustacea, mollusca, worms and insects form its food. It is
excellent eating.
Andersson found nests of this Crake at Omanbonde in northern
Damaraland; they were composed of pieces of the stalks of reeds
and rushes and other vegetable substances; the eggs, six or seven
in number, are brownish-buff or olive-brown, closely spotted with
obscure markings of darker.
Genus IV. SAROTHRURA.
Type.
Alechthelia (nec Less.) Swains., Class B. ii, p. 358
(1837) ......00. ste bse Guaeamiaa aad Caan aan abiaa cae Ou Naa: S. lineata.
Corethrura (nec Gray), Reichenb., Nat. Syst. Vég. pl.
x1; figh 124 (1649) veccns cone inninssentageaw seus cscnnt gues
Sarothrura, Heine ¢ Reichenow, Nomencl. Mus. Hein.
Ps BID (LBQO) scerrctayessceaninr ag cies ea ii sees alae 8. rufa.
RALLIDE SAROTHRURA 253
Bill slender and short, slightly compressed, the culmen less than
half the length of the middle toe and claw; nostrils pervious; no
frontal shield; wings short and rounded, the secondaries falling
short of the primaries by much less than the length of the hind toe
and claw ; tail-feathers soft and decomposed, but projecting beyond
he coverts and not concealed ; tarsus short, less than the length of
the middle toe and claw; toes not webbed.
Fic. 79.—Tail of Sarothrura rufa slightly schematised to show the decom-
posed feathers.
This genus consists of nine species confined to Africa and
Madagascar ; three are found within our limits.
A, Tail black with a few white spots ..........ccccceeeeeeees S. rufa, p. 255.
B. Tail chestnut, unspotted c..c.cccccceceecseeeeeeeneceaeeees S. lineata, p. 258.
C. Tail barred brown and black..............cccceeeeeeeeeeneen S. elegans, p. 254.
675. Sarothrura lineata. Jardine’s Crake.
Alechthelia lineata, Swains., An. in Menag. p. 389 (1837).
Gallinula jardinii, Smith, Ill. Zool. 8. Afr. Aves, pl. 21 $ (1839).
Corethrura ruficollis (nec Gray) Layard, B. 8S. Afr. p. 839 (1867); id.
Ibis, 1869, p. 8377 ; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 616 (1884).
Corethrura lineata, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 118 (1894); Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 177 (1896); Woodward Bros., Natal B., p. 169 (1899).
Sarothrura lineata, Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 288 (1900).
254 RALLIDE SAROTHRURA
Description. Adult male.—General colour above black, all the
feathers longitudinally streaked with whitish, which becomes some-
what more yellow on the middle of the back; crown, nape and sides
of the face rich rufous; tail, which consists of very decomposed
feathers, also rufous, black at the extreme base; wing-quills brown,
the outer edge of the outer one white; chin and throat white; rest
of the lower surface black, streaked with white, like the upper
surface, but rather more broadly.
Length 5-50; wing 2:8; tail 1:75; culmen -45; tarsus ‘75.
The female differs considerably from the male; general colour
above black streaked on the crown and nape, barred on the rest of
the upper surface with fulvous; wings as in the male; tail-feathers
chestnut barred with black; sides of the face and under parts
whitish, spotted finely on the cheeks, more coarsely on the breast,
with black; under tail-coverts banded black and rufous; wing 2 75.
Distribution.—Jardine’s Crake is a rare bird, seldom obtained.
It is known from Cape Colony, Natal and Rhodesia only, within
our limits, but has recently been procured by Mr. Whyte at Mlosa
in Nyasaland.
The following are recorded occurrences within our area: Cape
Colony—Frensch Hoek in Paarl div., June, Swellendam and
Knysna (Layard), Port Elizabeth and East London (Rickard),
King William’s Town (Trevelyan); Natal—Victoria County (S. A.
Mus.), Pinetown (Ayres) and Ifafa (Woodward); Rhodesia—nr.
Salisbury (Marshall).
Habits.—Like most of the birds of this family, Jardine’s Crake
is rare in collections, probably more on account of its retiring habits
than of its real scarcity. It is generally found in long grass or low
brushwood and has a slow and awkward flight seldom prolonged for
any length of time. A nest was found by Mr. Leopold Layard at
Grootvadersbosch, in the Swellendam division; it contained four
eggs ; one of these, still preserved in the South African Museum, is
oval, somewhat pointed at one end, smooth and somewhat shiny
and pure white. It measures 1:03 x ‘71.
676. Sarothrura elegans. White-spotted Crake.
Gallinula elegans, Smith, Ill. Zool. 8. Afr. Aves, pl. 22 (1839).
Corethrura pulchra (nec Gray), Layard, B.S. Afr. p. 839 (1867) ;
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 615 (1884).
Corethrura elegans, Finsch, Journ. Ornith., 1867, p. 249 [Durban ];
RALLIDE SAROTHRURA 255
Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 120 (1894); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p.177
(1896).
Sarothrura elegans, Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 287 (1900).
Description. Adult Male.—Crown of the head, sides of the face,
neck and chest rich chestnut; back and wings black, thickly
covered with oval and ochraceous spots, the primaries spotted on
their outer webs with the same colour; tail banded with chestnut
and black; lower breast and abdomen black, conspicuously spotted
with white; under tail-coverts barred reddish buff and black;
axillaries and under wing-coverts blackish, slightly mottled with
white.
Length about 5°75; wing 3:5; tail 1:75; culmen ‘5; tarsus 1:10.
The female is a warm brown above covered with numerous pale
ochre spots, each of which is bordered with a smaller black one
above and below; the primaries are brown slightly spotted along
the outer web; the tail transversely banded with warm brown and
black; below the throat is pure white, the rest ochraceous white,
darkest on the chest and flanks, all mottled and barred with black
and brown. Bill and feet reddish-horn.
Distribution.—The White-spotted Crake was considered to be
confined to Cape Colony and Natal, where it is a rare bird and
seldom met with. Dr. Reichenow, however, has recently received
some examples from the Cameroons, in West Africa which he con-
siders identical with the South African species, but which Dr.
Sharpe has described as distinct.
The few recorded South African localities are: Cape Colony—
Knysna (Layard), Port Elizabeth, rare (Brown), East London, June
(Rickard in 8. A. Mus.), King William’s Town (Trevelyan) ; Natal—
nr. Durban, February, August (Bt. Mus.).
Habits.—Sir Andrew Smith states that this Crake is found near
stagnant water where there is plenty of cover owing to the presence
of beds of reeds and rushes.
677. Sarothrura rufa. Red-chested Crake.
Rallus rufus, Vieill., N. Dict. H. N. xxviii, p. 564 (1819).
Porzana dimidiata, Less., Traité d’Orn. p. 587 (1881).
Gallinula dimidiata, Smith, Ill. Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pl. 20 (1889).
Corethrura ruficollis, Gurney, Ibis, 1859, p. 249 [Natal], 1868, p. 261
[Transvaal].
Corethrura dimidiata, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 339 (1867); Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 615 (1884).
256 RALLIDE SAROTHRURA
Alecthelia dimidiata, Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaraland, p. 820
(1872); Ayres, Ibis, 1877, p. 854.
Corethrura rufa, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 121 (1894); Shelley, B.
Afr. i, p. 177 (1896).
Sarothrura rufa, Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p- 288 (1900).
Description. Adult Male——Head, nape, neck all round, throat
and chest, rich rufous chestnut; rest of the upper surface black,
longitudinally streaked with white, the latter colour being on the
tail more in the form of spots; primaries brownish-black, the first
two with a whitish line along the outer web; lower breast and
rest of the lower surface black, streaked or spotted with white.
Tris dark hazel ; bill and legs greenish black.
Fria, 80.—Head of Sarothrura rufa. x 43
Length about 7:0 ; wing 3-0; tail 2:10; tarsus 1:0; culmen -45.
The female is black above throughout, spotted on the head and
back but not on the tail with ochre spots and dashes; beneath the
throat is pure unspotted white; the breast is ochraceous white,
spotted and mottled, especially on the sides, with black; the under
tail-coverts are black, spotted like the back. Iris, bill and feet
dusky-brown.
Distribution.—Of the three South African species of this genus
the present one seems on the whole to be the most abundant. It
has been found in Cape Colony, Natal and the Transvaal and in
German territory and extends beyond our limits to South Angola.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Cape div.
December (S. A. Mus.), The Traka in Willowmore (Atmore), St.
John’s River (Reichenow) ; Natal—Durban, September (Bt. Mus.) ;
Transvaal—Potchefstroom, March, July (Ayres); German South-
west Africa—Omanbonde (Andersson).
Habits.—Like the others of the genus, this bird is found in
marshy situations, where it skulks in the long grass and thick stuff
and is very difficult to flush; its flight is excessively feeble, extend-
ing only three or four yards, and it can easily be caught. It swims
RALLIDE COTURNICOPS 957
well and carries its tail erect. Andersson states that it breeds in
Damaraland, but gives no particulars. An egg taken by Atmore
from the oviduct of a female is stated by Layard to be pure white
and to measure 1:1 x -85.
Genus V. COTURNICOPS.
Coturnicops, Bp. Consp. Syst. Ornith. p. 46
(1856): save sinew cv es vrata dt abaes dads cos copabens C. noveboracensis.
Type.
Bill short and stout, culmen less than the inner toe; no frontal
shield; wings short and rounded, difference between the primaries
and secondaries less than the length of the culmen ox hind toe;
outer secondaries white; tail-feathers normal, not decomposed ;
tarsus shorter than the middle toe and claw; toes not webbed.
This genus contains only four species; they are found respec-
tively in North America, Brazil, North China and Japan, and South-
eastern Africa.
- 678. Coturnicops ayresi. White-winged Crake.
Coturnicops ayresi, Gurney, Ibis, 1877, p. 352, pl. vii; Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 616 (1884); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 177 (1896) ;
Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 286 (1900).
Ortygops ayresi, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 129 (1894).
Description. Adult female.— Crown and neck all round rufous,
streaked with black, especially toward the centre of the crown; back
black with a few white spots and brown and white edgings to the
feathers ; primary coverts and quills pale brown unspotted; outer
secondaries white, inner ones like the back; tail-coverts and tail
rich rufous barred with black, sides of the face and cheeks dusky,
with darker bars; below chin white, breast rufous brown, paler on
the sides; flanks black, spotted with white; under wing-coverts
17 VOL. IY.
258 RALLIDE - LIMNOBENUS
white; under tail-coverts rufous banded with black; iris ashy
hazel; tarsi and feet dusky pink.
Length about 5:5 (in flesh according to Ayres 6°28); wing 3-0;
t ail 1:5; tarsus -85; culmen -40.
An immature female has the breast dirty white slightly mottled
with darker centres to the feathers.
Distribution.—This is one of the rarest of South African birds.
Mr. Ayres first obtained two females on October 4 and November
24, 1876, at Potchefstroom, one of which is now in the British
‘ Museum ; a third specimen, also in the same collection, was shot by
Mr. E. O. Anstey, in August, near King William’s Town. So far as
T am aware, no other examples in collections are known.
Habits——Mr. Millar informs me that this Crake is found in
the vleis about Durban, but is not easily flushed. When it does
take flight the white patch on the wing is conspicuous. The flight
is short, and after alighting in the rushes it is seldom put up a
second time.
Genus VI. LIMNOBAENUS.
Type.
Limnobenus, Sundev., Av. Meth. Tent., p. 130 (1872)... L. fuseus.
Bill short and stout ; the culmen shorter than the hind toe and
claw; no frontal shield; wings somewhat pointed but the second-
aries falling short of the primaries by less than the length of the
hind toe and claw; first primary as long as the longest secondary ;
tail-feathers normal not decomposed ; tarsus very distinctly shorter
than the middle toe and claw.
This is a genus of four or five species spread over Africa and
Southern and Hastern Asia; only the single species here described
is found within the limits of our area.
679. Limnobeznus marginalis. Hartlaub’s Crake.
Porzana marginalis, Bp. Comptes Rend. xliii, p. 599 (1856); Hartlaub,
Orn. W. Afr. p. 241 (1857).
Ortygometra marginalis, Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 818
(1872).
Crex marginalis, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 612 (1884).
Limnobenus marginalis, Sharpe, Notes Leyd. Mus. xv, p. 270 (1898) ;
id. Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 835 (1894).
Corethrura marginalis, Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 282 (1900).
RALLIDE LIMNOCORAX 959
Description. Adult Male—General colour above black, some-
what greyish on the head and neck, somewhat browner on the
scapulars, coverts and secondaries, most of which are distinctly
margined with greyish-white. Primaries ashy-black, the outer web
of the first white; below, the sides of the head, breast, flanks and
abdomen ashy-grey passing to pure white on the chin and centre of
the abdomen; a slight wash of rufous brown on the centre of the
breast ; under tail-coverts rufous-brown.
Iris brown tinged with reddish-yellow ; bill horn brown, paler
on the lower mandible ; legs and feet dark brown or dusky-green.
Length about 7:0; wing 2:9; tail 1:8; culmen ‘61; tarsus 1:3;
middle toe 1:8.
A young bird is browner above; the sides of the face and of the
body somewhat tinged with rufous.
Distribution.—This is a rare Crake, first described by Hartlaub
from Gaboon in West Africa. Within our limits it has only been
obtained by Andersson at Ondonga in Damaraland in February and
March, and more recently near Hast London in May by Mr.
Bonstow; the last example is preserved in the South African
Museum. It has also been recorded from Ribe near Mombasa and
from Biskra in Algeria.
Habits.—Mr. Andersson found this bird breeding on several
occasions in March and February at Ondonga in Damaraland; the
eggs, four or five in number, were yellowish with a broad zone of
light brownish-red at the thicker end; the nests were placed on the
ground, on one occasion at the edge of a marsh in a dryish tuft of
grass, on another occasion far from water and with the surrounding
grass tied above it, as in the case of the nest of Gallinula angulata.
Genus VII. LIMNOCORAX.
Limnocorax, Peters, Monatsb. Ak. Berlin, 1854, p. 187...... L. niger
Bill stout and short, culmen a good deal shorter than the inner
toe; no frontal shield; wings rounded, the secondaries falling short
of-the primaries by less than the length of the hind toe and claw ;
the first primary considerably shorter than the longest secondary ;
tail-feathers normal, not decomposed, tarsus distinctly shorter than
the middle toe and claw; toes not webbed ; secondaries not white ;
plumage uniform black.
Only the single species here described is assigned to this genus.
260 RALLIDZ LIMNOCORAX
680. Limnocorax niger. Black Crake.
Rallus niger, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i, p. 717 (1788).
’ Gallinula flavirostra, Swains. B. W. Afr. ii, p. 244, pl. 28 (1837).
Limnocorax flavostris, Gurney, Ibis, 1862, p. 85 [Natal]; Sharpe, Ibis,
1897, p. 516 [Eshowe].
Gallinula niger, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 842 (1867).
Limnocorax niger, Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 470 [Mooi River]; zd. An-
dersson's B. Damaraland, p. 821 (1872); Ayres, Ibis, 1874, p. 105,
1878, p. 801; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 213; Butler, Feilden and Reid,
Zool. 1882, p. 426; Sharpe ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 618 (1884) ;
W. Ayres, Ibis, 1887, p. 62 [Rooi Rand]; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii,
p. 150 (1894); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 177 (1896); Woodward Bros.
Ibis, 1897, p. 401; id. Natal B. p. 169 (1899); Marshall, Ibis, 1900,
p. 263; Alewander, Ibis, 1900, p. 444; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 279
(1900).
Ortygometra nigra, Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 283.
Fig. 82,.--Head of Limnocorax niger. x 4}
Description. Aduit—General colour above and below black with
a slight wash of slaty on the scapulars, wings and lower surface.
Iris and naked skin round eye bright red, bill greenish-yellow
to dark green, legs bright red.
Length 7:75 ; wing 3°8; tail 1:5; culmen -95; tarsus 1°5.
The female is like the male; the nestling is covered with black
down and the young is chocolate-brown instead of black, and ashy-
grey below. Bill green ; legs pale red.
Distribution.—The Black Crake is found over the greater part of
Africa from the Gambia and the White Nile southwards to Cape
Colony. In South Africa it appears to be generally distributed,
where suitable localities exist, though owing to its skulking habits
it has not been definitely recorded from many places.
The following is a list of localities: Cape Colony, Cape division,
August (5. A. Mus.), Knysna (Marais), Port Elizabeth rare (Brown) ;
Natal—near Durban, breeding August (Millar), Illovo River and
RALLIDE GALLINULA 961
near Eshowe (Woodward), near Newcastle (Butler); Transvaal—
Mooi River at Potchefstroom (Ayres), Rooi Rand in Zoutspans-
berg (W. Ayres), Lydenburg (S. A. Mus.); Bechuanaland—Lake
Ngami (Andersson), Nocana (Fleck); Rhodesia—-near Salisbury
(Marshall), near Victoria Falls (S. A. Mus.); German South-west
Africa—Otjimbinque, Schmelens Hope, Omanbonde and Okavango
(Andersson); Portuguese Kast Africa—Tete (Peters).
Habits.—The Black Crake is found only in the reeds and rushes
bordering the vleis and rivers ; it is shy and skulking, moving about
quickly under covert and seldom showing itself; consequently it
appears to be rare and is seldom obtained. It has a curious charac-
teristic note syllabled as ‘‘ check check” by Marshall, and it swims
well.
Mr. Millar, who has taken the eggs of this Crake, writes as
follows: ‘On August 16th, 1902, at Clairmont, near Durban, I found
a nest in the rushes floating on the water. It was composed of
dry rushes and contained two eggs measuring 1:3 x 0:9. These
are pointed at both ends, the ground colour being bright cream,
minutely spotted with brown throughout, most thickly at the
obtuse end.”
Mr. Austin Roberts has also found the eggs of this Crake near
Potchefstroom. In this case the nest was about a foot above the
water in a dense bed of rushes in a vlei. It was about nine inches
across and six inches deep and composed of dry rushes. The eggs
were four in number.
Genus VIII. GALLINULA.
Type.
Gallinula, Briss. Orn. vi. p. 3 (1760) oo... eee G. chloropus.
Biil short and stout, the culmen shorter than the inner toe and
claw ; a frontal shield, rounded posteriorly, at the base of the upper
mandible; nostrils elongated ovals in a distinct depression ; wings
long and fairly well developed, the first primary longer than the
longest secondaries which fall short of the longest primaries by
more than the length of the hind toe; tarsus distinctly shorter than
the middle toe and claw; toes with a narrow lateral membrane, but
not webbed or lobed.
Some six species of Moorhens are included in this genus; two
of these are spread over the greater part of Africa and are included
in our fauna.
262 RALLID GALLINULA
Key of the Species.
A, Size larger, wing over 6:0; the basal half of both
WANES FEM. svswsotacsevesssravsevarverserderenens ads G. chloropus, p. 262.
B. Size smaller, wing less than 6:0; no red on the
lower mandible ................:ccecceeeceeeeeeen en eae G.angulata, p, 264.
Fic, 83.—Left foot of Gallinula chloropus, x 3
681. Gallinula chloropus. Waterhen or Moorhen.
Fulica chloropus, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed, i, p. 258 (1766).
Gallinula chloropus, Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stockh. ii, No. 10,
p. 54 (1858) [Oudtshoorn] ; Gurney, Ibis, 1859, p. 249 [Natal] ;
Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 841 (1867); Gurney, in Andersson’s B.
Damaral. p. 823 (1872) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1874, p. 107; Barratt, Ibis,
1876, p. 213; Dresser, B. Eur, vii, p. 813, pl. 503 (1879); Sharpe,
ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 623 (1884); id. Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 169
(1894) ; Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 884; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 175
(1896) ; Woodward Bros., Natal B. p. 170 (1899); Marshall, Ibis,
1900, p. 270; Retchenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 294 (1900): Haagner, Ibis;
1902, p. 580.
“ Rooi-bles Reit-haan ” of the Dutch.
Description. Adult.—General colour throughout black, darkest
on the head, slightly washed with olive on the back and wings,
RALLIDE GALLINULA 263
becoming slaty on the lower surface; edge of the wing joint, outer
edge of the bastard wing and of the first primary white; flanks
strongly streaked with white and usually some white about the
centre of the abdomen; feathers on the centre of the abdomen and
central tail-coverts black ; lateral ones white.
Tris reddish, frontal shield and the basal two-thirds of the bill
lake-red, distal third greenish-yellow; legs olive-green with a
garter just above the tarsal joint of dark lake-red.
Length 13-0; wing 6:20; tail 25; tarsus 1:95; culmen with
frontal shield 1:65.
Fig. 84.—Head of Gallinula chloropus. x 42
The female is like the male, but the white streaks on the flanks
are not generally so conspicuous and the frontal shield is not so
well developed. A young bird is much browner than the adult,
and there is a good deal of white about the chin and abdomen.
Iris light brown; bill brown with very small frontal shield; legs
greenish-yellow with a yellow garter. The nestling is clothed with
black down.
Distribution.—The Moorhen is a widespread bird, ranging over
the greater part of Europe, Asia and Africa, from England to
Japan and Celebes in the one direction, and to Cape Colony
and Madagascar in the other. In South Africa it is a resident
throughout the greater part of the country wherever suitable
conditions exist.
The following are localities: Cape Colony—Cape division,
February to December (8. A. Mus.), Swellendam and Bredasdorp,
November (Layard), Oudtshoorn (Victorin), Knysna, June (Marais
in 8. A. Mus.), Grahamstown (Atmore), Port Elizabeth, common
(Brown), Orange River (Barratt) ; Natal—Umzinto River and along
264 RALLIDA GALLINULA
the coast (Woodward); Transvaal—Mooi River at Potchefstroom,
June to July (Ayres), Lydenburg and Pretoria (Barratt), near
Johannesburg, scarce (Haagner); Bechuanaland —Tebra country
near Lake Ngami, April (Eriksson); Rhodesia—Chirba River in
Mashonaland (Marshall); German South-west Africa—throughout
(Andersson), Okahandya (Fleck).
Habits.——Andersson gives an excellent account of the habits
of the Moorhen in South Africa; it does not differ much in this
respect from that of Europe, except that it appears to lay only from
two to four eggs instead of from seven to nine. The Moorhen is
found only in or about water; it swims and dives with great ease
and dexterity; as it moves about the surface of the water it nods
its head from side to side looking for insects and vegetable sub-
stances; it may sometimes be found away from water in the early
morning or in the evening searching the grass: for worms, slugs
and insect larve which, together with the grasses and seeds, form
its food. It occasionally takes to flight for a short distance, but
usually prefers to escape into safety by running.
Eriksson found a nest on April 3rd in the Tebra country near
Lake Ngami; it was constructed of water grasses and reeds, and
was floating amongst the thickest rushes. The eggs were three in
number of a buffy-brown colour freely speckled with small brown
spots and a few larger ones of a darker shade of the same colour.
682. Gallinula angulata. Lesser Moorhen.
Gallinula angulata, Swndev. Oefvers. K. Vet. Akad. Forh. Stockh. 1850,
p. 110; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 842 (1867) ; Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 52
[Mooi River]; id. in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 321 (1872) ; Oates,
Matabeleland, p. 824 (1881) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 366 [Selenia
Pan] ; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.S. Afr. p. 624 (1884) ; zd. Cat. B. M.
xxiii, p. 181, (1894) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 175 (1896) ; Reichenow,
Vog. Afr. i, p. 295 (1900); Haagner, Ibis, 1902, p. 580,
Gallinula pumila, P. L. Sclater, Ibis, 1859, p. 249, pl. 7 [Natal] ;~~-
Gurney, Ibis, 1864, p. 361; P. L. Sclater, Ibis, 1867, p. 254.
Description. Adult Male.—Crown of the head, neck all round
and lower surface slaty, almost black on the crown, becoming slaty-
grey on the breast; centre of the back strongly washed with olive-
brown; band of the wing, bastard wing and first primary edged
with white; tail black; flanks broadly streaked with white ; median
under tail-coverts black, lateral ones white.
Iris crimson ; frontal shield and culmen bright red; rest of the
RALLIDE GALLINULA 265
bill yellow; feet and toes grass green, sometimes flesh-coloured,
tinged with light green.
Length 9:25; wing 54; tail 2:25; culmen and _ frontal
shield 1:2; tarsus 1°55.
The females are lighter in colour and have a nearly white chin ;
the frontal shield also is not so bright and is tinged with orange at
the base.
The young bird is much lighter than the adult, the crown and
back is olive-brown; some of the inner secondaries are broadly
margined with ochraceous-brown ; lores and eyebrows, cheeks and
chin, throat and breast ashy-white ; a wash of brown on the fore-
neck, flanks and under tail-coverts as in the adult. Iris yellow;
bill greenish-yellow, the frontal shield and culmen black bordered
with yellow.
Distribution.—The Lesser Moorhen is found throughout the
greater part of Africa from Senegal and British East Africa south-
wards. Within our limits it appears to be chiefly met with
north of the Orange River, as it has only once been noticed in
Cape Colony and appears to be by no means abundant in Natal,
though the type obtained by Wahlberg is stated to have come from
‘* Lower Caffraria.”
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Swellendam
(Layard in 8. A. Mus.), Spaldings in Barkly West division, February
(Ayres) ; Natal—Umschali lakes (Ayres); Transvaal—Mooi River
at Potchefstroom (Ayres), near Johannesburg, scarce (Haagner) ;
Bechuanaland—Selenia Pan, December (Ayres), Tebra country near
Lake Ngami, February to April (Eriksson in 8. A. Mus.) ; Rhodesia
— Sakasusi River, February, and Tibakai’s Pan, December, in
Western Matabeleland (Oates); German South-west Africa —
Ondonga, February to March (Andersson), Ondura in Ovampoland,
March (Eriksson in 8. A. Mus.).
Habits.—The Lesser Moorhen is very abundant in the northern
part of Damaraland, and was found breeding there in great numbers
by Andersson in February and March; Eriksson also met with
it breeding in the Tebra country in February and in Ovampoland
in March. The nest, according to the latter observer, is constructed
of a mass of water grass floating amongst the thickest rushes; some
of the standing stalks are bent downwards, forming the foundation ;
the hollow in which the eggs are laid is about three inches deep;
while Andersson states that after the nest has been completed the
bird binds the tops of the surrounding grasses and ties them
266 RALLID PORPHYRIO
together above the nest to form a partial shelter against the sun
and to afford concealment. The clutch usually consists of four eggs;
three of these, preserved in the South African Museum, are oval-
shaped like a hen’s egg, and of a very pale brown ground colour,
spotted and blotched with a darker rufous-brown most thickly at
the obtuse end; they measure 1:71 x 1:21.
Genus IX. PORPHYRIO.
Type.
Porphyrio, Briss. Orn. v. p. 522 (1760) ......... P. madagascariensis.
Porphyriola, Sund. Av. Tent. p. 181 (1872) .......e ee P. alleni.
Bill short, high and rather compressed; frontal shield well
developed; nostrils oval or round; wings rather short and rounded,
the first primary about equal to the secondaries; toes long, the
middle one with its claw exceeding the tarsus in length; no lateral
membrane or lobes to the toes; plumage bright blue and green.
Some seventeen species of this genus are known; they are
spread over Africa and Madagascar, Southern Europe and Asia, -
Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands. Two occur in
South Africa,
Key of the Species.
A. Larger, wing over 9:0; nostrils rounded... P. madagascariensis, p. 266.
B. Smaller, wing under 6:0; nostrils oval .... P. allent, p. 268.
683. Porphyrio madagascariensis. King Reed Hen.
Fulica porphyrio, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 258 (1766).
Gallinula madagascariensis, Lath. Ind. Orn. Suppl. p. 68 (1801).
Porphyrio smaragnotus, Temm., Man. Ornith. ii, p. 700 (1820) ; Gurney,
Ibis, 1859, p. 249 [Natal]; id. in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 825
(1872); Ayres, Ibis, 1874, p. 105; Dresser, B. Eur. vii, p. 808, pl. 501
(1876) ; Butler, Feilden d Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 426.
Porphyrio erythropus, Stephens, Genl. Zool. xii, pt. 1, p. 255 (1824);
Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 341 (1867).
Porphyrio smaragdonotus, Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 469 [Natal] ; Ayres,
Ibis, 1880, p. 271; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 619 (1884) ;
Symonds, Ibis, 1887, p. 8384; Bryden, Gun and Camera, p. 408
(1893); Fleck, Journ. Ornith, 1894, p. 883.
Porphyrio porphyrio, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 195 (1894); Shelley, .
B. Afr. i, p. 175 (1896); Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 170 (1898) ;
Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 290 (1900).
“ Koning-Reit-Haan ” of the Dutch.
RALLIDZE PORPHYRIO 267
Description. Adult Male.-—Centre of the back, some of the inner
secondaries, scapulars and upper tail-coverts olive-green, tail rather
darker ; back of the head and neck, wing-coverts, breast, flanks,
thighs and abdomen a rich purplish-blue; primaries dusky, edged
with blue; sides of the head, throat and upper breast azure blue ;
under tail-coverts pure white.
Iris red ; bill and frontal shield crimson-red .with the tip and the
lower portion of the lower mandible red-brown ; legs rose-pink.
Length about 18-0; wings 9-35 ; tail 3-25; tarsus 3:6; middle toe
4-25 ; culmen and frontal shield 2:6.
Fic, 85,—Head of Porphyrio madagascariensis, x 11
The female resembles the male, but is perhaps a trifle smaller ;
a young bird only differs from the adult in being duller in colour
throughout.
Distribution.—This handsome bird is spread over the greater
part of Africa and Madagascar ranging northwards to Egypt, and
even occasionally to Southern Europe. Throughout South Africa
it is widely distributed wherever suitable conditions are found, from
the neighbourhood of Cape Town, where it is far from uncommon,
to the Cunene. It has not hitherto been noticed in Rhodesia,
though doubtless it will eventually be found there.
The following are localities: Cape Colony—Cape, Bredasdorp,
and Knysna divisions (S. A. Mus.), Berg River (Layard), Uitenhage
(Rickard) ; Natal—Zeekoe Lake, near Durban (Woodward), New-
castle (Butler), Upper Tugela Valley (Stark), Zululand (Bt. Mus.) ;
268 RALLIDH PORPHYRIO
Orange River Colony—Kroonstad (Symonds); Transvaal—Potchef-
stroom (Ayres); Bechuanaland—Botletli River (Bryden), Nocana,
near Lake Ngami (Fleck); German South-west Africa—Oman-
bonde, Ondonga and Okavango River (Andersson).
Habits—The King Reed Hen is found in vleis and swamps
where there is plenty of rushes and reeds, among which it lies con-
cealed during the greater part of the day. In the early morning and
the evening it may sometimes be seen in the open searching for its
food. This consists, according to Andersson, of the seeds of aquatic
plants, small fresh water snails and fish eggs, though Ayres and
other observers state that the contents of the stomachs examined
by them were entirely of vegetable origin—shoots and seeds of
reeds and other water plants. Like most birds of this family it is
a poor flyer and is seldom flushed, but on the other hand it runs
and dives with great ease and rapidity. Its note, according to
Ayres, is quaint and unmusical. Layard found it nesting among
the reeds on the Berg River, and states that the clutch consists of
from six to ten eggs. Stark found two nests close to the Tugela
River in Natal, about twenty-five miles from its source, on October
12th. They were placed in a vlei of about twenty acres in extent
in the middle of a clump of reeds, where they were not very thick,
about fifty yards from the shore in water about three feet deep.
The half dead reeds in the centre of the clump had been broken
down, and on them the nest of reed stems lined with fine dry grass
was built. It was not very large or compact, the top being about
nine inches above the level of the water and about nine or ten
inches across ; the hollow on the top where the eggs lay was very
slight; the eggs were three in number in one case and four in
the other, and were considerably incubated.
Eggs in the South African Museum, obtained, probably from the
Berg River, by Mr. Layard, are ovals, somewhat elongated and
pointed: they are pale brown, not very thickly spotted with fine
points and larger irregular blotches of darker purplish and rufous
brown. They measure about 2-2 x 1:48.
684. Porphyrio alleni. Allen's Reed Hen.
Porphyrio alleni, Thompson, Ann. Mag. N. H. x. p. 204 (1842); Gurney,
in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 827 (1872); Dresser, B. Eur. vii,
p. 307, pl. 502 (1880) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 621 (1884) ;
Ayres, Ibis, 1885, p. 3846; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 175 (1896); Marshall,
Ibis, 1900, p. 270; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 292 (1900).
Porphyriola alleni, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 187 (1894) ; Oates, Cat.
B. Eggs, i, p. 126 (1901).
RALLIDE FULICA 969
Description. Adult.—General colour above an oily olive green
becoming dusky on the rump and upper tail-coveris; primaries
dusky, the outer one edged with dirty white, the others with bluish-
green ; head blackish with a purple gloss; the feathers of the under
surface of the body purplish tipped with pale fulvous, giving a
somewhat mottled appearance to that part, chin and centre of
breast and abdomen paler, almost pure white; under tail-coverts
white, axillaries black.
Iris red, bill reddish-brown, frontal shield dusky, legs crimson-
red.
Length about 10-0; wing 5:75; tail 2:25; tarsus 2:05; middle toe
2°5; culmen 2°46.
A young bird has the crown of the head reddish-brown, the
feathers of the back and wing-coverts margined with dark ochra-
ceous; the sides of the head and lower surface are deep ochraceous
buff, becoming darker on the flanks and under tail-coverts, and
paler on the chin and centre of the breast and abdomen.
Distribution.—Allen’s Reed Hen is found throughout the greater
part of Africa (including Madagascar), from Senegal and Abyssinia
southwards; it has occasionally even been met with in southern
Europe. It is a very rare bird in South Africa, and has only been
once found south of the Vaal River ;* the following are the recorded
occurrences : Cape Colony—Knysna, July (Marais) ; Transvaal—
Hex River near Rustenburg, December (Lucas); Bechuanaland—
Tebra country, near Lake Ngami, April (Eriksson in 8. A. Mus.);
Rhodesia — Gwibi River, near Salisbury, December (Marshall) ;
German South-west Africa—Ondonga, February (Andersson); Por-
tuguese East Africa—Tete (Peters).
Genus X. FULICA.
Type.
Fulica, Brisson, Orn. vi, p. 23 (1760) ... ..... poder sree Babee,
Bill stout and somewhat compressed, culmen with a large frontal
shield about two-thirds of the length of the middle toe ; nostrils elon-
gated ovals; wings short and rounded, the first primary about as
long as the secondaries; tarsus markedly shorter than the middle
toe without claw, provided posteriorly with a membranous ridge or
* Mr. J. G. Brown informs me that this bird is rare near Port Elizabeth ;
while the South African Museum has recently received an example shot near
Towns River Station, in August last, by Dr. A. H. B. Kirkman.
270 RALLIDE FULICA
fringe; toes long, with a series of lateral membranous lobes on
either side corresponding to the individual phalanges.
This well-marked genus contains the Coots, some thirteen species
of which are scattered all over the world. One of these is commonly
found in South Africa.
A Coot in the South African Museum, obtained near Durban
on February 2nd, 1901, by Mr. T. D. Butler, the collector, is
apparently referable to Fulica americana, the White-rumped Coot
of North and Central America. I have hesitated before admitting
the species to our South African list, as it rests on one record only,
which may possibly be due to some mistake in labelling, but I think
this unlikely, and perhaps more examples may be discovered. It
can easily be distinguished from the Red-knobbed Coot by its white
under tail-coverts, and by the white tips to the inner secondaries.
685. Fulica cristata. Red-knobbed Coot.
Fulica cristata, Gmel., Syst. Nat. i., p. 704 (1788); Gurney, 1bis, 1862,
p. 153 [Natal], 1868, pp. 261, 470 [Transvaal]; P. L. Sclater,
P. Z. S., 1866, p. 23 [Cathcart]; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 343 (1867) ;
Pelzeln, Novara Reise, Vogel, p. 135 (1865); Gurney, in Anders-
son’s B. Damaral. p. 827 (1872); Ayres, Ibis, 1874, p. 105, 1885,
p. 847; Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 889; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 218;
RALLIDE FULICA 271
Dresser, B. Eur. vii, p. 323, pl. 504, fig. 1 (1879); Oates, Mata-
beleland, p. 824 (1881); Holub § Pelz., Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 295 (1882) ;
Butler, Feilden & Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 426; Sharpe ed. Layard's
B. S. Afr. p. 621 (1884); Bryden, Gun & Camera, p. 349 (1898) ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. M, xxiii, p. 215 (1894); Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894,
p. 883; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 175 (1896); Woodward Bros., Natal
B. p. 171 (1899); Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 296 (1900); Oates, Cat.
B. Eggs, i, p. 180 (1901); Haagner, Ibis, 1902, pp. 574, 580; White-
head, Ibis, 1908, p. 285; Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 8 [Deelfontein}.
Description. Adult Male.—General colour throughout ashy,
becoming black on the head, neck and under tail-coverts, and
greyish-ashy on the abdomen.
Tris red; bill and frontal shield light blue; the two rounded
fleshy knobs at its posterior edge reddish-brown to crimson; legs
very dark green.
Length about 16:0, in flesh 15:75; wing 8:0; tail 2:0; tarsus
2:45; middle toe 3°80; culmen 2°4.
The female resembles the male in plumage and does not appear
to differ in dimensions.
A young bird is ashy-brown above, with white edges to some of
the feathers of the head and neck; the lores, cheeks and throat are
white ; bill dusky, ashy-whitish at tip; iris light ashy-brown; the
fleshy knobs on the frontal shield are not nearly so large.
A very curious pied variety, obtained in the neighbourhood of
Cape Town, by Mr. H. H. Hill and preserved in the South African
Museum, has the sides of the head and neck, chin and throat, a
972 RALLIDE FULICA
patch in the centre of the breast, the primaries and some of their
coverts and a few feathers in the upper and lower tail-coverts
white; the legs, too, are quite pale; the rest of the coloration is
normal. The complete symmetry of the albinistic patches would at
first lead one to the conclusion that this was an entirely different
bird, but there can be little doubt that it is merely a partial albino.
Distribution.—The Red-knobbed Coot is closely allied to the
common English Coot, differing only in the possession of a pair
of rounded, knob-like excrescences, which are placed at the hinder
edge of the frontal shield.
The present species is spread over North, Hast and South
Africa and Madagascar, but does not appear to be known in West
Africa. Jt crosses the Mediterranean into Spain, where it has
been found breeding. In South Africa it appears to be generally
distributed in suitable situations. The following are recorded
localities: Cape Colony—Cape division, September, Worcester
division, December, and Knysna, September, November (S.A.
Mus.), Port Elizabeth (Rickard), Deelfontein (Seimund), Orange
River, near Aliwal North (Whitehead); Natal—Durban (Bt. Mus.),
near Newcastle (Butler); Orange River Colony—Rhenoster River
(Ayres); Transvaal—Mooi River at Potchefstroom and near Pretoria
(Barratt), near Jobannesburg, common (Haagner); Bechuanaland
—Botletli River (Bryden), near Lake Ngami, August (Fleck) ;
German South-west Africa—Ondonga, December (Andersson), Omu-
ramba and Rietfontein (Fleck); Rhodesia—Feira on the Zambesi
(Stoehr, in §.A. Mus.)
Habits —The Red-knobbed Coot is one of the commonest of
South African water-birds; it is found on all open sheets of water
and also on rivers, generally in small companies, sometimes with
wild ducks of various species. It feeds in the morning and evening,
often travelling some distance from its usual haunts; water-weeds,
seeds of various aquatic plants and insects form its diet; unlike
most of the Rail family it is a good flyer, notwithstanding the
shortness of its wings, and when disturbed, will often take to flight
for a considerable distance. It is also an expert swimmer and
diver ; Layard has observed it swimming on the waters of Table
Bay when there was a considerable swell.
The nesting habits of the Red-knobbed Coot have been noticed
by many South African observers. The nest is formed of reeds and
other water plants, roughly but firmly woven together, and floats
amongst the rushes, a foundation being sometimes made of a few
HELIORNITHIDE PODICA 273
old reed stalks. It is raised only a few inches above the water
line and contains from three to seven eggs. Butler found nests in
September and October near Newcastle containing from five to
seven eggs; Hriksson, in April, near Lake Ngami, found nests with
five, while Layard gives the number of eggs as five. These closely
resemble those of the European bird ; they are greyish-white freely
speckled with small spots and blotches of very dark brown; in shape
they are fairly regular ovals; they measure 2:23 to 2:05 x 1:50
to 1:45. The young birds are covered with black down and swim
and dive with their parents as soon as they are hatched, some-
times even with bits of shell clinging to them.
Contrary to what one would expect Mr. Bryden found this Coot
excellent eating.
Family II. HELIORNITHIDA.
No aftershaft to the contour feathers; seventeen cervical verte-
bre; eighteen rectrices; the accessory semitendinosus muscle
absent; plantar flexors peculiar, both the tendons dividing into
three branches and distributed to three anterior digits before unit-
ing, while the slip to the hallux is given off by the flexor longus
hallucis previously ; this is the case in Heliornis; in Podica the
conditions are unknown.
This family contains three genera, from Africa, South Eastern
Asia and South America respectively.
Genus I. PODICA.
Type.
Podica, Less., Traité d’Orn. p. 596 (1831) .. ....... P. senegalensis.
Bill long and somewhat slender, the culmen about equal to the
outer toe without the claw; nostrils elongate ovals and pervious; no
frontal shield; wings of moderate length, the first primary about
equal to the secondaries, the third primary the longest; tail of
eighteen feathers, rectrices narrow, pointed, ribbed and stiff, much
graduated, the longest about three-quarters the length of the wing;
feet much as in Fulica, the tarsus considerably shorter than the
middle toe, produced behind into a thickened marginal mem-
brane ; toes with lateral marginal expansions corresponding to the
phalanges; claw of the middle toe pectinated along the inner edge.
Three species of this curious genus are known; all are confined
to the Ethiopian Region, and only one is found within our limits.
18 VOL. lv.
274 HELIORNITHIDE PODICA
686. Podica petersi. Peters’ Fin-foot.
Podica petersi, Hartl., Abhandl. Nat. Ver. Hamb. ii, p. 62 (1852) ;
Gurney, Ibis, 1859, p. 250, 1860, p. 206 | Natal] ; Finsch ¢ Hartlaub,
Vog. Ost-Afr. p. 790 (1870); Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 367 [Rusten-
burg] ; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8S. Afr. p. 625, pl. xii (1884) ; zd.
\
if
Fig. 88.—Tail of Podica peterst, x 2
Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 281 (1894) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 175 (1896) ;
Woodward Bros., Natal B. p. 171 (1899); Shortridge, Ibis, 1904,
p. 202.
Podica mossambicana, Peters, Ber. Verh. Akad. Berlin, 1853, p. 783 ;
Layard, B.S. Afr. p. 875 (1867) ; 2d. [bis, 1869, p. 77.
HELIORNITHIDE PODICA 275
Podica senegalensis, Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 298 (1900) [in part].
“Sun-Grebe”’ or “ Water Treader” of some authors.
Description. Adult Male.—General colour above dark brown
becoming quite black on the crown, back of the neck and tail-
feathers; mantle feathers and some of the lesser coverts with sub-
terminal rounded white spots; sides of the face including the ear-
coverts, chin and neck below, bluish grey ; rest of the lower surface
white with a fulvous tinge, the fore-neck black, mottled with white,
the sides of the breast, flanks, thighs and under tail-coverts, mottled
and barred with fulvous brown; under wing-coverts spotted with
white.
Fic, 89.-—Head of Podica petersi, 2. x 4
Iris hazel; bill orange-red, darker along the culmen; legs
orange-red.
Length about 27:0; wing 9-50; tail 7:5; tarsus 2:0; middle toe
and claw 3:12; culmen 2°10.
The female is smaller, and has a white eyebrow and a distinct
white line running down the neck on either side from behind the
eye; the chin is white and separated from the lateral white stripe
by a dark grey stripe, the lower part of the neck and fore-neck is
mottled black and white.
Iris pale yellow; wing 8-0; tarsus 1:87; culmen 1:80.
There are six examples of this species in the South African
Museum, all from the eastern portion of the Colony ; two of these
are females, three are males, one is probably a male, judging by
its wings. All these, with the exception of the last named, have
the white line down the side of the neck and are in the state of
276. HELIORNITHID! PODICA
plumage described above as that of the female; while the example
not sexed, which was obtained in the district of Bathurst, is in the
plumage described above as that of an adult male. I am inclined
to think that this is a breeding dress rather than an adult plumage,
and that the three males with white lateral neck stripes are not
necessarily young birds, but merely adult males in non-breeding
plumage. The only dated examples are those obtained by Mr.
Shortridge on the St. John’s River on December 18th and 26th.
Dr. Reichenow has united our South African bird to the West
African P. senegalensis; I think it would be as well to keep the two
separate until we know a little more about the changes of plumage,
which are very puzzling.
Distribution.—Peters’ Fin-foot is found in South-east Africa,
from the eastern half of Cape Colony northwards through Natal
and the Transvaal, as far as Zanzibar on the east coast and as the
lower reaches of the Congo on the west. Should the West African
form (P. senegalensis) be proved to be identical, its range will be
extended to Senegal. Mr. Layard believes that he saw this bird
on two occasions on the Berg River and also on the Zonder Hinde
River in Caledon, both in the western half of Cape Colony, but
hitherto no confirmation of these occurrences has been made.
The following are recorded South African localities: Cape Colony
—Kariega river in Albany (Layard), Bathurst division, Buffalo river
at East London, St. John’s River in Pondoland, December to March
(S. A. Mus.); Natal—near Maritzburg (Fitzsimmons); Transvaal—
Elands River at Rustenburg, May (Ayres).
Habits.—The Fin-foot is a retiring bird, seldom met with, both
on account of its rarity and shyness; it frequents rivers, where it
may be seen swimming with only the head and neck visible above
the water; when disturbed it will rise with some difficulty from the
water and fly along the surface aided by its feet (hence the name
“Water treader”) and take refuge under the bank; sometimes
it perches on the lower branches of trees overhanging the water.
The food consists of fishes and fresh water mollusca, while Ayres
found frog bones and quartz pebbles in the stomach of an individual
examined by him; he further states that he caught two of these
birds in traps set for otters; when taken from the traps they made
an extraordinary noise like the growling of a wild beast, and were
very savage. Nothing is known of this bird’s breeding habits.
GRUIDE 277
Order XV. ALECTORIDES.
This Order contains the Cranes and their allies, to which, in
accordance with Garrod’s views, the Bustards have been added. It
would perhaps have been more consistent with morphological facts
to separate the latter as a distinct Order, intermediate between the
Cranes aud the Wading birds, but I have preferred to follow the
scheme adopted in the Catalogue of Birds of the British Museum in
this respect.
In the members of this Order the skull is schizognathous; the
angle of the mandible is truncated and not produced; there is no
ectepicondylar process to the humerus, and the hind toe, when
present, is, in all the South African genera, jointed on a level above
the others.
The South African representatives of this order are all referable
to the two principal Families—Gruzde and Otide. There are five
other small Families as well, containing aberrant forms of Cranes
not represented in our fauna.
Key of the Genera.
A, With a well developed hind toe.
a. Without a tuft of straw-like bristles on the nape,
nostrils linear.
a, Fore part of cheeks bare with fleshy wattles ;
a pair of feathered lappets on the throat ...... Bugeranus, p. 278.
b'. Fore part of cheeks feathered without wattles ;
ear-coverts and nape with a thick mass of
decomposed plumes ..........::ccceeeceeeseeeee eens Tetrapteryx, p. 281,
b, A tuft of straw-like bristles on the nape; nostrils
Oblique OVAlS oo... ceeceee cee ceectesseeeeceseeee nee nee Balearica, p. 288.
B. Three toes only, hind toe absent ............cccceseeeee Otis, p. 288.
Family I. GRUIDA.
The Cranes are large birds with long legs and necks; the bill is
also long, generally exceeding the length of the head; there are
twelve tail-feathers and eleven primaries, and the trachea is generally
convoluted and packed away to a hollow space formed between the
walls of the keel of the sternum.
The Cranes are externally not unlike the Storks, with which
278 GRUIDE BUGERANUS
they were formerly often associated, but they differ very essentially
in internal structure; externally the Cranes may be distinguished by
a depression extending along the greater part of the upper mandible,
in which is situated the nostril, shut in by a large membrane on
the posterior side. In the Storks this groove is absent, and the
nostrils are nearer the base of the bill.
The chief anatomical characters of the Family are as follows:
Skull schizognathous and schizorhinal; no basipterygoid processes ;
sternum without notches posteriorly; aftershaft present; fifth
cubital remex absent ; oil gland present and tufted; cca long; all
five Garrodian thigh muscles usually present (femorocaudal and
accessory femorocaudal absent in Balearzca) ; flexor tendons galline.
Genus I. BUGERANUS.
Type.
Bugeranus, Gloger, Handb. Naturg. p. 440 (1842) . B. carunculatus.
Bill long and pointed, longer than the middle toe and claw;
nostrils linear ovals; crown, sides of the face and ear-coverts
feathered, fore part of the cheeks and base of the bill naked, covered
with fleshy caruncles or warts; on both sides of the throat, just
below the eye, a feathered lappet, more or less developed ; feathers
at the base of the neck and inner secondaries elongated and lan-
ceolate, the latter extending considerably beyond the end of the
tail; tail of twelve feathers; lower half of shank and the whole of
the tarsus bare; hind toe present, short, jointed above the level of
the other toes.
Only the one species here described is assigned to this genus,
which is restricted to South and Hast Africa.
687. Bugeranus carunculatus. Wattled Crane.
Ardea carunculata, Ginel., Syst. Nat. i, p. 648 (1788).
Grus carunculata, Gray, Gen. Bds. iii, p. 552, pl. 148 (1849); Gurney,
Ibis, 1864, p. 355 [Natal]; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 802 (1867); Gurney,
Ibis, 1868, p. 467; Tegetmeier, ed. Blyth's Monogr. Cranes, p. 38,
(1881) ; Holub § Pelzeln, Orn. Sud-Afr. p. 247 (1882); Shelley,
Ibis, 1882, p. 363 [Mashonaland] ; Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr.
p- 626 (1884) ; Fleck, Journ. Ornith, 1894, p. 885; Shelley, B. Afr. i.
p. 186 (1896).
Bugeranus carunculatus, Gurney in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p, 278
(1872); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 267 (1894); Woodward Bros.
GRUIDE BUGERANUS 279
Natal B. p. 172 (1899); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 263; Reichenow,
Vog. Afr. i. p. 262 (1900) ; Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, ii, pp. 94, 370 (1902).
Laomedontia carunculata, Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 342.
“ Wattled,” “Bell,” or sometimes ‘“Kaffir Crane” of Colonists;
“Tgwampi” of Amaxosa (Stanford).
Description. Adult.—Crown of the head dark slate, sharply
demarcated from the white of the cheeks ; throat and neck all round
also white, extending down to the upper part of the breast, where
the white feathers form long overhanging plumes; mantle slaty-black,
becoming silvery-grey on the scapulars and wing-coverts; primaries
and secondaries, tail-coverts and tail black; the inner secondaries
elongated and produced to beyond the level of the tail; below black
throughout. Sides of the face from in front of and below the eye
Fic. 90.—Head of Bugeranus carunculatus. x }
naked ; this together with the base of the beak as far forward as the
nostrils covered with little rounded warts; below the eye on the
throat two flat lappets bare along the anterior edge, clothed behind
with white feathers.
Iris orange-yellow, bill light reddish-brown, warty skin at its
base dull red, legs and toes black.
Length about 56:0; wing 26:5, to end of longest secondaries
34:0; tail11-0; culmen 7:0; tarsus 12:0; middle toe 5.
A younger bird in the South African Museum has the skin at
the side of the face merely corrugated, while the chin-lappets are
280 GRUIDH BUGERANUS
hardly developed at all; the crown of the head is mingled slaty and
white. The female, like the young male, has the crown almost
pure white and very little traces of warty structure at the sides of
the face.
Distribution—This is the largest and certainly the rarest of
South African Cranes; it is widely distributed about the Colony, the
upland half of Natal and over Damaraland and Mashonaland ; though
not yet recorded from the Transvaal, so far as I am aware, it almost
certainly occurs there. Beyond our limits it reaches Benguela on
the west coast, and Somaliland on the east coast of Africa.
The following are localities: Cape Colony—Somerset West in
the Stellenbosch division, and Caledon, July (8. A. Mus.), Cradock
(Holub), East London (Rickard); Natal—Upper Mooi River in
Estcourt county (Hutchinson), Newcastle (Butler) ; Bechuanaland—
Ngami region (Andersson and Fleck) ; Rhodesia—Mashonaland,
(Ayres and Marshall) ; German South-west Africa—rare in Damara-
land, Okavango River (Andersson). :
Habits. --This handsome and stately bird is usually found in
pairs, sometimes in small family parties, in open country where
there is plenty of swamp and moisture. It is usually a resident,
and each pair of birds occupies a defined district, returning to nest
in the same spot each year. In Damaraland, however, Andersson
states that it is only found during the rainy season. Reptiles,
fishes, frogs and insects form the greater part of its diet, but it also
eats grain and is stated to ravage the mealie fields before the crops
are ripe in the summer in Natal. The note is a grating and guttural
one.
Mr. Graham Hutchinson found a nest of this Crane on a small
rock in the middle of a stream, a tributary of the Upper Mooi River
in the upper part of Natal. The nest was a large one, and was
built up from the rock which was just under water, to a height of
about two feet. It contained one egg. Gurney received an account
of a nest from a correspondent, Mr. G. A. Phillips. In this case it
was about five feet in diameter and of conical form, composed of
rushes pulled up by the birds and placed in water about five feet
deep in a large lagoon near the Vaal River. Two eggs, the usual
clutch, contained in the nest, were on the point of hatching.
Two eggs, preserved in the South African Museum, probably
those described by Layard as having been taken by Mr. Hugo, are
oval, pale olive-brown and faintly blotched or clouded with a darker
brown ; they measure 4:°2 x 2°65 and 4:05 x 2°70 respectively.
GRUIDE TETRAPTERYX 281
Genus II. TETRAPTERYX.
Type.
Tetrapteryx, Thunb., K. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stockh.
1818), Pu 242) sscaisosaseey a caveha ver caesiaeweseeds Basie T. paradisea.
Bill long and pointed, but not so long as in Bugeranus, about
equal to the middle toe and claw; nostrils linear ovals; the whole
of the head including the fore part of the cheeks feathered, the ear-
coverts and nape with a thick dense mass of decomposed plumes ;
feathers at the base of the neck and also the inner secondaries
lanceolate and elongated, the latter extending considerably beyond
the end of the tail feathers; tail, legs and feet as in Bugeranus.
This genus contains only one species confined to South Africa.
688. Tetrapteryx paradisea. Blue Crane.
Ardea paradisea, Licht., Cat. Rer. Rariss. Hamb. p. 28 (1793).
Anthropoides stanleyanus, Vigors, Zool. Journ. ii, p. 234, pl. 8 (1826) ;
Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 303 (1867); id. Ibis, 1869, p. 876; Ayres, Ibis,
1869, p. 300, 1871, p. 269; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, pp. 191, 209.
-Grus paradisea, Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stockh. ii, no. 10, p. 54
(1858) ; Finsch € Hartl., Vog. Ost-Afr. p. 671 (1870) ; Tegetmeier,
ed. Blyth’s Monogr. Cranes, p. 28, pl.i, fig. 1, (1881); Shelley, Ibis,
1882, p. 863 [Mashonaland] ; Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882,
p. 842; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 186 (1896).
Anthropoides paradisea, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 628 (1884) ;
Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 263 (1900).
Tetrapteryx paradisea, Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 278
(1872); Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 389; Holub § Pelz., Orn. Siid-Afr.
p. 248 (1882) ; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 268 (1894) ; Woodward
Bros., Natal B. p. 174 (1899) ; Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 263 ; Harris,
Essays and Photos. p. 188 (1901); Oates, Cat. B. Lggs, ii, pp.
95, 370 (1902); Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 16 [Deelfontein] .
“Stanley Crane’’ of some authors ; ‘ Indwe”’ of Amaxosa (Stanford).
Description. Adult Male.— General colour above and below
pearly-grey, becoming a little darker about the back of the head
and top of the neck where the feathers are thick, dense and
decomposed ; crown of the head quite white, the feathers at the
base of the neck elongated, and attenuated and pendant over the
breast; primary quills and their coverts slaty-grey, darker than
the back; secondaries, especially the innermost, elongate and
extending far beyond the tail; these become quite black towards
the tip; tail short and darkening to almost black towards the tip.
282 GRUIDE TETRAPTERYX
Iris very dark brown; bill pale ochre with a pinkish tinge; legs
and feet black.
Length to end of tail about 48:0; wing 23-0, to end of longest
secondaries 40:0; tail 8:5; culmen 3°5; tarsus 85; middle toe
and claw 3:6.
The female is smaller:: length about 43:0; culmen 3:25,
according to Butler.
Young birds are lighter uniform grey, are without the long black
secondaries and have the top of the head light chestnut.
Fic, 91.—Head of Tetrapteryx paradisea, x 2
Distribution.—The Blue Crane, so far as our present knowledge
goes, is confined to Africa south of the Zambesi; it is most
abundant on the high veld plateau which occupies the greater part
of the centre of South Africa, from the central plains of the Colony
to Pretoria; but it is found beyond these limits towards the sea,
though not apparently on the coast lands of Natal and Zululand.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Berg River
(S. A. Mus.), Nelspoort in Beaufort West (Layard), Deelfontein,
common (Seimund), Hope Town (Trimen), Colesberg (Atmore),
Mossel Bay (Victorin), Knysna (Layard and Harris), Port Elizabeth
GRUIDE BALEARICA 983
(Rickard), King William’s Town (Trevelyan) ; Natal—near Newcastle
(Butler); Orange River Colony—near Bloemfontein (Barratt), near
Lindley, breeding December (Sparrow); Transvaal — Potchef-
stroom and Bloemhof district (Ayres); Mashonaland (Ayres and
Marshall); Damaraland and Great Namaqualand during the rainy
season (Andersson).
Habits.—The Blue Crane is certainly the most common of South
African Cranes. It is most abundant on the open plains of the high
veld, and is generally met with not far from water. During the
breeding season it is to be seen in pairs, but later on in the winter
in considerable flocks sometimes of as many as fifty birds. Its food
consists of small reptiles, fishes and large insects, especially locusts
and grasshoppers, but it also eats roots and seeds as well, and often
frequents cultivated ground to feed on grain. In captivity it will take
almost anything offered to it. Its voice is a very curious, far-reach-
ing, guttural croak, very easily recognisable if once heard. It is wary
and difficult to approach, and cannot be easily secured except with
a rifle. Holub states that it spends the night knee-deep in water,
while Ortlepp asserts that it is even sometimes frozen in in winter.
Major Sparrow informs me that this Crane makes no nest, but
deposits its egg in the short grass of the bare veld. He found two
clutches near Lindley in the Orange River Colony, one of two eggs,
one of one egg, both in the month of December. In the follow-
ing year he found two chicks just hatched near Newcastle on
December 8rd, and one hard set egg next day near Dannhauser.
Eggs in the South African Museum are smaller than those of
the Wattled Crane, and are a good deal darker; they are light
brown, clouded and blotched with a darker brown of a purplish
shade, and measure 3°55 x 2°35.
The Blue Crane becomes very tame when kept in captivity and
takes food from the hand, eating fruit and vegetables. It is an
exceedingly amusing bird to watch, as it dances to and fro with
wings half outstretched, bowing and waving its head from side to
side. It dislikes children and strange objects.
Genus III. BALEARICA.
Type.
Balearica, Briss. Orn. v, p. 511 (1760) .......ceceeeeeeen ees B. pavonina.
Bill short and stout, distinctly shorter than the middle toe ;
nostrils oblique ovals; crown of the head covered with short black
velvety plumes ; a tuft of straw-like bristles on the nape of the neck ;
984 GRUIDE BALEARICA
throat and sides of the face bare; feathers of the neck throughout
elongate and lanceolote; wing with the secondaries not produced
beyond the primaries; tail and legs as in Bugeranus.
Three species of this genus are generally recognised, all confined
to Africa; one of these is found within our limits.
689. Balearica regulorum. Crowned Crane.
Anthropoides regulorum, Bennett, P. Z. S. 1833, p. 118.
Balearica regulorum, Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 331; Layard, B. S. Afr.
p. 804 (1867); Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 255; Layard, Ibis, 1869,
p. 876; Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 264, 1873, p. 286, 1874, p. 106, 1877,
p. 348; Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 279 (1872) ; Buckley,
Ibis, 1874, p. 389; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, pp. 192, 209; Holub ¢&
Pelzein, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 256 (1882); Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 363
[Mashonaland]; Alerander, Ibis, 1900, p. 450; Reichenow, Vog. Afr.
i, p. 265 (1900) ; Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 263; Oates, Cat. B. Eggs,
ii, pp. 96, 870 (1902).
Balearica chrysopelargus (nec Licht.) Tegetm., P. Z. S. 1880, p. 93;
id. ed. Blyth’s Monogr. Cranes, p. 15 (1881); Butler, Feilden and
Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 342; Reid, Ibis, 1888, p. 225; Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 629 (1884) ; id. Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 274 (1894) ;
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 186 (1896) ; Woodward Bros., Natal B. p. 174
(1899).
“ Kaffir Crane’ of some; ‘“ Mahem” of Dutch; “Themu”’ of Amaxosa
(Stanford).
Description. Adult.—General colour above slaty, paler on the
neck, becoming darker on the back towards the tail, which is quite
black; crown of the head with a velvety cushion of black, closely
set plumes, behind which on the occiput is a bunch of stiff straw-
coloured bristles tipped with black and reaching a length of about
four inches; lores and sides of the face bare, bordered by a line
of velvety black plumes, upper throat sparsely covered with a few
black downy patches, lower throat bare with an elongate flattened
wattle; feathers of the neck, especially those above the breast
elongated and pointed; greater portion of the wings and their
coverts white; tips of some of the longer secondary coverts de-
composed and straw-yellow in colour; primaries black; secondaries,
except the two first, which are black, maroon red, some of the inner
ones slightly decomposed at the tips; below, like the back, slaty ;
under wing-coverts white; quills black below.
Iris light ashy; bill black; legs and feet black; bare sides of
GRUIDE BALEARICA 985
the face white, with a triangular band of vermilion above; throat
lappet vermilion.
Length 39:0; wing 22:5; tail 10:0; tarsus 7:0; middle toe 4:0;
culmen 2°5.
A young bird has the head and neck sandy-rufous ; the crown of
the head chestnut mottled with black bases to the downy feathers,
only the lores are bare, the rest of the sides of the face and ear-
Fie, 92.—Head of Balearica regulorum. x 2
coverts being covered with isabelline down; the back is blackish,
the feathers margined with rufous; the white wing-coverts are also
margined with rufous and have black subterminal margins; beneath
blackish with sandy-buff margins. Bill black, base of the lower
mandible pale; bare skin between the eye and the base of the bill
black ; the cheeks, which are bare in the adult, thickly clothed with
yellowish-white down; legs and feet ashy black.
Distribution.—The Crowned Crane is found only in the eastern
286 GRUIDE BALEARICA
half of Cape Colony, in Natal, where it appears to be the most
common of all the Cranes, and northwards throughout the Trans-
vaal and Rhodesia to the northern part of German South-west
Africa. It does not seem to be found in Great Namaqualand or
Damaraland proper. Beyond our limits it reaches South Angola
and Nyasaland and German East Africa as far as the Pangani River.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony — Hast
London (Rickard), King William’s Town (Trevelyan); Natal—Upper
Umzimkulu Valley (Woodward), Newcastle (Reid); Orange River
Colony—near Kroonstad (Barratt); Transvaal—Bloemhof district
(Ayres), Potchefstroom (Barratt and Ayres); Bechuanaland —
Botletli River (Andersson), Ngami country (Chapman); Mashona-
land (Ayres and Marshall); German South-west Africa—Ondonga
and Okavango River (Andersson) ; Portuguese Hast Africa—Zumbo
on the Zambesi (Alexander).
Habits.—This bird, though known even in the middle of the
eighteenth century, does not appear to have been properly described
till 1833, when an example was brought home alive to the Zoological
Gardens by Sir Lowry Cole, who had been Governor of the Cape.
Previously our present bird had been confused with the West
African species (B. pavonina). The bird described by Lichtenstein
as Ardea chrysopelagus, which name has been applied to the
Southern Crowned Crane, is without doubt the Black Stork.
The ‘‘ Mahem,” as it is called by the Dutch from its note, which
is thus syllabled, is found in small troops of from twenty to thirty
birds in the winter, but in pairs in the breeding season insummer. It
inhabits open country and is seldom seen far from marshy ground or
lakes. Here it marches about with stately gait in search of its food,
which consists of large insects, small reptiles and frogs, and also of
grain when procurable. The voice of the Crowned Crane is a
melodious sound of two tones, the second half of which is some-
what prolonged and resembles the Dutch name ‘‘Mahem.” Like
the Blue Crane it often dances and plays all sorts of antics with
bowing head and outstretched wings. A correspondent of Mr.
Ayres found a nest on December 22nd in a swamp on the Mooi
River not far from Potchefstroom; it was composed of rushes and
reeds pulled and worked into a conical structure among long, rank
grass in a swamp. The water was about ankle deep. Two eggs
were found of a whitish colour, with a tinge of green showing
through in consequence of the egg membrane being of that colour.
They measured 3°44 x 2:3. Buckley, Barratt, Holub and Reid
287
BALEARICA
GRUIDA
“wunsopnbas porivepg—'"SG “OT
—
Ph S
SORES
Sr
288 OTIDE OTIS
all give somewhat similar accounts. Mr. Layard, who originally
described the egg of this bird, which he received from Mr. Arnot
from Mahura’s country in Bechuanaland, stated that it was a pale
dull brown tinged with green with a few confused reddish-brown
blotches. This egg is still preserved in the South African Museum,
and is now a very pale greeuish-grey colour, while the blotches
described by Layard appear as if they might be accidental. It
measures 3°5 xX -2°5.
Major Sparrow, who has taken the eggs of this species near
Mooi River, in Natal, in May, tells me that these, when first laid,
are bluish-white, but become greenish and tinged with brown after
a few days, owing to the damp weeds in the nest.
_ The Crowned Crane is often kept in captivity. It becomes very
tame and grows to be very much attached to its owner and its home.
It may safely be trusted with its liberty, as, though it may take an
occasional flight around the grounds, it will never travel very far.
It is a good bird to keep in a garden, as it spends most of its time
searching for insects and grubs.
Family II. OTIDA.
The Bustards form a very distinct family, characterised by their
short bills, upright carriage and three-toed feet. They have from
sixteen to twenty tail-feathers and eleven primaries; the tarsus and
bare portion of the tibia are covered with small scales ; the toes are
short, stout and scutellated above, the claws short and blunt.
The following are the anatomical characteristics of the family :
Skull schizognathous and holorhinal; no basipterygoid processes ;
sternum with two posterior notches; aftershaft present; fifth
cubital remex absent; cca present; oil-gland absent; the femo-
rocaudal muscle absent, the other four Garrodian muscles present.
Genus I. OTIS.
Type.
Otis, Brisson, Orn. v, p. 18 (1760)....... cece ceeeeeeeeeee ene O. tarda.
The characteristics of the family given above include those of
the only genus of African Bustards here recognised.
Reichenow includes in his work twenty-one African species,
eleven of which are met with in South Africa.
OTIDA
Key of the Species.
A, Very large; wing 23 to 31 inches; head
strongly crested; neck transversely banded
with black and white ..........cccccecceeeeeeeee
B, Large; wings 17 to 28 inches; head not
conspicuously crested.
a. Tail with white cross-bands; back with-
out arrow-shaped markings .............4.
b. Tail with buffy-mottled cross-bands ; back
with arrow-shaped markings of sandy-
OTIS 289
O. kort, p. 808.
O. caffra, p. 800.
Fic. 94.—Left foot of Otis afra. x 2
C. Smaller; wings less than 15 inches.
a. Beneath black, at least on the lower breast
and abdomen.
a, With a very distinct nuchal crest of
vinous red in the male; back with
arrow - shaped markings of sandy-
PULOUS siaanucacst cinseraraccnensvadenne tanned’
6'. Without a conspicuous crest.
a, Throat and neck black all round.
a, Quill-lining black oo... ee
6%. Quill-lining white ............
b%. Throat black, connected with the
black breast only by a narrow line
a, Rump and tail freckled buff like
the upper back oo... eeeeeeeee
b3, Rump and tail black contrasting
with the back sscisscsssesvovewsenseni
ce’, Throat and neck not black but
mottled and cross-barred, black and
sandy, like the back.
19
0. ruficrista, p. 290.
O. afra, 3, p. 292.
O. afroides, 3, p. 294.
O. melanogaster, 3, p. 802.
O. hartlawbt, p. 804.
VOL. IV.
290 OTIDE OTIS
a, Quill-lining black ............cceeeee O. afra, 2, p. 292.
63. Quill-lining white ..........cceeeeeeee O. afroides, 2, p. 294.
b. Beneath slaty-blue throughout ..........4. O. cerulescens, p, 305.
c. Beneath whitish.
a, Head and neck mottled grey, like the
back.
a’. Throat black, but no black on the
GaPe OF CAL-COVETES ...ccccesceceeeseeees O. vigorst, p. 296.
b*. Throat, a spot at the gape and
another behind the ear all black ... O. rueppells, p. 298.
b!, Head and neck mottled; back with con-
spicuous black centres to the feathers O. melanogaster, 2, p. 802.
c’, Neck rufous, with « slaty-blue patch
in front; crown slaty-blue ............... O. barrowit, p. 807.
690. Otis ruficrista. Red-crested Knorhaan.
Otis ruficrista, Smith, Rep. Exped. Centr. Afr. p. 56 (1886); id. IU.
Zool. 8S. Afr. Aves, pl. 4 (1838); Sharpe ed. Layard’s, B. S. Afr.
pp. 639, 854 (1884); Fleck, Journ. Ornith., 1894, p. 885; Bryden,
Nat. and Sport, p. 44 (1897); Millais, Breath from the Veldt, 2nd ed.,
pp. 49, 78, 82, with sketches (1899); Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 252
(1900).
Eupodotis ruficrista, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 286 (1867); Ayres, Ibis,
1871, p. 263, 1880, p. 110, 1886, p. 298; Gurney, in Andersson's, B.
Damaral. p. 259 (1872); Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 386; Shelley, Ibis,
1882, p. 861 [Rhodesia]; Bryden, Gun §& Camera, pp. 155, 479
(1893) ; Kirby, Haunts of Wild Game, p. 560 (1896).
Lophotis ruficrista, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 291 (1894); Oates, Cat.
B. Eqs, ii, p. 865 (1902).
Afrotis ruficrista, Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 184 (1896).
*“ Bush Knorhaan,” in Bechuanaland.
Description. Adult Male—General colour a rufous - brown,
mottled with paler and darker brown; most of the feathers with
dark brown and V-shaped paler sandy-rufous markings; crown of
the head and a patch from the base of the beak to below the
eye slaty-blue, cheeks and throat white, the latter with a central
band of black; a tuft of decomposed feathers on the nape of a
vinous red colour, forming a crest; ear-coverts fulvous, neck ashy,
becoming pale slaty blue on the chest; wings like the back, some
of the outer coverts pure white ; primary quills and the greater part
of the primary coverts black, slightly mottled with white; tail
feathers like the back but more finely mottled, with a sub-terminal
band of black, which, on the outer feathers, becomes terminal ;
OTIDE OTIS 291
beneath the sides of the breast mottled like the back, below which
are two patches of pure white; rest of the lower surface, including
the undersides of the wings and tail, black.
Iris yellow to light creamy-buff; bill ashy, dusky on the culmen,
yellowish at the base; tarsi and feet nearly white.
Length about 20; wing 10:45; tail 5-5; culmen 1:3; tarsus 3-0.
In the female the crown is dark brown, with large spots of sandy
rufous, the occipital region ashy, freckled with sandy rufous without
crest; eyebrow isabelline-buff; cheeks and throat white, without
the mesial band of black; neck and chest brown mottled. with
sandy-buff spots and markings, with a few lines of black; a broad
band of white across the chest.
The vinous-coloured crest of the male fades in old skins, espe-
cially when exposed to light, to a yellow or white.
Mr. Bryden remarks that the whole of the.soft, fluffy, under
portion of the feathers of this bird is of a delicate rufous pink tinge,
as is also the skin; this fades quickly after death.
Distribution.—This Knorhaan was first obtained by Smith
at Latakoo, near Kuruman; it has been noticed in the Orange
River Valley by Bradshaw, but does not seem to be found to the
south of that river, although an example, stated to have been
obtained by Arnot in the Albany district, is preserved in the South
African Museum. It extends northwards through the Transvaal
to Benguela in the west and to Rhodesia in the east, but is not yet
known from Nyasaland.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Orange
River Valley (Bradshaw), Koning, near Kuruman (Eriksson, in
§. A. Museum), Matapling River, near Mafeking (Bryden) ; Trans-
vaal—Elands River and Limpopo River in Rustenburg and Marico
districts (Ayres), Sabi River in Lydenburg (Francis, in 8. A. Mus) ;
Zoutspansberg district (Millais), Swaziland and Barberton (Gil-
fillan); Bechuanaland—Kanye (Exton), Botletli River (Bryden),
Ngami region (Chapman and Fleck); Rhodesia—Bulawayo and
Unmfuli River (Ayres) ; German South-west Africa—Great Namaqua-
land and South Damaraland (Andersson), Reheboth, Awasberg and
Okavango (Fleck).
Habits——The Red-crested Knorhaan is found singly or in pairs,
chiefly in bush or forest country; it rises from the ground swiftly
and noiselessly, and flies off at a rapid rate, dodging in and out
among the trees and bushes, so that it is a good sporting bird.
Its note is a melancholy ‘goo goo,” frequently repeated, while
292 OTIDA OTIS
Ayres states that in addition to the ordinary note, this bird some-
times whistles a short song which might be taken for that of some
small bush-bird, such as a Shrike or Thrush. Its food consists of
insects, especially beetles and termites. Millais came across this
bird very frequently, and gives a beautiful full page figure of it in
his well known work above quoted ; he found it solitary and shy in
disposition, creeping away and concealing itself at the appearance
of danger; he also states that it is remarkably silent. One of his
‘figures gives a representation of a singular habit he noticed in
regard to this bird; every evening towards sunset it rises from the
grass, and mounting perpendicularly into the air to a height of from
100 to 200 feet it closes its wings and drops head first to the earth,
only opening its wings to break its fall when within a few feet of
the ground.
Ayres found a nest of this bird on November 14th near Bula-
wayo when accompanying Mr. J. 8. Jameson on his expedition.
The eggs, two in number, were laid on the ground, and partially
hidden by a tuft of grass, and were much incubated. They were
shaped like Plover's eggs, being much pointed at one end. In
colouring they were greyish creamy-white, much spotted and
blotched with dark umber ; they measured 2:25 x 1:5 and 2:0 x 1:5
respectively.
691. Otis afra. Black Knorhaan.
White-eared Bustard, Lath. Gen. Syn. ii, pt. 2, p. 802 pl. lxix. (1782).
Knorrhane, Sparriman, Travels, 8vo, ed. i, p. 162 (1785).
Otis afra, Gmel., Syst. Nat. i, p. 724 (1788); Holub §& Pelz. Orn, Siid-
Afr. p. 281 (1882); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.S. Afr. p. 642 (1884) ;
Bryden, Kloof and Karoo, p. 320 (1889); Nicolls and Eglington,
Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 115 (1892); Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 256 (1900).
Eupodotis afra, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 286 (1867); Gurney, in An-
dersson’s B. Damaral. p. 260 (1872) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 85.
Compsotis afra, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 293 (1894); Oates, Cat. B.
Liggs, ii, p. 365 (1902).
Afrotis afra, Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 184 (1896).
“ Knorhaan” (pronounced Koraan, 2.e., Scolding Cock) of the Colonists,
“Tkala Kalu” of Amaxosa (Stanford).
Description. Adult Male.—Crown of the head ashy-black with
a few transverse bars of pale fulvous, surrounded by a more or
less distinct bluish-grey band; ear-coverts white; rest of the head,
neck all round, all the lower surface, axillaries, under wing-coverts,
OTIDE OTIS 293
wing-quills above and below black; above, including the scapulars
and a few of the lesser wing-coverts barred and vermiculated with
black and sandy-buff; rump, upper tail-coverts and tail with black
and white and less sandy-buff; primaries, primary coverts, and
almost all the secondaries black, the innermost of the latter with
white on the outer web; carpal joint, edge of the wing and most of
the median and inner coverts white, forming in the folded wing a
conspicuous white band along its whole length.
Iris dusky tawny brown ; bill dark horn, yellowish at the base of
the lower mandibles ; tarsi and feet yellow.
Length about 21:0; wing 11-25; tail 5-5; culmen 1-20; tarsus
3:70.
Fic. 95.—Head of Otis afra, $ x 4}
The female has the head, neck and chest mottled and streaked
and barred with black and sandy-rufous, the lower breast is quite
white, without or with traces of black barring, the rest of the lower
surface is black, as in the male. The markings on the back are
much more mottled, and with less regular barring as compared with
the male. Wing about 10°75; tarsus 3°50.
A chick just hatched is a pretty little creature covered with
down, mottled with rich rufous-yellow and white.
Distribution—The Black Knorhaan is confined to Cape Colony
south of the Orange River, north of which its place is taken by the
994 OTIDE OTIS
White-quilled Knorhaan. To the east it does not extend further
than the Albany division.
The following are localities : Cape Colony—Berg River (Layard),
Malmesbury and Stellenbosch (8. A. Mus.), Ceres (Shelley), Sunday
River in Uitenhage (Berlin Mus.), Fish River Bush in Albany
(Trevelyan).
Habits—This is certainly the most abundant of all the game
birds throughout Cape Colony. It is usually found in pairs in the
open country, and is one of the noisiest of birds. When approached
the cock rises with a fluster and gives vent to its peculiar harsh cry,
sounding like “‘go back go back” or ‘crack crack.” Although
the wing movement is quick the flight is by no means rapid or pro-
longed, and after being flushed the bird soon alights again not very
far off, and watches for the fresh approach of danger. The hen
bird, of a more retiring and silent disposition, is very difficult to
flush, and usually takes refuge in an Antbear’s or Meerkat’s hole.
Dr. Stark found these birds very common iu the undulating scrub-
overgrown hillsides near Malmesbury. During the month of August,
when he was there, the males were very noisy, calling against one
another continually. He further states, ‘they rise when one is
seventy or eighty yards off and fly round in large circles, not going
straight away; as they rise they utter their loud scolding cry and
continue calling during their flight. Each male seems to occupy
some slight rise on the hillside within calling distance of the next
one.”
Layard found nests near the Berg River. They were merely
depressions in the soil, sometimes lined by a few bents of grass.
The eggs, two in number, are rounded ovals of a pale shade of
greeny-brown, blotched with varying amounts of darker brown.
They measure about 2:23 x 1:78.
The flesh of the Knorhaan is tough and inferior. It tastes better
if the bird is skinned before cooking.
692. Otis afroides. White-quilled Knorhaan.
Otis afraides, Smith, P. Z. S. 1830, p. 11.
Otis afroides, Smith, S. Afr. Quart. Journ. i, no. 5, p.14 (1881) ; dd. Ill.
Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pl. 19 (1839); Holub & Pelz., Orn. Siid-Afr.
p. 229 (1882); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. pp. 642, 855 (1884);
Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 117, fig. 88 (1892) ; Bryden,
Gun and Camera, pp. 100, 481 (1898) Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894,
OTIDE OTIS 295
p. 885; Rendall, Ibis, 1896, p. 176; Bryden, Nature and Sport, p. 41
(1897); Millais, Breath from the Veldt, 2nd ed., pp. 49, 111, 336,
with sketches (1899); Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 254 (1900) ;
Haagner, Ibis, 1902, pp. 574, 580.
Lissotis leucoptera, Reichenb., Handb. Gall. pl. 254 (1848).
Eupodotis afroides, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 287 (1867); Gurney, Ibis,
1868, p. 48 (Upper Natal); Layard, Ibis, 1869, p. 375; Gurney in
Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 260 (1872) ; Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 385 ;
Ayres, Ibis, 1877, p. 847, 1880, p. 265.
Eupodotis afra, (nec Linn.) Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 192; Shelley, Ibis,
1882, p. 8362 [Bommingani Pan].
Compsotis leucoptera, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 294 (1894); Oates,
Cat. B. Hggqs, ii, p. 865 (1902); Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 13 [Deelfontein].
Afrotis afroides, Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 184 (1896).
Description. Adult male.—Closely resembling O. afra in every
respect except that the primaries after the first are white to a great
extent on the inner web, the tips alone being black, while the under
wing-coverts and the quills from below are also white.
Iris light tawny brown; bill greyish-brown; the basal half
pale rose-pink, changing after death to pale chrome-yellow; tarsi
and feet gamboge-yellow.
Length about 21; wing 10-0; tail 5:0; culmen 1:2; tarsus 3:4.
The female differs from the female of C. afra in exactly the same
respects as does the male. Wing 10:0; tarsus 3:0.
Distribution.—The White-quilled Knorhaan replaces the Black
Knorhaan northwards from the northern part of the Karoo through
Bechuanaland and the Orange River Colony as far as Damaraland
proper and the Transvaal. It has not been met with, so far as I
am aware, north of the Limpopo.
The following are recorded localities : Cape Colony—Deelfontein
resident (Seimund), Orange River Valley (Bradshaw) ; Hart’s River
near Taungs (Holub), Setlagoli near Mafeking (Bryden); Natal—
Upper districts (Ayres); Orange River Colony—near Philippolis
(Holub), Winburg (Barratt); Transvaal— Potchefstroom (Ayres),
near Wolmeranstad (Hamilton), Barberton (Rendall), near Johan-
nesburg (Haagner) ; Bechuanaland— Bommingani Pan (Ayres), Bot-
letli (Bryden); German South-west Africa—Great Namaqualand
and Damaraland, common (Andersson and Fleck).
Habits.—This Knorhaan does not differ from the Black Knor-
haan in habits. It is found usually in pairs in the open country,
and is exceedingly noisy, rising when approached with a loud and
harsh cackle and generally circling round high up in the air and
settling again very soon. The females, which are not nearly so
296 OTIDE OTIS
often seen, and are not so loud-voiced, endeavour to escape danger
by concealing themselves. The food consists of insects, small
reptiles, worms, and vegetable matter. In the early morning
they are often seen perched on an ant heap sunning themselves.
Andersson found two nests in January at Omapju in Damaraland.
The nest consists merely of a depression in the ground, usually
sheltered by a long tuft of grass, and the eggs are two in number.
Eggs in the South African Museum resemble those of the Black
Knorhaan, but appear a little smaller; a clutch taken by Major
Sparrow at Kaalfontein in the Lindley district of the Orange River
Colony on November 25 are brown or greenish-brown, moderately
blotched with spots of darker brown. They measure 2°05 x 1°65.
693. Otis vigorsi. Vaal Knorhaan.
Otis vigorsi, Smith, P. Z. S. 1830, p. 11; Bryden, Kloof and Karoo,
p. 820 (1889) ; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 248 (1900).
Otis scolopacea, Temm. Pl. Col. v, pl. 576 (1835); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s
B. 8. Afr. pp. 687, 854 (1884) ; Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsm. 8. Afr.
p. 117, fig. 45 (1892); Bryden, Gun and Camera, p. 480 (1808); id.
Nature and Sport, p. 45 (1897); Rendall, Ibis, 1896, p. 176.
Eupodotis scolopacea, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 284 (1867); Barrait, Ibis,
1876, p. 192; Holub & Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 232 (1882).
Heterotetrax vigorsi, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 296 (1894); Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 185 (1896); Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 175 (1899);
Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, p. 86, pl. iv, fig. 4 (1902); Whitehead, Ibis,
1903, p. 235; Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 14 [Deelfontein].
“ Dik-kop Knorhaan” of the Dutch.
Description. Adult—General colour above and below ashy-grey,
very finely freckled with dark brown, with a pale rufous or pinky
sheen over a good deal of the back; a conspicuous black triangular
patch on the chin and throat extending as a narrow line about half
way down the neck; another black patch on the nape somewhat
concealed by the elongated occipital feathers which form a slight
crest; round the throat-patch the feathers are paler, almost white ;
primaries, primary coverts and secondaries blackish, the bases and
inner webs of most of them tawny and freckled with tawny ; inner
secondaries and scapulars like the back but with patches of ashy-
black ; beneath like the back, but a good deal paler and with a pinky
sheen; the abdomen being almost white ; axillaries like the flanks,
brown with blackish vermiculations.
Iris brownish-grey.
OTIDE OTIS 297
Length about 24; wing 14:0; tail 6-0; tarsus 3-6; culmen 1:43.
A bird, which is probably a female, has a less extended throat
patch and a more marked narrow transverse bar across the tail ;
itis also smaller; wing 12:5; tarsus 3°3. Bill dark slate, whitish
on the base of the lower mandible; feet dull chrome-yellow.
Distribution.—The Vaal Knorhaan is found over the greater
part of the more open and central districts of the Colony, extending
to the upper parts of Natal according to Hutchinson, to the
neighbourhood of Barberton in the Transvaal according to Rendall,
and to Bechuanaland according to Bryden.
Curiously enough, this species never seems to have been obtained
by Ayres during his many years of collecting in the Western Trans-
vaal, nor has it been noticed north of the Limpopo. The following
are localities: Cape Colony—Zoetendals Vlei in Bredasdorp and
Beaufort West (Layard), Little Namaqualand (Howard), Deelfon-
tein, resident (Seimund), Orange River near Upington (Bradshaw),
Setlagoli near Mafeking (Bryden); Orange River Colony — near
Odendaalstrom on the Orange River (Whitehead), near Winburg
(Barratt) ; Transvaal—near Barberton (Rendall).
Habits.—But little attention has been paid to this bird since
Layard wrote the following account: ‘It is usually found in pairs,
and prefers running among the scanty herbage and trusting to its
dusky plumage to effect its escape to taking to flight. If it fancies
itself unobserved, it will suddenly squat, and unless the spot is
correctly marked, so great is its similarity to the soil and stones
among which it is found that it is next to impossible to detect it.
It is so well aware of this, that it will remain immovable till the
sportsman walks towards it, on which it instantly takes flight; but
if it is approached in a series of concentric circles, it remains until
the sportsman is within a few paces. It feeds on seeds, insects
and small reptiles, constructs no nest, but deposits two eggs in a
Acpression of the soil on the open veld.”
Its voice is a crowing sound like ‘ Kir-reck-a-rack-a-rack,”
according to Nicolls and Eglington.
Eggs in the South African Museum from Nelsport in Beaufort
West and Upington on the Orange River, are nearly ovals of pale
brown to olive-brown ground colour, blotched somewhat sparingly
with darker brown of several shades. They measure 2°60 x 1:75.
298 OTIDE OTIS
694. Otis rueppelli. Riippell’s Knorhaan.
Otis rueppelli, Wahlb. Journ. Ornith. 1857, p. 1; Finsch ¢ Hartl.,
Vog. Ost-Afr. p. 619 (1870); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p.
648 (1884); Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 885; Reichenow, Vog. Afr.
i, p. 252 (1900).
Otis picturata, Hartl. P. Z. S. 1865, p. 88, pl. vi.
Eupodotis rueppelli, Gurney in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 259 (1872).
Heterotetrax rueppelli, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 297 (1894) ; Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 185 (1896). :
Description. Adult.—Like the previous species (O. vigorst) but
much paler and with a good deal of blue-grey on the head; sides
of the neck also blue-grey, divided by a broad line of black, extend-
ing on to the fore neck and joining the black patch on the centre of
the throat; sides of the face mostly white, a patch of white on the
cheeks extending backwards and joining below the black patch, the
latter united to a narrow eyebrow ; ear-coverts with a black patch ;
below from the fore neck downwards white, including the under
wing-coverts and quill lining.
Iris pale grey varied-by dark brown; legs and toes dirty yellow.
Length about 20; wing 12:5; tail 5:3; tarsus 3:3; culmen 1°6.
Distribution.—Rippell’s Knorhaan appears to take the place of
the Vaal Knorhaan in German South-west Africa, where it is plen-
tiful in Great Namaqualand and Southern Damaraland according
to Andersson. North of the Cunene it was obtained by Monteiro
in the littoral region of Angola and was described by Hartlaub
under another name.
The only definite localities are those given by Fleck :, Tsoaxoub
and near Usab or Urab, both on or near the Swakop River in
Central Damaraland.
Habits. — Andersson states that this species “is partial to
slightly undulating ground abounding in boulders and loose stones ;
it is usually found in pairs. When disturbed it utters a succession
of quick, harsh notes, and crows not unlike a Corn Crake on taking
wing but in a much louder strain.” According to Fleck it is by no
means a shy bird.
695. Otis ludwigi. Ludwig's Paaww.
Otis colei, Smith, S. Afr. Quart. Journ. i, no. 5, p. 15 (1881) [nom.
nudum].
Otis ludwigii, Riipp., Mus. Senck. ii, p. 228, pl. 14 (1837); Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B. 8. Afr. pp. 636, 854 (1884) Nicolls and Eglington,
Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 114 (1892) ; Rendall, Ibis, 1896, p.175; Shelley, B.
Afr. i, p. 185 (1896); Reichenow, Vég. Afr., i. p. 246 (1900).
OTIDE OTIS 299
Eupodotis ludwigi, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 284 (1867); ad. Ibis, 1869,
p-. 75; Ayres, Ibis, 1869, p. 299; Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zoologist,
1882, p. 340.
Neotis ludwigi, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 299 (1894); Woodward
Bros. Natal B. p.175 (1899); Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, ii, pp. 87, 366
(1902) ; Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 15 |Deelfontein].
“Tseme” of Natal Zulus (Woodward).
Description. Adult Male.—Crown and sides of the head and
front part of the neck down to the chest where this colour ends in
a point, brown; a white patch on the occiput and a mottling of the
same colour on chin and throat; sides and back of the neck white ;
this white continuing on either side of the brown to the under
surface of the body, which is entirely white ; a more or less triangular
patch at the base of the neck behind tawny-rufous; back, rump,
tail and wings dark brown, vermiculated with pale sandy-rufous,
most of the feathers of the back with an arrow-shaped patch of the
same colour; on the coverts this sandy-rufous becomes white and
white tips are present on most of these feathers; wing-quills brown,
some with more, some with less white, chiefly on the inner webs
and at the bases; edge of the wing white, tail-feathers like the back
but with four black cross-bands more or less distinctly indicated ;
below, including the axillaries and under wing-coverts pure white.
Iris greyish-brown, bill blackish-horn, white toward base of
lower mandible ; tarsus and feet greenish-white.
Length about 39:0; wing 21:5; tail 9°75; culmen 2:20; tarsus
5:0.
The female is somewhat similar but much smaller; there is no
white occipital patch, but the brown round the eye and on the
chest is considerably mottled and freckled with white; wing 17:5;
culmen 2:05; tarsus 4:25, An individual shot by Butler weighed
74 lbs., the wing measuring 19.
Distribution.— Ludwig's Paauw is apparently generally distri-
buted over the greater part of Cape Colony, Orange River Colony,
Southern Transvaal and the upper part of Natal, but owing to the
fact that the distinctions between it and O. caffra have not been
generally recognised by sportsmen and collectors a little uncer-
tainty still prevails as to its exact range. It seems to be subject
to partial migratory movements, as it is stated to be found on the
Frankfurt flats near King William’s Town only between the months
of July and November, while it usually comes to the south-western
districts and near Cape Town only during the months of November,
December and January.
300 OTIDZ OTIS
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Cape Flats
near Cape Town (S. A. Mus.), Little Namaqualand (Howard),
Beaufort West (Layard), Deelfontein, July (Seimund), Orange
River near Upington (Bradshaw), Sunday River in Uitenhage
division (Berlin Mus.), Frankfurt Flats near King William’s Town,
July to November (Trevelyan), near East London, January (Wood) ;
Natal—Nottingham Road and Ladysmith (Woodward), near New-
castle (Butler) ; Transvaal—Barberton (Rendall), near Potchefstroom
(Ayres).
Habits.—Little is known about the habits of this bird. Ayres
was shown a breeding place, about thirty miles from Potchef-
stroom on the top of a low, stony range of hillocks. The eggs, two
in number, were laid on the bare ground without any pretence of a
nest. While Ayres was resting close to the nest the hen bird lay
crouched on the ground within ten yards of him; but he could not
see it, even when his companion, a Hottentot, pointed it out to
him. The bird was subsequently shot by the Hottentot.
An egg in the South African Museum, taken by Mr. J. Dankers
at Zoetendals vlei in the Bredasdorp division, is an even oval of a
pale olive-green ground colour, rather faintly streaked with purplish
and yellowish-brown. It measures 2°90 x 2:15.
Mr. Wood tells me that this is the only Bustard which visits the
neighbourhood of East London, and that it does not come every
year. In January, 1898, he saw two flocks close to the coast, each
containing about a score of birds. They were very wary, but a
pair was secured eventually, which proved to be very fat.
Dr. Howard writes to me that these birds arrive in Namaqua-
land about the end of May or early in June, and leave again about
November or even December; they are usually seen in flocks of
from eight to twenty birds, and feed about the plains in the morn-
ing; during the middle of the day they fly to broken, hillocky
ground and rest, returning to the plains again about 3.30 p.m.
where they search for beetles and caterpillars, which form the bulk
of their food. They fly heavily and apparently slowly, but can
cover space marvellously quickly with their long sustained flight.
696. Otis cafra. Stanley Bustard or Veld Paawv.
Otis cafra, Lichtenst., Cat. Rer. Nat. Hamb. p. 86 (1778); Sharpe, ed.
Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 684 (1884); Nicolls d Eglington, Sportsm.
S. Afr. p. 114, fig. 41 (1892); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 185 (1896) ;
Millais, Breath from the Veldt, 2nd ed., p. 53 (1899); Reichenow,
Vig. Afr. i, p. 244 (1900).
\
OTIDE OTIS 301
Eupodotis caffra, Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 216, 1864, p. 860, 1868, p. 467
[Natal]; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 283 (1867); Drummond, Large Game,
p. 408 (1875); Ayres, Ibis, 1878, p. 298; Holub ¢ Pelz. Orn. Siid-Afr.
p. 288 (1882); Bryden, Kloof and Karoo, p. 319, with plate (1889).
Neotis caffra, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 301 (1894); Woodward Bros.,
Natal Birds, p. 176 (1899); Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, ii, pp. 87, 866 (1902).
“Tsema”’ of Amaxosa (Stanford).
Description. Adult Male.—Forehead and crown of the head
black with white bases to the feathers; a white eyebrow and upper
throat; sides of the face including the ear-coverts, sides of the neck
and front of the neck and chest bluish-slate ; lower half of the
- hinder aspect of the neck tawny-rufous, separated from the bluish-
slate by a posterior lateral band of white on each side meeting
below the occiput; mantle, back, upper tail-coverts, ulnar edge of
the wing, lesser wing-coverts and inner longer secondaries dark
brown, finely and richly vermiculated with pale sandy-rufous, but
with no arrow-shaped larger spots; wing-quills and coverts black,
most of the latter with white tips or subterminal bands, the former
especially in the case of the sixth primary, with a good deal of
white, especially at their bases or on their inner webs; tail-feathers
black with three transverse bands and a narrow tip of white on
the two central feathers, the subterminal white bands somewhat
obscured by mottling; below from the breast onwards, including
the axillaries and under wing-coverts white.
Tris light hazel; upper mandible dusky, lower one yellowish ;
legs and feet dingy yellowish-white.
Length about 43:0; wing 23-0; tail 10°75; tarsus 6:0; culmen
2:55 ; weight, according to Ayres, 20 lbs.
The female is a good deal smaller than the male; the centre
of the crown is ashy-white, finely vermiculated with darker; the
bluish-slate of the sides of the face, neck and breast is replaced by
white, closely-spotted and vermiculated with brown. Length about
34:0; wing 18-0; tarsus 5:1; weight (Ayres) 9 lbs.
Distribution.—The Stanley Bustard is found over the greater
part of South Africa from Cape Colony to the limits of the high
veld of the Transvaal. It was not met with by Andersson in
German South-west Africa, nor, so far as I am aware, has it been
recorded from Rhodesia. Beyond our limits it has been obtained
in Southern Angola, in the central parts of German East Africa, up
to the Victoria Nyanza, and recently on the Ubangi, a northern
tributary of the Congo. \
802 OTIDE OTIS
The following are South African localities : Cape Colony—Cape
division and near Upington, on the Orange River (S. A. Mus.),
Ceres and Beaufort West (Layard), Sunday River in Uitenhage
(Holub), Frankfurt Flats, near King, July to November (Tre-
velyan); upper parts of Natal (Ayres); Orange River Colony
(Millais); Transvaal— High veld (Millais), Potchefstroom, May
(Ayres).
Habits.—The Veld Paauw is found singly, in pairs, or even
sometimes in small parties of from three to five birds, on the open
plains, especially on the hilly uplands which rise out of the flats.
In some parts of the country it is migratory, appearing, as a rule,
in Natal only in winter, while Trevelyan states that it is found only
between July and November on the Frankfurt Flats, near King
William’s Town. It feeds on insects, and even good-sized snakes
and lizards, while it by no means despises berries and fruits,
when they are ripe. It is rather a silent bird, but sometimes
makes a low melodious humming noise in the morning and
evening, while during the breeding season the cock gives vent
to a loud, far-resounding boom, something like that of a Bittern ;
at this period also they display themselves before the females,
expanding their throats enormously and turning their feathers
back ; they then strut about and utter their booming noise.
Ayres found the eggs, generally at the top of a hill, laid in a
depression scratched out of the earth and usually bare, though
sometimes a wisp of grass may be added; the eggs are two in
number and resemble those of O. ludwigi; those in the South
African Museum from Upington and Nelspoort are oval and pale
brown ; washed, rather than blotched, with a slightly darker shade
of the same colour; they measure 2°90 x 2:10. Layard was told
that eggs were hatched near Ceres on April 20.
The flesh of this Paauw is particularly well tasting.
697. Otis melanogaster. Black-bellied Knorhaan.
Otis melanogaster, Riippell, Newe Wirbelth. Vogel, p. 16, pl. 7 (1885) ;
Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 831; Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. pp. 642,
854 (1884) ; Seebohim, Ibis, 1887, p. 851; Nicolls é Eglington, Sportsm.
8. Afr. p. 115, fig. 89 (1892) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 185 (1896); Wood-
_ ward Bros., Ibis, 1898, p. 226; Letchenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 256 (1900).
Eupodotis melanogaster, Gurney, Ibis, 1862, p. 153 [Natal]; Layard,
B.S. Afr. p. 286 (1867) ; Holub & Pelz. Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 233 (1882) ;
Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 862 [Umftuli River].
OTIDE OTIS 803
Lissotis melanogaster, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 806 (1894); Wood-
ward Bros., Natal B. p. 177 (1899); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 268 ;
Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, ii, p. 866 (1902).
“ Unofunjwa”’ of Natal Zulus (Woodward).
Description. Adult Male.—General colour above dark brown,
the feathers vermiculated with pale sandy and dark brown, the
latter colour forming conspicuous round or arrow-shaped patches on
most of the feathers; crown of the head buff, slightly freckled
with black, becoming sandy-buff posteriorly, separated from the
ear-coverts and nape by a line of black, bordered within by an
obscure line of white, ear-coverts and neck all round pale sandy-
freckled buff; chin and throat black with a greyish tinge; this con-
tinued as a narrow line down the neck to the breast; lesser wing-
coverts like the back, but paler, others, except those of the primaries,
white; those along the ulnar portion and bend of the wing, pure
white, the others slightly banded with black; primaries, primary
coverts and outer secondaries, black; the coverts banded and
freckled at the tips with white; the inner primaries and outer
secondaries with a good deal of white, especially on the inner webs ;
tail-feathers freckled dark brown and buff, with three or five narrow
transverse bands of brown, the outer pair almost pure black; a
patch of white on either side of the breast; rest of the under parts,
including the under wing-coverts and axillaries, black; wing-quills
partly black and partly white below.
Tris light brown, darker towards the centre; bill pale yellow;
culmen dark brown ; legs and feet yellowish-brown.
Length about 20:0; wing 15-0; tail 8-0; tarsus 525; culmen
1:55.
The female resembles the male on the upper surface, but is more
profusely spotted with sagittate spots of black, relieved by a creamy;
white line, which borders the black spots and brings them into
strong relief; head blackish spotted with sandy-buff; eyebrows, sides
of the face and ear-coverts also sandy-buff, with no black on the face
or sides of the crown; chin and upper throat white; lower throat
and chest sandy-buff, minutely freckled with blackish; feathers of
the breast with longitudinal lines and spear-shaped markings of
black ; rest of the under surface white, tinged with sandy-buff, with
large blotches of black along the sides of the body; under wing-
coverts black, barred with white; axillaries black.
Distribution.—This Knorhaan, which was first met with in
Abyssinia by Riippell and described by him some years later, is
304 OTIDE OTIS
widely spread over the greater part of Africa from Gambia in the
west, and Abyssinia and the White Nile in the east, southwards
through German Hast Africa and Nyasaland, to the Zambesi. It
also occurs in Angola. Within our limits it has been once recorded
from Cape Colony; it is fairly common in Natal, Zululand and
Mashonaland, but does not apparently reach the high plateau of the
Orange River Colony and the Transvaal.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony — Hast
London, once observed (Rickard); Natal—Congella Flats, near
Durban (Bt. Mus.), Port Shepstone and York (Maritzburg Mus.),
Ivuna River in Zululand (Woodward); Rhodesia—near Victoria
Falls (8. A. Mus.), Mashonaland, generally (Marshall), Umfuli
River (Ayres).
Habits—The Black-bellied Knorhaan is not a common bird
in South Africa and little is known of its habits. It is found
usually solitary, but sometimes in small companies, on open
grassy downs and flats; it is a bird of heavy flight, and usually
endeavours to escape from danger by crouching down on the
ground. In winter it often becomes extremely fat, and is then
most excellent eating. The Woodwards say that when hidden by
long grass the male bird makes his presence known by gobbling like
a turkey, and further, that during the breeding season the males
become very pugnacious, fighting like game-cocks with beak and
foot. The vanquished do not take flight, but slink off, the victor
pursuing and pecking them vigorously. The Woodwards found
an egg of this bird in Zululand, laid on the bare ground; it was
cream-coloured and smeared and blotched with dark brown.
698. Otis hartlaubi. Hartlaub’s Knorhaan.
Otis hartlaubi, Heuglin, Journ. Ornith, 1868, p.1; Shelley, B. Afr. i,
p- 185 (1896) ; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 259 (1900).
Lissotis hartlaubi, Sharpe, Cat, B. M. xxiii, p. 307 (1894).
Description. Adult Male.—Similar to O. melanogaster in every
respect, but with the lower back, rump, upper and under tail-
coverts and tail black.
Length 27; wing 13:5; tail 6-7; tarsus 4:7; culmen 1-95.
Distribution.—This Knorhaan is found in Senaar, Somaliland
and British East Africa. It is included among our birds solely on
the record of an example from South Africa in the British Museum,
OTIDE OTIS 805
presented by Mr. D. W. Mitchell, but the locality is probably
erroneous.
699. Otis cerulescens. Blue Knorhaan.
Otis cerulescens, Vieill., Hne. Meth. i, p. 834 (1820); Temm., Pl. Col.
v, pl. 5382 (1832); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 638 (1884); TV.
Ayres, Ibis, 1887, p. 61; Nicolls ¢ Eglington, Sporism. S. Afr. p. 118,
fig. 40 (1892); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 185 (1896); Millais, Breath from
the Veldt, 2nd ed., p. 49 with plate on p. 51 (1899); Retchenow,
Vog. Afr. i, p. 251 (1900); Haagner,-Ibis, 1902, p. 574.
Eupodotis cerulescens, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 285 (1867) ; Gurney, Ibis,
1868, p. 48 [Natal] ; Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 3885; Oates, Matabele-
land, p. 826 (1881).
Trachelotis cerulescens, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 808 (1894); Wood-
ward Bros., Natal Bds. p. 177 (1899); Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 15
[Deelfontein].
Description. Adult Male.—Crown of the head black in front
becoming slaty and then slaty-blue, which colour extends down the
neck and all round in its lower half on to the breast and under
parts; chin, sides of the face, including the eyebrows and the ear-
coverts, white with two black streaks below the eye and in the
moustachial region ; below the white of the chin is a considerable
black patch on the throat; back, rump and wing finely vermiculated
dark brown and sandy-rufous; on the greater coverts the rufous
becomes richer and the brown vermiculation much less; edge of
the wing and primary coverts slaty-blue, the latter blacker towards
the tips; wing-quills black with slaty-blue bases, the latter
increasing in extent on the inner primaries and secondaries;
tail-feathers tawny-rufous at the base, black towards the tip, except
the central pair which are vermiculated like the back at the tips;
below slaty-blue throughout, under tail-coverts with tawny bases
and quill-lining pale slaty.
Iris dusky, with an outer ring of tawny; bill dusky, pale at the
base ; tarsi and feet yellow.
Length about 22:5; wing 13-25; culmen 1:15; tarsus 3:5.
The female closely resembles the male, but the ear-coverts, sides
of the face and eyebrows are pale rufous, and the crown is slightly
spotted with sandy. Wing 13-0; tarsus 3:3.
Distribution.—The Blue Knorhaan appears to be rather a rare
bird, sparingly distributed over Cape Colony, the upper portion of
Natal, the Orange River Colony and the South of the Transvaal.
20 VOL. IV.
306 OTIDE OTIS
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Riversdale
(Layard), Hanover division, July, and Beaufort West (8S. A.
Mus.), Deelfontein (Seimund); Natal — Sunday River near Lady-
smith (Oates) ; Orange River Colony—Rhenoster River (W. Ayres).
Vredefort Road (B. Hamilton); Transvaal— Klip river near
Johannesburg, April (Haagner), Potchefstroom and Heidelberg
districts (Gilfillan).
\Fic, 96.—Otis:caerwlescens.
Habits. —The Blue Knorhaan is found along the banks of
streams, and also on the open veld and on stony hills. It is not
so noisy as some of the other Knorhaans; it is stated by some
writers to be somewhat shy and difficult to approach, except by
the well-known method of gradually circling round it. Millais, on
the contrary, found it tame and unsuspicious; he also illustrates
its method of making off when alarmed, with its head lowered.
OTIDE OTIS 307
Major Sparrow tells me that he found two nests of this bird
in the Orange River Colony at Linana near Winburg on August 21st
and near Lindley on December 17th. In each case there were two
eggs found, of a pale brown colour, with a greenish tinge streaked
with darker; they measured about 2-4 x 1:6.
700. Otis barrovii. Barrow’s Knorhaan.
Otis barrovii, J. H. Gray, in Griffith’s A. K. viii, p. 804 (1829) ; Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 186 (1896); Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 250 (1900).
Eupodotis senegalensis (nec Vieill.), Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 285 (1867) ;
Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 48 [Natal] ; Ayres, Ibis, 1869, p. 298, 1880,
p. 265; Holub & Pelz., Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 289 (1882); Bryden, Gun
and Camera, p. 481 (1893).
Eupodotis cerulescens (nec Vicill.), Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool.
1882, p. 340.
Otis senegalensis, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 639 (1884);
Millais, Breath from the Veldt, 2nd ed., p. 54, figured as “ Vaal
Knorhaan ’’ (1899).
Trachelotis barrovii, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 311 (1894); Oates,
Cat. B, Eggs, ii, p. 867 (1902); Mitchell, P. Z. S., 1904, i, p. 4.
Description. Adult Male.-—Crown and occiput slaty-blue, sur-
rounded by a line of black more or less conspicuous ; the feathers
somewhat elongated and erectile, forming a crest; chin, sides of
the face, including lores, eyebrows and ear-coverts white; below
this, across the throat, is a transversely elongated black band which
almost touches posteriorly the black feathers of the crest; hind-
neck tawny-rufous; back and wings freckled black and sandy-rufous
with a tendency to form transverse bands on the longer secondaries ;
wing-coverts tawny without freckling; primary coverts and wing-
quills black; the former tawny at their bases, the latter with
patches of tawny, fading to white on the inner webs of the inner
primaries and outer secondaries; tail feathers tawny at the base,
black at the tip except the centre ones, which are freckled pale
rufous and black with two narrow transverse bands; below the
fore-neck and chest are slaty-blue with a patch of tawny on either
side, the rest of the lower surface, including the under wing-coverts,
axillaries and quill-lining is white. All over the back of this bird is
a slight pink iridescence.
Iris light brown; bill yellowish, dusky on the culmen ; legs and
feet yellowish-white.
Length about 21:0; wing 11:5; tail 5-0; tarsus 3-4; culmen 1:3.
308 OTIDE OTIS
A young bird has the crown dusky, freckled especially pos-
teriorly with pale rufous; the ear-coverts, lores and eyebrows are
pale tawny, the black patch on the throat is smaller and freckled
with white; the fore-neck is not slaty-blue but tawny-rufous like
the hind-neck and slightly freckled with brown; the central tail
feathers have three black cross,bars on a freckled ground; the
outer rectrices have two cross-bars, the subterminal one, the broader,
and the basal portion and extreme tip of the feathers being slightly
freckled. Wing 10-5; tarsus 3°30.
An examination of the specimens in the South African Museum
leads to the conclusion that the adult males and females are alike,
the younger birds are as described above.
Distribution.—This species is found over much the same area
as the Blue Knorhaan, from the central portion of the Colony to
the Transvaal, but not north of the Limpopo.
The following are localities: Cape Colony — Tarka division
(Krebs), Albany (S. A. Mus.), Mafeking division (Bryden); Natal
—Ladysmith and Newcastle (Butler, Feilden and Reid); Orange
River Colony—Vredefort Road (B. Hamilton); Transvaal—Swazi-
land (Buckley), Potchefstroom (Ayres), Bank and Marico (S. A.
Mus.), Piet Retief district, common, August (Crawshay in S. A.
Mus.) ; Bechuanaland—Kanye (Exton).
Habits.—Butler states that this bird is the commonest of the
Knorhaans in the upper part of Natal; he found it wild and diffi-
cult to approach. When they get up they utter a harsh note
resembling the words ‘‘ Kuk-pa-wow,” repeating the call several
times as they fly away; the crop of one examined by Feilden was
full of insects, chiefly beetles.
Capt. R. Crawshay, in the Feld, states that he has found a
quantity of formic acid about the bills and feet of these birds,
and concludes that they feed on ants and termites,
Ayres informs us that two eggs are laid by this Bustard in open
country under the shelter of a tuft of grass, and that they vary
considerably in colour and markings.
701. Otis kori. Gom Paawv.
Otis kori, Burchell, Travels, i, p. 893, sketch on p. 402 (1822); Riippell,
Mus. Senck. ii, p. 218, pl. 13 (1834); Murie, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 471;
Oates, Matabeleland, p. 826 (1881); Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool.
1882, p. 889; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 682 (1884); Bryden,
Kloof and Karoo, pp. 806, 316 (1889) ; Distant, Nat. Transvaal,
OTIDE OTIS - 309
p. 74 (1892); Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsm. 8. Afr. p. 112 (1892);
Bryden, Gun and Camera, pp. 468, 478 (1898); Fleck, Journ. Ornith.
1894, pp. 368, 384; Kirby, Haunts Wild Game, p. 560 (1896);
Rendall, Ibis, 1896, p. 175; Woodward Bros., Ibis, 1897, p. 418;
Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 242 (1900); Haagner, Ibis, 1902, p. 574.
Eupodotis cristata, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 288 (1867); Ayres, Ibis, 1869,
p. 298, 1877, p. 346.
Eupodotis kori, Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 258 (1872);
Buckley, Ibis, 1876, p. 188; Holub & Pelzeln, Orn. Stid-Afr. p. 284
(1882); Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 861 [Mashonaland]; Sharpe, Cat. B.
M. xxiii, p. 824 (1894); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 186 (1896); Woodward
Bros., Natal B. p. 178 (1899); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 264; Oates,
Cat. B. Eggs, ii, p. 867 (1902).
“Gom-Paauw’” (i.e, Gum Peacock, because it feeds on Mimosa gum)
of the Colonists ; “ Isemi’’ of Kaftirs generally ; “ Kori” of Bechuanas
(Burchell),
Description. Adult Male.—The largest of all the South African
Bustards. Crown of the head black, the feathers elongate and
lanceolate, forming a conspicuous crest, a slightly paler line down
the centre; sides of the head, including the eyebrow, ear-coverts,
and a few of the longer crest-feathers and neck all round extending
on to the upper breast, white with narrow transverse bands; all
the feathers round the neck are long, loose and decomposed ; back
and wings very dark brown, with the usual pale sandy vermicula-
tions; median and greater coverts white mottled with black and
grey, with a broad black subterminal bar before the white tip;
quills dark brown, the inner ones with a good deal of white on the
inner web, and the outer secondaries tipped with white as well;
tail-feathers with brown bases and four narrow brown transverse
bands; the intermediate spaces being either white, or white freckled
with dark brown; below, across the breast, a transverse band of
dark brown more or less complete; rest of the lower surface,
including axillaries and under wing-coverts white.
Tris lemon-yellow, paler towards the centre; bill light horn;
feet light yellowish.
Length about 57:0; wing 31:0; tail13:5; culmen 4:0; tarsus 7:9;
spread of wings 8 feet 4 inches; weight 30 lbs. (Andersson and §. A.
Mus.), 40 lbs. (Buxton according to Gurney), 42 lbs. (Trevelyan).
The female resembles the male, but is much smaller; length
about 44:0; wing 23-5; tarsus 6°35.
Distribution.—This large Bustard, though nowhere common, is
generally distributed all over South Africa; beyond our limits its
310 OTIDE OTIS
range extends to Southern Angola on the west, and through Central
and East Africa to Shoa and Somaliland on the east.
The following are South African localities ; Cape Colony—con-
fluence of the Orange and Vaal Rivers, October, 1811 (Burchell
type), Cape division, Piquetberg and Beaufort West (S. A. Mus.),
Little Namaqualand, rare (Howard), Jensenville (Bryden), Albany
(Trevelyan) ; Natal—Newcastle district (Butler), Upper Umkomas
(Woodward), St. Lucia Lake in Zululand (Woodward) ; Transvaal—
near Klerksdorp (Holub), Pretoria district (Distant), near Johannes-
burg, rare (Haagner), Lydenburg bushveld (Kirby and Rendall) ;
Fic. 97.—Head of Otis kori. x 2.
Bechuanaland—Confluence of Notuani and Limpopo (Holub), Pala-
pye, May (Oates), Botletli River (Bryden) ; Rhodesia—Mashonaland
(Ayres and Marshall) ; German South-west Africa—Great Namaqua-
land and Damaraland to Ondonga (Andersson), Kalahari, May,
Reheboth, April (Fleck).
Habits.—This, the noblest and finest of all South African Game
Birds, is now becoming rather rare. It is found singly or in pairs, or
sometimes in small companies of three or four birds. Its favourite
resorts are open plains with scattered Mimosa-bush. It is specially
fond of a sweet gummy exudation from these trees, and has thus
earned its vernacular name of Gom, or Gum Paauw. It appears to
be partially migratory, its movements probably depending on rainfall.
lis flight is heavy, but rapid for so large a bird, and Andersson states
LIMICOL 311
that at night when changing its feeding ground it can sometimes be
seen flying at a great height above the ground. It also runs with
great speed, using its wings to aid it in balancing, like an Ostrich.
In addition to the gum above mentioned it feeds on locusts and other
large insects and reptiles and snakes of considerable size. Though
it seems to have escaped the notice of most South African observers,
there can be no doubt that the Gom Paauw possesses a gular
pouch ; this is a sac, or bag, lying in the front of the throat and
opening under the tongue into the mouth cavity; it can be inflated
at the will of the bird, and is probably so used during the breeding
season. The Great Bustard of Europe has a similar pouch, which
is inflated during the breeding season, swelling the neck to a very
large size. Curiously enough, however, in the case of another
species, the Australian Bustard, the swelling of the neck is due to
the filling and blowing out of the esophagus itself, the gular pouch
being entirely absent.
Like other members of this family, the Gom Paauw makes no
nest, but lays its eggs, two in number, on the bare ground in a
slight hollow. There are three eggs in the South African Museum,
one of which was obtained at Nelspoort, in Beaufort West, by
Mr. Jackson. They are ovals, almost equally rounded at both
ends; the ground colour is a pale olive-brown, sparingly mottled
with a darker shade of the same colour in the one case, in the other
more heavily blotched with purplish and yellowish-brown. They
measure 3:4 to 3°5 x 2:4.
Order XVI. LIMICOLA.
The birds included in this Order are chiefly shore- and marsh-
haunting forms, such as Snipes, Sandpipers, Plovers and their
allies; to these are added the Stone-Curlews, Crab-Plovers, Jacanas,
Coursers and Pratincoles, as well as the members of the two other
families not represented in our fauna—the Chionidide or Sheathbills
of the Antarctic Islands, and the extreme southern parts of South
America, and the Thinocorythide confined to South America.
The members of this Order are characterised by a bill which is
usually slender and has on each side a groove with the nostril
opening at its base; the wings are generally long, and there are
always eleven primaries; the legs, too, are generally long and the
lower portion of the tibia naked; the toes are three or four in
312 LIMICOLA
number and are sometimes fully webbed, sometimes not webbed,
but more often partially webbed.
The anatomical characters are as follows: Skull schizognathous,
and usually schizorhinal, basipterygoid processes present or absent,
sternum usually with two notches; contour-feathers with an after-
shaft; no fifth cubital remex to the wing; ceca present, as a rule;
oil gland tufted ; two carotids; hallux, if present, connected with the
flexor longus hallucis, and not with the flexor perforans digitorum.
The Limicolz appear to be allied, on the one hand, to the Gulls,
and on the other to be connected through the Stone Plovers with
the Bustards; indeed, many authors remove the Stone Plovers
altogether from the present Order and place them with the Otides.
The South African representatives of this Order are arranged
here in five families, while two others already mentioned do not come
within our purview. The bulk of the genera and species, however, all
fall into one of these families, the Charadriidea, so that it is necessary,
for purposes of convenience, to divide this again into sub-families.
Key of Genera.
A. Tarsus covered with hexagonal scales before
and behind, no transverse scutes.
a, A small hind toe present.
a, Bill very long, more than twice the length
of the middle toe and claw, mandible up- ;
CULVER Ab THEIP pcos uccnsssacarcoaseeanteniaanes Recurvirostra, p. 882.
b', Bill about as long as the middle toe and
claw, culmen nearly straight, not up-curved Squatarola, p. 359.
b. No hind toe.
a, With a distinct dertrum, or swelling, at the
tip of the mandibles.
a?, A sharp-pointed carpal spur at the bend
OF The WAN iccii. yesces voieveteaeseinanterde tees Hoplopterus, p. 851.
0?, Carpal spur represented by a blunt pro-
jection only.
a, Inner secondaries broad and rounded ;
distance between the shortest secon-
dary and the longest primary not
equal to half the length of the wing... Stephanibya, p. 854.
6*, Inner secondaries long and pointed;
distance between the shortest secon-
dary and the longest primary more
than half the length of the wing ...... Aigialitis, p. 361.
o', With no dertrum.
a*, Bill compressed and stout, longer than
CHO GAPSUS: ecsuncdra i taceaea tan eonraswaiiedeye cd Hematopus, p. 877.
LIMICOLAu 313
6, Bill slender and pointed, shorter than
the tarsus but twice the length’ of the
Nea ie cas soparnnedandhavanevtwcaessamemiesietin ete Himantopus, p. 880.
c’, Bill short and stout, not as long as the
Head waaceoogoisentnetndecadtaasaatnensunieancsineans Gdicnemus, p. 315.
B. Tarsus clothed with transverse scutes anteriorly,
reticulate posteriorly.
a. No hind toe; facial wattles and a carpal spine
PLOSONG: spavisssnacesees erasers: dintaan cae wesewsiennediens Xiphidiopterus, p. 348.
b. Hind toe present.
a, Bill with a distinct dertrum.
a*, Facial wattles and a strong carpal spine Lobivanellus, p. 345.
bo. No facial wattles, but a strong carpal
SPINE sacccsnsy soawsasser sagan nes ivonrwarendanseaws Hemiparra, p. 850.
b'. Bill with no dertrum.
a’. Bill straight and conical, about as long
AS UH HCA ay cicsavevendarcdsadcvsediaatarsaces Arenaria, p. 342.
o*, Bill far longer than the head and down-
CUEVEM di ssnssehinldeeslitenemada sig bed caw eveuaesianis Numenius, p. 885.
C. Tarsus with transverse scutes before and behind.
a. A web between the anterior toes more or less
developed. :
@. No hind toe.
a. Bill with the lower mandible down-
curved, in correspondence with the
WP POL sai an aienan steed niaasieedlspinana teas aisieeteaine Cursorius, p. 322.
b?, Bill with the lower mandible not down-
CURVE ci cwsancrevswnenwcteerstansascrabrceoseeneeds Rhinoptilus, p. 326.
b', Hind toe present.
a’, Bill stout and strong, longer than the
head ; tarsus long, more than twice the
length of the middle toe and claw......... Dromas, p. 820.
6°. Bill stout and very short, about half the
length of the head; tarsus short, hardly
longer than the middle toe and claw.
a, Tail strongly forked, outer tail feathers
half as long again as the inner ones... Glareola, p. 332.
6%, Tail nearly square, outer tail feathers
only slightly longer than the inner
ONES ies caves sanassioesansiesenwaseaenesheise actus Galactochrysea, p.336.
c?. Bill long and slender, about as long as
the head, or longer; tarsus moderate,
never twice the length of the middle toe
and claw.
@, Sexes of equal size .....cceclcesesseesee ees Totanus, p. 389.
bo’, Male with a remarkable sexual breed-
ing dress, and always larger than the
female sasissaccecciuspccinctientraveieeston estan Pavoncella, p. 401.
314 CDICNEMIDE
6. No web between the anterior toes.
@, Hind toe absent ........cecesceecseseeveeesenenenes Calidris, p. 410.
b'. Hind toe present.
a’, Toes long, far exceeding the tarsus in
length.
a, With a frontal shield... ccc Actoplilus, p. 837.
63. No frontal shield ..........ccseeeeesee renee Microparra, p. 841.
b?. Toes moderate, tarsus about equal to or
exceeding the middle toe and claw.
a’, Ear opening well behind the level of
the hinder edge of the eye ............65 Tringa, p. 404.
6%, Eye placed far back, so that the ear
opening just touches the level of the
hinder edge of the eye.
a‘, Tail feathers 16 (in South African
species), outer ones narrowed ...... Gallinago, p. 412.
b'. Tail feathers 10, outer ones not
WALrOWE!M, sevewrsenncaweaewnnseriensidasinsaee Rostratula, p. 418.
Family I. GiDICNEMIDAL.
Skull holorhinal ; nostrils pervious; no basipterygoid processes,
and sixteen cervical vertebre. The external characters are given in
the description of the single South African genus.
Fic. 98.—Front half of the skulls of Gdicnemus and of Numenius, from
above, to show the difference between holorhinal and schizorhinal nostrils ;
in the former the posterior end of the nasal opening is evenly rounded off, in
the latter this portion of the aperture is slitlike.
G@DICNEMIDE (DICNEMUS 315
Genus I. QDICNEMUS.
Type.
Qdicnemus, Zemm. Man. d'Orn. p. 321 (1815)...... GE. crepitans.
Bill stout and strong, broader at the base than high, hardly as
long as the head and half the length of the tarsus; nostrils linear
ovals in a shallow groove and pervious ; eyes very large; wings long
and pointed, the first primary falling but little short of the second,
which is usually the longest; tail of twelve feathers considerably
graduated ; tarsus long, covered before and behind with reticulate
scales; no hind toe; claw of middle toe broad and dilated on its
inner side.
Fic. 99.—Left foot of Gidicnemus capensis (x 1), together with the claw of
the middle toe, from above, enlarged to show the dilation.
Hight species of Stone Curlews or Stone-Plovers, spread over
the temperate and tropical portions of the Old World and Central
and South America have been described. Two of these come within
our limits.
Key of the Species.
A. Larger, wing about 9; back rufous with black
markings which tend to form bars......... G. capensis, p. 315.
B. Smaller, wing about 8; back vermiculated with
two shades of brown, and with dark brown
BHALHMAALKS:, siaasaeronvtsanesatenton mlnaenesdcs G. vermiculatus, p. 318.
702. (idicnemus capensis. Dekkop.
CEdicnemus capensis, Licht. Verz. Doubl. p. 69 (1823); Gurney in
Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 266 (1872); Ayres, Ibis, 1874, p. 104,
1880, p. 111; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 826 (1881); Butler, Feilden
and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 340; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 868 [Spaldings
and Buluwayo]; Holub ¢ Pelz. Orn, Siid-Afr. p. 236 (1882); Sharpe,
ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. pp. 645, 855 (1884) ; Seebohm, Geogr. Drstr.
Charadr. p. 81, with text figure (1888) ; Nicolls and Eglington,
316 G@DICNEMIDE CDICNEMUS
- Sportsm. S.A. p. 120 (1892); Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 382;
Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 15 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 194
(1896); Bryden, Nat. and Sport, p. 50 (1897); Woodward Bros.,
Natal Bds. p. 179 (1899); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 264; Oates, Cat.
B. Eggs,ii, pp. 82, 864 (1902); Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p.198, (1900) ;
Haagner, Ibis, 1902, p. 580; Whitehead, Ibis, 1908, p. 285; Sharpe,
Ibis, 1904, p. 18 [Deelfontein].
(Edicnemus maculosus, Temm. Pl. Col. v, pl. 292 (1824); Gurney, Ibis,
1860, p. 217 [Natal] ; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 288 (1867); Buckley,
Ibis, 1874, p. 888; Harting, P. Z. 8. 1874, p. 457; Drummond, Large
Game S. Afr. p. 412 (1875).
“Dikkop ” or “Thicknee” of colonists ; “ Inqangolo”’ of the Amaxosa
(Stanford) ; ‘“‘ Khoho-a-dira,” i.c., Fowl of the Enemy, of the Basu-
tos (Murray).
Fic. 100.—Head of Gidicnemus capensis. x }}.
Description. Adult Male. — General colour above pale sandy-
rufous, thickly mottled with black which tends to form streaks on
the head and neck and bars on the back and wings; wing-coverts
like the back; wing-quills and primary coverts black, the outer
primaries with a white band extending over each web; some of the
inner ones tipped with white; central tail-feathers like the back ;
the others tipped with black and with a subterminal band of white ;
eyebrows, lores, a double streak beneath the eye, separated by a
black band, chin and throat white; front of the neck sandy-rufous,
passing into white on the abdomen, the whole marked with dusky
CDICNEMIDH CDICNEMUS 817
streaks; under tail-coverts pale cinnamon; axillaries white with
dusky shaft-stripes; under wing-coverts white tipped with dusky.
Eye very large.
Tris bright yellow; bill black, pale greenish-yellow at the base ;
legs and feet yellow, dark along the front.
Length 18-5; wing 9-0; tail 4-75; culmen 1:5; tarsus 3:7.
The sexes are alike. Young birds appear to be rather paler
throughout,
Distribution.—The Dikkop is found all over South Africa from
Cape Town to the Zambesi, but appears to become scarcer in
Mashonaland and the extreme north. It is said to be partially
migratory but its movements are irregular. Beyond our limits the
Dikkop ranges to Angola on the west and through Nyasaland and
East Africa as far north as Khartoum and Massowa on the Red Sea
in the east, if, as is stated by Reichenow, (4. affinis is identical with
our species.
The following are localities: Cape Colony—Cape, Malmesbury,
Bredasdorp, Hanover and Namaqualand divisions (S. A. Mus.),
Port Elizabeth and East London (Rickard), Colesberg (Ortlepp),
Deelfontein, common (Seimund), Orange River near Aliwal North
(Whitehead), King William’s Town (Trevelyan), Spaldings in
Barkly West division, February (Ayres); Natal—Isipingo, Maritz-
burg and Zululand (Woodward), Newcastle, May, June (Reid);
Orange River Colony — Vredefort Road, April (B. Hamilton),
Basutoland, early winter (Murray); Transvaal—Pilandsberg, July,
Potchefstroom, April and December (Ayres), near Johannesburg
(Haagner), Marico and Swaziland (Bt. Mus.); Bechuanaland—
Kanye (Exton), Tati (Bradshaw), Nocana, July (Fleck); Rhodesia
—Buluwayo, November ‘(Ayres), Mashonaland, scarce (Marshall) ;
German South-west Africa—Great Namaqualand and Damaraland
(Andersson) ; Portuguese Hast Africa—Tete (Kirk in Bt. Mus.).
Habits—The Dikkop is found in open country on stony flats
or along the slopes of low hills; in the shooting season it is generally
met with in small parties, though no doubt it pairs in the breed-
ing time. As a rule it tries to escape notice by crouching,
though it runs very well and fast, with curious jerks forward of
its head every few yards. When flushed its flight is very silent,
but it sometimes utters a loud and somewhat doleful note,
‘“‘cherara,”’ three times repeated. It is a somewhat nocturnal
bird, seeking for its food, which consists of insects and seeds, after
dusk. Its flesh, though black, is excellent and much esteemed, so
318 G@DICNEMIDA CGEDICNEMUS
that it is always shot by sportsmen when met with, and generally
considered as a game bird. The eggs, two in number, are laid on
the bare ground in a slight excavation, and the young birds run
as soon as hatched, and are of an ashy-grey colour.
Dr. Stark found the eggs of this bird at Hondeklip Bay on the
shores of Namaqualand on September 16th, and at Hoetjes Bay
in Saldanha Bay on September 26th. In both cases the eggs were
laid in a slight hollow in the sand near the sea, sheltered by tufts
of grass; the two eggs were about half an inch apart from one
another and lay parallel with one another, the small ends pointing
in opposite directions. These eggs are now in the South African
Museum ; they are pale stony-grey, varyingly blotched with patches
and smaller irregular spots of rich deep brown; they average
22x 16.
708. (&dicnemus vermiculatus. Water Dikkop.
(Edicnemus natalensis, Gray, List Gralle B. M. p. 59 (1844); [nom.
nud.] .
(Edicnemus senegalensis (nec Swains.) Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Handl.
Stockholm, ii. no. 10, p. 58 (1858) [Knysna]; Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 331;
Gurney, Ibis, 1865, p. 270 [Durban], 1868, p. 254; Layard, Ibis, 1869,
p. 76; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8S. Afr. p. 646 (1884).
Cdicnemus vermiculatus, Cabanis, Journ. Ornith. 1868, p. 418; 7d.
Von der Decken’s Reise, iii, p. 46, pl. 16 (1870); Finsch & Hartl.
Vog. Ost-Afrikas, p. 622 (1870); Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 862 [Mashona-
land]; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 647 (1884); Seebohm, Ibis,
1887, p. 838 ; id. Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 80 (1888); Fleck, Journ.
Ornith. 1894, p. 882; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 11 (1896); Shelley,
B. Afr. i. p. 194 (1896); Sharpe, Ibis, 1897, p. 516 [Ivuna River] ;
Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 179 (1899); Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p.
200 (1900); Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 202.
Description, Adult Male.—General colour above sandy-brown,
vermiculated with dusky and with conspicuous black shaft-marks to
all the feathers; wing-coverts slaty grey, also with black shaft-
marks, and tipped with black; wing-quills and greater coverts
black, the first three quills with a broad transverse band of white ;
central tail-feathers like the back, the outer ones tipped with black
and with a subterminal dash of white; eyebrow and band below the
eye, chin, throat and abdomen white, the breast and under tail-
coverts pale sandy, the former with strong dusky shaft-marks ;
axillaries, edge of the wing and under wing-coverts white, a few of
the latter tipped with dusky.
C@DICNEMIDA (DICNEMUS 319
Iris pale green; bill black, yellowish at the base; legs pale
greenish-slate.
Length (in flesh) 15:0; wing 8-0; tail 4:25; culmen 1°75; tarsus 3-0.
The female is somewhat duller in plumage than the male, but of
about the same size.
Distribution.—The Water Dikkop is found all over South and
East Africa as far north as Loango on the west, Victoria Nyanza
in the centre, and Mombasa on the east. Though widely distri-
buted in South Africa it appears to be always a somewhat rare
bird, and is not found on the high veld or far away from large
rivers or the sea.
The following are localities: Cape Colony—Bredasdorp (S. A.
Mus.), Knysna in March (Victorin), in October (Marais), Port
Elizabeth, rare (Brown), King William’s Town (Bt. Mus.), St.
John’s River, April (Shortridge) ; Natal—Durban, June and July
(Ayres), Umgeni River mouth (Seebohm), Ivuna River in Zulu-
land (Woodward); Transvaal—Sabi River, June (Francis, in 8. A.
Mus.) ; Bechuanaland—Nocana,. July (Fleck) ; Rhodesia—Quaequae
River and Umfuli River, October (Ayres); Portuguese East Africa
—Tete (Kirk).
Habits.—The Water Dikkop is nowhere very common; it is
nearly always found in pairs or in small parties about the mouths or
along the banks of rivers, where it finds its food, which consists of
small insects and crustacea. It is very shy and runs swiftly out of
sight, concealing itself among low trees and shrubs which line the
river banks. Ayres noticed that it was only found about Durban
Harbour in winter (June and July), and Mr. Shortridge tells me he
has only seen it on the St. John’s River, some distance from the
mouth, in April. It is probably partially migratory.
Two eggs of this species in the South African Museum were
obtained by Mr. Eriksson on the Cunene River; they were laid on
the bare ground within a couple of feet of the water. They are
somewhat smooth and shiny, of a very pale sandy brown ground-
colour, heavily blotched and spotted with a very much darker shade
of brown. They are slightly pointed at one end, and measure
1:90 x 1:35.
20 DROMADID ; DROMAS
Family IJ. DROMADIDA.
Skull schizorhinal, nostrils pervious, perforated in the bill itself ;
no basipterygoid processes; fifteen cervical vertebre ; egg white,
laid in a hole dug in the sand.
This Family contains only one genus and species, concerning the
systematic position of which there has been some controversy ;
Blyth considered that it was related to the Terns, chiefly on account
of its plumage, but later naturalists, such as Milne-Edwards, Gadow
and Furbringer, are all agreed as to placing it in the present Order,
though some uncertainty still exists as to its exact position. It is
perhaps best to devote a special family to its reception.
Genus I. DROMAS.
Type.
Dromas, Paykull, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stockh. xxvi,
p- 188 (1805) ...... shceakee Hie tis Matas g da ng amndid ns ioe sp aN D. ardeola.
Bill stout and strong, considerably longer than the head, broader
than high at the base; culmen only slightly curved ; nostrils at the
front end of a shallow depression near the base of the bill; wings
Fic. 101.—Right foot of Dromas ardeola, from inside. x 2}.
long and pointed, first primary the longest; tarsus long with trans-
verse scutes before and behind; hind toe present, three anterior
toes with a basal web between them reaching almost half their
length ; claw of the middle toe swollen and somewhat flattened,
pectinated or notched on the inner side feathers of the inter-
scapulary region elongated and decomposed. Only the one species
here described belongs to this genus.
DROMADIDE DROMAS 321
704. Dromas ardeola. Crab Plover.
Dromas ardeola, Paykull, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stockh. xxvi, pp. 182,
184, pl. 8 (1805); Gurney, Ibis, 1865, p. 270 [Natal Coast] ; Layard,
B.S. Afr. p.372 (1867); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.S. Afr. p. 694 (1884)
id. Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 28 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 194 (1896) ;
Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 202 (1900).
Description. Adult Male.—Head and neck all round, wings, in-
cluding the coverts, scapulars and inner secondaries, rump, upper
tail-coverts and tail and the whole of the lower surface white ; mantle
black, the feathers elongated to form long plumes covering the
centre of the back; wing-quills, primary coverts and bastard wing
black ; the shafts of the primaries white and the inner webs ashy.
Tris dusky ; bill black ; legs and feet bluish-ash.
Length about 15:5; wing 8-0; tail 3-0; tarsus 3°55; culmen 2-1.
Fic. 102,—- Head of Dromas ardeola. x }4.
The female is rather smaller and the mantle plumes are not so
well developed. ,
The young bird has the head and nape streaked with greyish-
black and the mantle grey instead of black.
Distribution.—The Crab Plover is found along the coasts of
the Indian Ocean, including the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, from the
Andamans and Nicobars to Madagascar and Natal. It has only
once been recorded from within our limits. Ayres met with a
single specimen nearly forty years ago on the seashore near
Durban. It is probably only an accidental visitor so far south.
21 VOL. Iv.
822 GLAREOLIDE CURSORIUS
Habits. —Blanford gives the following notice of the rather
remarkable habits of this bird: ‘‘The Crab Plover keeps to the
seashore or the margin of salt lakes, and is found as a rule in small
or large flocks sometimes much scattered. It feeds chiefly on crabs.
It runs actively and flies well, occasionally uttering a low, rather
musical call. This bird breeds in the Persian Gulf and in Ceylon
about May, and lays a single egg at the end of a hole in sand near
the shore. The hole is dug by the bird obliquely in the form of
a bow, curving up towards the end, which is about four feet from
the entrance; there is no lining to the nest. The egg is pure white
and remarkably large for size of the bird, méasuring 2°54 x 1:77.
Family II. GLAREOLIDA.
Skull (in all South African genera) schizognathous, no basiptery-
goid processes ; nostrils impervious, situated in a depression, not in
@ groove; tarsus transversely shielded before and behind, claw of
the middle toe pectinated; hind toe present or absent; fifteen
cervical vertebra.
Subfamily I. CURSORIINA.
No hind toe; tarsus long, about one-third of the length of the
wing.
Genus I. CURSORIUS.
Type.
Cursorius, Lath., Index Orn. ii, p. 751 (1790)..........00.. C. gallicus.
Bill long and gently down-curved, slightly shorter than the
middle toe and claw, lower mandible also curved in correspon-
dence; nostrils oval and pervious, placed in a slight depression at
Fig, 103. Right foot of Cursorius rufus. x i,
the base of the bill ; wings long and pointed, the first primary about
equal to or slightly exceeding the second; tail short and square ;
tarsus and bare portion of the tibia with transverse scutes anteriorly
GLAREOLIDE CURSORIUS 323
and posteriorly; no hind toe; claw of the middle digit strongly
pectinated ; a small basal web between the middle and outer toes.
The members of this genus, five in number, are distributed over
the whole of Africa up to the Mediterranean, including the Canary
and Cape Verde Islands, and eastwards through Arabia and Persia
to India and Ceylon. Two species are met with in South Africa.
_ Key of the Spectes.
A. Front half of the crown chestnut-brown, hind
half slaty-blue, white tip of the secondaries
broad, extending right across the feather ......... C. rufus, p. 323.
B. Crown rich chestnut throughout; white tips
of the secondaries wedge-shaped and very much
Lestricted sicsascascavsvaweevesaveveanevaeacsevviaearseees C. temmincki, p, 325.
705. Cursorius rufus. Burchell’s Courser.
Cursorius rufus, Gould, P. Z. 8. 1836, p. 81; id. Icon. Av. pl. 10 (1837) ;
Ayres, Ibis, 1869, p. 299, 1871, p. 269, 1877, p. 847, 1880, p. 111, 1885,
p- 3847; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. pp. 653, 855 (1884) ; Seebohm,
Ibis, 1886, p. 117, 1887, p. 344; Symonds, Ibis, 1887, p. 334; See-
bohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 238 (1888); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv,
p. 88 (1896) ; Shelley, B. Afr.i, p.194 (1896); Woodward Bros., Natal
Bas, p. 180 (1899) ; Retchenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 155 (1900); Haagner,
Ibis, 1902, pp. 574, 580; Oates, Cat. B. Hggs, ii, p. 861 (1902); White-
head, Ibis, 1903, p. 235; Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 11 [Deelfontein].
Tachydromus burchellii, Swains., An. in Menag. p. 840 (1888).
Cursorius burchelli, Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 217; Layard, B. S. Afr.
p. 289 (1867); Holub & Pelz., Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 246 (1882); Butler,
Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 340; Bryden, Nature and Sport,
p. 86 (1897).
Description. Adult Male.—General colour above rufous-brown,
the front part of the head and fhe hind-neck of a somewhat richer
shade; occiput and nape slaty-blue surrounded by a band of black
and then a band of white which extends forward over the eye, and
finally a second band of black; primary coverts and bastard wing
black, secondaries ashy-brown with broad white tips increasing
towards the innermost; upper tail-coverts and tail ashy-brown, the
central feathers with a darker terminal spot, the outer ones with
a subterminal dusky spot and white tip; below, throat, abdomen,
thighs and under tail-coverts white; the breast like the back but
somewhat paler with a strong black patch on the lower breast ;
axillaries ashy with paler tips ; under wing-coverts black.
324 GLAREOLIDE CURSORIUS
Tris dark brown ; bill dusky; legs and feet white.
Length about 8-25; wing 5-25; tail 1-8; tarsus 1:9 ; culmen 0°9.
The female resembles the male in plumage and measurements.
A young bird is brownish above, somewhat mottled with black,
especially on the head; no slaty-blue on the nape, or black or white
bands surrounding the nape patch; the secondaries as in the adult;
the tail is ashy, the tips of the feathers black with sandy spots
along both webs; below, as in the adult, but the chin rather greyer.
Distribution.—Burchell’s Courser is confined to South Africa.
It is abundant on the high veld of the Colony, Natal, Orange River
Colony and Transvaal, and appears to descend to the lower levels
occasionally. It has not been noticed, so far as I am aware, north
of the Limpopo except in one record—a specimen in the British
Museum labelled “ Makalaka county,’ obtained by Bradshaw.
Fic, 104.—Head of Cursorius rufus. x 12,
This individual may quite possibly be wrongly labelled, and have
been really obtained on the Orange River, where Bradshaw also
collected.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Nelspoort
and Colesberg (Layard), Deelfontein, March and May, not common
(Seimund), Port Elizabeth (Rickard), King William’s Town
(Trevelyan), Orange River near Upington, January (Bradshaw)
near Hopetown, May (Atmore), and near Aliwal North, winter
(Whitehead), Kuruman (Bt. Mus.); Natal—Newcastle (Butler),
Mooi river, breeding October (Sparrow), Maritzburg (Fitzsimmons) ;
Orange River Colony—Kroonstad (Symonds), Vredefort Road, April
(B. Hamilton); Transvaal—Potchefstroom, June and November,
Rustenburg, July (Ayres), Irene, November (S. A. Mus.), near
Johannesburg (Haagner).
Habits. —Buirzhe'l's Coarser is usually found in small flocks of
GLAREOLIDE CURSORIUS 325
from five to twenty birds all over the high veld in open country.
It is said to be more abundant in winter than in summer in most
parts, and is probably at any rate partially migratory. It runs
with very great rapidity, and after making a dash of about twenty
yards will stop and bob backwards and forwards, and sway from
side to side, as if its first effort had been too much for it; it is
difficult to flush and seldom flies far, so that it is fairly easy to
approach. It feeds on small seeds and insects, and is specially
fond of haunting burnt-off patches of grass.
Burchell’s Courser makes no nest, but lays two eggs in a
slight depression on the bare ground. Ayres found it breeding at
Potchefstroom in November. ,
Major Sparrow obtained, at Mooi River in Natal on September
25th, a clutch of two eggs which he presented to the South African
Museum ; these are rounded ovals without gloss ; the ground colour
is a very pale fawn, but it is nearly concealed by the very abundant
freckling and scrolling of dark brown and black; the measurements
are 1:15 x 0.95.
706. Cursorius temmincki. Temminck’s Courser.
Cursorius temmincki, Swains., Zool. Illustr. 1st ser. ii, pl. 106 (1822) ;
Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p.41 (1896) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 194 (1896) ;
Woodward Bros., Natal B. p.-181 (1899); Marshall, Ibis, 1900,
p. 264; Retchenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 155 (1900); Oates, Cat. B. Eggs,
ii, p. 361 (1902).
Tachydromus senegalensis, Licht., Verz. Doubl. p. 72 (1828).
Cursorius burchelli (nec Swains.), Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 217 [Natal].
Cursorius senegalensis, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 290 (1867) ; id. Ibis, 1869
p. 875; Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 261 (1872); Ayres,
Ibis, 1876, p. 483; Holub & Pelz.. Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 246 (1882) ;
Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 341; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s
B. 8. Afr. pp. 654, 855 (1884); Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr.
p. 289 (1888); Woodward Bros., Ibis, 1898, p. 226.
Description Adult.—Forehead and crown rich rufous, followed by
a black nape spot, the whole surrounded by a pale rufous eyebrow
which becomes white posteriorly, below this again is a black line
running from behind the eye through the ear-coverts and meeting
its fellow below the nape; upper surface brown with an ashy tinge;
primaries and primary-coverts black, secondaries browner with
wedge-shaped white tips; central tail-feathers like the back, outer
ones with a subterminal black spot and white or rusty-white tips
326 GLAREOLIDE RHINOPTILUS
the outer pair white on the outer web throughout ; below, the chin,
flanks, abdomen and under tail-coverts white, the breast rufous-
brown, becoming richer posteriorly ; a patch of black in the centre
of the lower breast, under wing-coverts black, axillaries ashy-brown.
‘Iris dusky to reddish-brown; bill dusky, paler on the lower
mandible; legs and feet white. Length about 8:0; wing 5:0; tail
1:75; culmen 0:8; tarsus 1°6.
The sexes are alike. A young bird has a much paler crown, and
there are traces of mottling on the back.
Distribution.—Temminck’s, Courser, though far more widely
spread in Africa than Burchell’s, is certainly not so common in .
South Africa. It has been found in the eastern half of the Colony,
in Natal, the Transvaal and Rhodesia, and in the south, at any rate,
appears to be a winter visitor only. Beyond our limits it is spread
over the greater part of Africa, ranging as far north as the Gold
Coast.and Senegambia on the west, and to Kordofan and Abyssinia
on the east.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Dagga-
boer’s Nek in the Bedford division (Exton), Port Elizabeth, April
to September (Brown), Peddie, March (8. A. Mus.), King William’s
Town, May (Bt. Mus.); Natal—near Colenso (Reid), Ivuna River
in Zululand (Woodward); Transvaal — Komatipoort, January
(Francis in 8S. A. Museum), Macamac, July and Potchefstroom
April (Ayres) ; fairly common in Mashonaland (Marshall); German
south-west Africa—Ondonga, November (Andersson).
Habits.—This bird does not appear to possess any special traits
of character distinguishing it from Burchell’s Courser. It is not
known to breed in South Africa.
Genus II. RHINOPTILUS.
Type.
Rhinoptilus, Strickl. P. Z. 8., 1850, p. 220......... R. chalcopterus.
Bill shorter than the middle toe, without claw, broad at the
base; lower mandible not decurved throughout, but ascending
gently from the gonys to the tip; wings long and pointed, the
first three primaries sub-equal, the second usually the longest;
tail short and square; tarsus and toes as in Cursorius ; one or two
black transverse bands across the chest.
Of this genus, which differs from Cursorzus in only very slight
particulars, eight species are generally recognised, all confined to
GLAREOLID RHINOPTILUS 327
Africa, except one found in Southern India; three species occur
within our limits.
Key of the Species.
A. With two black bands across the chest ......... R. africanus, p. 327.
B. With a broad sandy-brown band across the
chest, above and below which are narrow
Chestnut bands ..........cceccessceccsceceeeceenseceeuees R. seebohmi, p. 328.
C. With one black band across the chest; wing-
quills tipped with metallic purple................ R. chalcopterus, p. 829.
707. Rhinoptilus africanus. Two-banded Courser.
Cursorius africanus, Temm., Cat. Syst. Cab. Orn. pp. 175, 263 (1807).
Cursorius bicinctus, Temm., Man. d’Orn. ii, p. 515 (1820); Jard. ¢
Selby, Ill, Orn. i, pl. 48 (1889); Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 290 (1867) ;
td. Ibis, 1869, p. 76; Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 268, 1877, p. 347, 1880,
p. 266; Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 261 (1872); Barratt,
Ibis, 1876, p. 212; Holub & Pelz. Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 247 (1882) ;
Sharpe, ed, Layard’s B. S. Afr. pp. 654, 855 (1884) ; Symonds, Ibis,
1887, p. 834; Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 242 (1888) ; Fleck,
Journ, Ornith. 1894, p. 881; Bryden, Nat. and Sport, p. 84 (1897).
Rhinoptilus bicinctus, Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 863 [Setlagoli River]; id.
B. Afr. i, p. 195 (1896); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 48 (1896) ;
Oates, Cat. B. Egqs, ii, p. 862 (1902); Whitehead, Ibis, 1903, p. 286.
Rhinoptilus africanus, Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 159 (1900); Sharpe,
Ibis, 1904, p. 12 [Deelfontein].
Description. Adult Male—General colour above brown, the
feathers dusky, edged with pale sandy buff, giving a mottled
appearance to the upper surface; four outer primaries and their
coverts black, inner primaries and secondaries chestnut, slightly
marked towards their tips with dusky; upper tail-coverts white ;
central tail-feathers blackish, paler towards the tips, two outer pairs
almost pure white; eyebrow, cheeks, chin, neck and upper breast
whitish, finely mottled and streaked with blackish; across the
breast two black bars, the upper one about half the width of the
lower; rest of the lower surface, including the space between
the black bars buffy-white; axillaries white; under wing-coverts
mottled black and white. Iris dark brown; bill black; legs white.
Length (in flesh) 9:0; wing 6:0; tail 2°75; culmen 0:55; tarsus
9:2. The female resembles the male, but is perhaps slightly smaller ;
wing 5°75; tarsus 2:1.
Distribution.—The Two-banded Courser is confined to South
828 GLAREOLIDE RHINOPTILUS
Africa. It is widely spread over the Karoo districts of the Colony,
all over the Orange River Colony, the south-western part of the
Transvaal, Bechuanaland and German territory, but is not found
in the eastern portion of Cape Colony, Natal, or Rhodesia, so far as
our present knowledge goes. Like other Coursers it is probably a
partial migrant.
The following are localities: Cape Colony—Beaufort West and
Hopetown, May (Bt. Mus.), Deelfontein resident (Seimund),
Grahamstown (Layard), Orange River at Upington December,
Hanover July, August (8. A. Mus.), and near Aliwal North common
(Whitehead), Spaldings in Barkly West district January, and
Setlagoli River, near Mafeking January (Ayres); Orange River
Colony—Zand River (Barratt), Kroonstad (Symonds), and Vrede-
fort Road June (B. Hamilton) ; Transvaal—Potchefstroom March,
June, October (Ayres); German South-west Atrica — Ondonga,
January, Otjimbinque, February, Hountop River, June (Anders-
son), Kransnes, January (Fleck).
Habits.—This little Courser is found in much the same country
as Burchell’s Courser and has nearly the same habits; it is met with
in open country in pairs or small parties, it runs swiftly and is
difficult to flush. In most places it is more abundant in the rainy
season than in the winter and is probably a partial migrant. It
feeds chiefly on ants, and, as I am informed by Major Sparrow,
lays one egg only on the bare ground in a slight depression. The
South African Museum contains an egg from Vredefort Road,
obtained on January 3rd, by Captain Barrett Hamilton. The eggs
are very handsome, being pale yellow in colour thickly covered
with fine lines, both straight and curved, of a yellowish-brown ;
the shape is a rounded oval, with but slight indication of the pointed
end, and the measurements average 1-2 x 1-0.
708. Rhinoptilus seebohmi. Scebohm’s Courser.
Cursorius cinctus (nec Heugl.), Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaval.
p. 262 (1872); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 656 (1884);
Seebohi, Ibis, 1886, p. 118 [in part]; id. Geogr. Distr. Charadr.
p- 245, pl. 12 (1888) [in part].
Rhinoptilus seebohmi, Sharpe, Bull. B. O. C. iii, no. 18, p. 18 (1898);
id, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 47, pl. 8, fig. 1 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p.195
(1896) ; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 161 (1900).
Description. Type, Female.—Above feathers of the head, back
and wings brown, broadly edged with sandy-rufous giving a mottled
GLAREOLIDZ RHINOPTILUS 329
appearance ; primaries dark brown, the inner ones edged and tipped
with rufous ; upper tail-coverts white ; tail-feathers brown with dark
subterminal bands and white tips, outer pair almost pure white;
eyebrow, sides of the neck, chin and throat white; ear-coverts
sandy ; a narrow dark rufous-brown band extending from the ear-
coverts across the lower neck ; a broad sandy band edged above and
below, and spotted with dark brown across the upper breast, and
a third narrow chestnut band across the lower breast; rest of the
lower surface and interspaces between the bands white.
Length about 10°85; wing 6-60; tail 3:30; culmen ‘65; tar-
sus 2:60.
A young bird has the mantle ashy-grey; the head streaked with
black; the scapulars and coverts ashy-grey. A nestling is covered
with dirty white down somewhat darker on the head.
Distribution.—The type of this species and another example
now in the British Museum were obtained ab Ondonga in Ovampo-
land, on January 25 and 27, 1867, while there are examples from
the Matopos near Bulawayo in the Rhodesian Museum. It was
also collected by Anchieta at Humbe on the Cunene River.
By Reichenow it is considered hardly distinct from R. cinctus of
East and North-east Africa.
709. Rhinoptilus chalcopterus. Bronze-wing Courser.
Cursorius chalcopterus, Temm. Pl. Col. v, pl. 298 (1824); Gray, Genera
Bas. iii, p. 587, pl. 148 (1844); Gurney, Ibis, 1861, p. 184 [Natal] ;
Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 290 (1867); Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 268, 1884,
p. 282; Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaraland, p. 263 (1872);
Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 841; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s
330 GLAREOLIDE RHINOPTILUS
B. 8. Afr. p. 656 (1884); Seebohm, Ibis, 1886, p. 118; id. Geogr.
Distr. Charadr. p. 246 (1888); Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 881;
Sharpe, Ibis, 1897, p. 517 [Ulundi]; Bryden, Nat. and Sport, p. 80
1897).
es chalcopterus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 48, pl. iv. fig. 1
(1896) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 195 (1896); Woodward Bros. Natal B.
p. 181 (1899); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 264; Alexander, ibid, p. 455;
Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 157 (1900); Whitehead, Ibis, 1903, p. 236.
Rhinoptilus albofasciatus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 49, pl. iv, fig. 2
(1896).
Description. Adult Male.—General colour above, including the
crown of the head sepia-brown, the latter slightly mottled with
chestnut along the median line; edge of the wing white; bastard
wing, primary coverts and wing-quills black; third to tenth pri-
maries with metallic-violet tips and a subterminal bar of metallic-
green; the secondaries with a good deal of white on the inner web
upper tail-coverts white; tail-feathers dark brown with conspicuous
white tips; forehead, broad eyebrow, streak behind the eye, sides
of the neck and lower throat white; a chestnut band separates the
second and third of these, and the ear-coverts between the third and
fourth are sandy-buff with a good deal of black; chin and upper
throat and upper breast brown like the back, the latter bounded
below by a black band; rest of the lower surface and axillaries
white.
Iris dark brown; eyelid red ; bill black; base of lower mandible
and gape red; legs purplish-red ; feet dusky.
Length about 10; wing 6°80; tail 3-2; culmen ‘8; tarsus 2°95.
Dr. Sharpe has described as a distinct species under the name
of C. albofasciatus, certain bronze-winged Coursers distinguished by
a white wing bar formed by the margins of the greater wing-coverts,
by the dull bronzy-green ends of the quills, and by the absence of
the white tip to the tail.
Both Alexander and Reichenow doubt the validity of this species,
which has practically the same range as R. chalcopterus, and are
inclined to think that the more dully plumaged birds are females or
males in non-breeding plumage. I am induced to take this view
also from an examination of the examples in the South African
Museum.
Distributton.—The Bronze-winged Courser is only a summer
visitor to South Africa, appearing about the commencement of the
rainy season in November and December, and retiring north again
to beyond the Zambesi in the cold weather. It is nowhere a very
A GLAREOLID RHINOPTILUS 331
common bird, and has only once or twice been obtained within the
Colony. In German South-west Africa it appears to be a more
regular visitor. Beyond our limits it ranges northwards to Loango
on the west, and through Nyasaland and Hast Africa to Kordofan on
the east. It has also been obtained in Senegambia.
The following are South African localities: Cape Colony—Kei
Road near King William’s Town (Trevelyan), Orange River near
Aliwal North (Whitehead), Kudunque and Morokweng near Mafe-
king, April (Bryden); Natal—near Durban (H. Millar), Colenso,
November (Reid), Ulundi in Zululand (Woodward); Orange River
Colony—Rhenoster River, January (Ayres) ; Transvaal—Sand River
in Lydenburg, April (Francis, in S. A. Mus.), Potchefstroom,
January (Ayres), Rustenburg, November (Lucas); Rhodesia—near
Salisbury, rare (Marshall), Feira on the Zambesi, December
(Stoehr); German South-west Africa Ondonga, January, and
Otjimbinque, January (Bt. Mus.), March (8. A. Mus.), Reheboth,
February (Fleck); Portuguese Hast Africa—Tete (Kirk), Senna,
July, August (Alexander).
Habits——Andersson states that this bird arrives at the com-
mencement of the rainy season, in small flocks, which first of all
secrete themselves in the bush to shelter themselves while moulting,
but afterwards spread over the open country. They are not wild,
but stick to cover, and if flushed quickly settle again and try to
escape by running. Their food consists of insects, arid specially of
beetles. Their flesh is dark-coloured and excellent. eating.
Mr. A. D. Millar writes as follows regarding the nesting of this
bird : ‘‘ When shooting in the Mozambique province (near Beira) two
or three pairs were observed, and on September 28, 1903, my brother
found two nests containing respectively three and two eggs—the
bird being shot off the nest for identification. The nest was simply
a depression in the ground. The eggs were very handsome, the
ground colour being bright buff with large black and grey irre-
gular markings throughout, but more clearly defined with larger
spots at the thick end. The measurements were 1:4 x 1:0.”
Sub-family Il. GLAREOLINA.
Hind toe present; tarsus short, about one-fifth of the length
of the wing.
332 GLAREOLIDE GLAREOLA
Genus I. GLAREOLA.
Type.
Glareola, Brisson, Orn. i. p. 141 (1760) ......ccceeeeeeees G. pratincola,.
Bill short, stout and rather high at the base, culmen much
arched, shorter than the middle toe without claw; nostrils linear
ovals, placed at the base of the bill in a slight depression; wings very
long and pointed, extending, when closed, beyond the feet and tail,
the first primary distinctly the longest; tail strongly forked, the
outer tail feathers, which are somewhat attenuated at the tip, at
least half as long again as the central ones; tarsus short, hardly
longer than the middle toe and claw, covered before and behind with
Fia. 106.—Tail of Glareola nelanoptera, from below. x 4.
transverse scutes; hind toe present; a basal web connecting the
outer and middle toes; claws rather long, that of the middle toe
pectinated on its inner margin.
The Pratincoles range over Africa including Madagascar,
Southern Europe and Central and Southern Asia, as far as China
and Australia. Two species, both migratory visitors to South
Africa, are found within our limits.
Key of the Species.
A. Axillaries chestnut... cesses eeseeeeeeeesn eres G. pratincola, p. 333.
B. Axillaries black, like the under tail-coverts ...... G. melanoptera, p.333.
GLAREOLIDE GLAREOLA 333
710. Glareola pratincola. Pratincole.
Hirundo pratincola, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 345 (1766).
Tringa fusca, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 252 (1766).
Glareola torquata, Meyer, Taschenb. ii, p. 404 (1816); Gurney, Ibis,
1868, p. 329 [Natal].
Glareola pratincola, Gurney, in Andersson’s B.Damaral. p. 266 (1872) ;
Dresser, Bds. Eur. vii, p. 411, pl. 153, fig. 1 (1874); Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 652 (1884); Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr.
p. 256 (1888); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 58 (1896); Shelley, B.
Afr. i, p. 195 (1896); Alerander, Ibis, 1900, p. 457.
Glareola fusca, Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 144 (1900).
Description. Aduwli—General colour above brown, with a slight
olive shade; primaries, their coverts and inner secondaries black,
the shaft of the first primary white, the secondaries slightly
tipped with white; upper tail-coverts white; tail very strongly
forked, feathers dusky brown, white on their basal halves; chin
and throat sandy-buff, margined by a black line, starting from below
the eye on either side; breast brown, like the back, but paler ;
abdomen and under tail-coverts white; axillaries and most of the
under wing-coverts rich chestnut.
Tris blue; eyelids coral red; bill black, red at the base; legs dark
brown.
Length 10°75; wing 7:10; tail, central feather 2:0, outer tail-
feather 3:75; culmen 0:55; tarsus 1:25.
The female resembles the male; a young bird has white edgings
to the feathers of the back and wings, and the cheeks and throat are
creamy-white, with narrow black shaft lines.
Distribution.—The Pratincole breeds round the basin of the
Mediterranean in Southern Europe and in Western Asia, and spends
the winter in tropical Africa, especially in Abyssinia and Nyasaland.
It can hardly be regarded as more than an accidental visitor to
South Africa, as the following list of recorded localities shows:
Cape Colony—near George, September (Gird in 8. A. Mus.); Natal,
once (Ayres); Damaraland, once (Andersson) ; Chisombe, October,
and Senna, July, on the Zambesi (Alexander).
711. Glareola melanoptera. Nordmann’s Pratincole.
Glareola melanoptera, Nordmann, Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscow i,
p. 814, pl. ii (1842); Finsch & Hartl. Vog. Ost-Afr. p. 688 (1870) ;
_ Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 264 (1872); Barratt, Ibis,
1876, p. 212; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 825 (1881); Butler, Feilden
and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 341; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. pp.
334 GLAREOLIDZ GLAREOLA
650, 855 (1884); Seebohm, Ibis, 1887, p. 842; id. Geogr. Distr.
Charadr. p. 261 (1888); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 57 (1896) ;
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 195 (1896); Woodward Bros., Natal B. p. 181
(1899); Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 145 (1900); Whitehead, Ibis, 1903,
p. 2386; Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 12 [Deelfontein] .
Glareola nordmanni, Fischer, Bull. Soc. Imp. Nat. Moscow ii, p. 314
(1842); Gurney, Ibis, 1864, p. 354 [Natal]; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p.
291 (1867); Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 254, pl. viii; Layard, Ibis, 1869,
p. 75; Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 268, 1877, p. 347, 1884, p. 282; Buckley,
Ibis, 1874, p. 388; Oakley, Trans. 8S. A. Phil. Soc. ii, p. 49 (1881) ;.
Holub & Pelz. Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 241 (1882) ; Bryden, Nat. and Sport,
p. 104 (1897).
“Klein Springhaan Vogel” of Dutch, “ Little Locust Bird,” of the
English (a name applied also to the Wattled Starling, Dilophus
carunculatus). ‘“ Uwhamba” of the Zulus (Woodward).
Fie. 107.—Head of Glareola melanoptera. x 42.
Description. Adult.—Very similar to G. pratincola, but at once
distinguished by the colour of the axillaries and under wing-coverts,
which are black and not chestnut.
Tris dark brown; bill black, the base and edges of the mandible
red; feet dusky.
Length 10:75; wing 7:5; tail, outer feather 4:35, middle feather
2-5; culmen 0:53; tarsus 1:45.
A young bird has pale edgings to most of the feathers ; the throat
is whitish with dark shaft lines and is not circumscribed by the
dark line present in the adult; the tail is not so forked, the differ-
ence in length between the inner and outer feathers being about an
inch only; axillaries black margined with chestnut.
Distribution.—Nordmann’s Pratincole breeds in South-west
GLAREOLIDE GLAREOLA 335
Russia and West Siberia during the northern summer, passes
through Persia, Asia Minor, Turkey, Egypt and Nubia, and winters
in West and South Africa. Curiously enough it has not hitherto
been met with in East Africa.
It arrives in South Africa in October and leaves again in March,
and is found during those months over the greater part of our area,
especially when there are locusts about. It has not yet been
noticed in Rhodesia.
The following are localities: Cape Colony—Herste River, Cape
division, October (S. A. Mus.), Grahamstown and Queenstown
(Bt. Mus.), Port Elizabeth and Hast London (Rickard), King
William’s Town (Trevelyan), Peddie, February (8. A. Mus.), Ibeka
in Transkei, January (Oakley), Deelfontein, February (Seimund),
Orange: River near Upington (Bradshaw), near Aliwal North,
December, January (Whitehead) ; Natal—Newcastle, Ladysmith
and Colenso, October, November (Butler); Orange River Colony—
Vredefort Road, November (B. Hamilton); Transvaal—Potchef-
stroom, October, December, February (Ayres), Pretoria District,
December (Oates), March (Barratt); German South-west Africa—
Otjimbinque (Andersson).
Habits.—This bird, together with the Wattled Starling and the
White Stork, are all known as Locust Birds in South Africa, and
are much appreciated for the great assistance they afford to the
farmer in helping to destroy the devastating swarms of locusts
which ravage the country from time to time. They are generally,
though by no means invariably, found in large flocks following the
swarms ; they have a bold, swallow-like flight and catch their prey
in the air, and they also run on the ground like plovers and pick up
‘‘ voetgangers,” or young locusts still without wings. When
attacking a swarm they separate out a certain portion, and flying
round in an ever-widening ring, destroy all the enclosed insects,
snapping off their wings and devouring them whole. It is not
probable that this bird breeds in South Africa, Layard’s notice of it
being undoubtedly due to a confusion with the Wattled Starling,
which is also known as the ‘‘ Locust bird.’’ Several observers have
come across Nordmann’s Pratincole where there were no locusts
about, and state that it will devour beetles or any other insects
in the absence of its more notorious prey.
336 GLAREOLIDE GALACTOCHRYSEA
Genus II. GALACTOCHRYSEA.
Type.
Galachrysea, Bp. Compt. Rend. xliii, p. 419 (1856) ...... G. lactea,
Galactochrysea, Heine and Reichw. Nomencl. Mus.
Heri.ps 888: (1890) scented ccceessinlarends reeves oie ceeivanaad G. lactea.
The members of this genus resemble Glareola, except that the
tail is not forked but very nearly square, the outer feather only
slightly exceeding the middle one in length.
This genus ranges all over Africa and the Indian Peninsula; out
of six recognised species only one has been obtained just within our
limits on the Zambesi.
712. Galactochysea emini. Hmin’s Pratincole.
Glareola emini, Shelley, P. Z. S. 1888, p. 49; Seebohm, Geogr. Distr.
Charadr. p. 269 (1888) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 195 (1896); Alexander,
Ibis, 1900, p. 458; Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 147 (1900).
Galavtochrysea emini, Sharpe, Cat, B. M. xxiv, p. 64, pl. 5, fig. 2
(1896). 5
Description. Adult.—General colour above dark ashy with a
slight olive gloss; a white collar round the hind neck; quills
blackish-brown : secondaries without white at the base; upper tail-
coverts white ; tail feathers blackish-white at the base; throat and
breast dark ashy-grey, becoming quite white on the vent and under
tail-coverts ; axillaries greyish.
Iris brown ; bill black; base and gape coral-red ; legs and feet
coral-red.
Length 8-0; wing 6:0.; tail 2:5; tarsus 0-7; culmen 0°55.
Distribution.— This species was described by Shelley from an
example procured at Foda on the Nile by Emin Pasha in October,
1885 ; it has since been found in other parts of Central and West
Africa. It has been brought within our limits by Captain Alexander,
who procured four examples on the Zambesi at Mesanangue and
Zuambo in August and November.
Habits.—Captain Alexander gives the following account: ‘This
species is distributed in small colonies along the river above Tete ;
small islands of sand interspersed with rock are favourite resorts ;
on the smooth portions of these rocks these graceful little birds were
to be observed throughout the day in squatting positions basking in
the heat of the sun. They evince little fear, and if driven from
PARRIDE ACTOPHILUS 337
their retreat they fly away a short distance, to return again and
alight on the rocks like so many swallows, uttering all the time
a series of faint notes which might be described by the syllables
‘‘kip kip”’ rapidly repeated. During a shower of rain these birds
would congregate into small flocks and fly to and fro above the
water, making a great noise, and all the time busy catching
insects.”
Family IV. PARRIDAL.
Skull schizorhinal; nostrils pervious; basipterygoid processes
present; sixteen cervical vertebre; a spur on the carpal joint of
the wing; foot with four toes, all greatly lengthened with long,
straight, pointed claws. Eggs very glossy and beautifully marked.
Other characters are: ceca very small and nipple-like; all five
Garrodian thigh-muscles present; flexor tendons of the toes
peculiar, resembling the condition found in three-toed birds, the two
tendons uniting above and being distributed to the three anterior
toes, while the hind toe has no flexor at all.
Genus I. ACTOPHILUS.
3 Type.
Phyllopezus (nec Peters, 1877) Sharpe Cat. B. M.
xXiv, p. 76 (1896) ........ ceeceeeeece neces ve youl atte A. africanus.
Actophilus, Oberh. Proc. Acad. Philad. 1899, p. 202 A. africanus.
Bill long and pointed; upper mandible continued posteriorly
into a large frontal shield which covers the whole of the fore part of
the crown to behind the level of the eyes; nostrils oval, placed in a
slight depression about half-way down the bill; wings moderate, first
and second primaries subequal; a blunt spur on the carpal bone at
the joint of the wing ; tail short and almost concealed by the coverts ;
legs long; tarsus with transverse shields before and behind; toes
long, exceeding the tarsus in lengti: ; the claws also elongated, that
of the hind toe specially so, forming more than half the length of
the whole toe; claws all straight ; no webs between the toes.
Two species are referred to this genus, one confined to Madagas-
car, the other spread all over Africa.
22 VoL. Iv.
338 PARRIDA ACTOPHILUS
713. Actophilus africanus. African Jacana.
Parra africana, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 709 (1788); Swains. Zool.
Iilustr., 2nd ser., pl. 6 (1829); Gurney, Ibis, 1859, p. 249, 1862, p. 38
[Natal] ; Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 384; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 835 (1867);
Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 828 (1872); Shelley, Ibis,
1875, p. 86; Forbes, P. Z. S. 1881, p. 639; Holub § Pelzeln, Orn.
Siid-Afr. p. 296 (1882); Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 367 [Koomoorooi
Fic. 108.—Left foot of Actophilus africanus. x }.
Pan]; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 648 (1884); W. Ayres,
Ibis, 1887, p. 62; Bryden, Gun and Camera, p, 350 (1898); Fleck,
Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 884; Rendall, Ibis, 1896, p. 176; Sharpe,
Ibis, 1897, p. 516 [Zululand].
Phyllopezus africanus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 76 (1896) ; Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 187 (1896); W. L. Sclater, Ibis, 1899, p. 114 [Inham-
bane] ; Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 188 (1899); Alexander, Ibis,
1900, p. 451; Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, ii, pp. 72, 360 (1902).
Actophilus africanus, Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 267 (1900).
Description, Adult Male.—Forehead and crown of the head
naked; a short but distinct white eyebrow from the base of the beak
to above the eye, below which is a band of shiny black, commencing
PARRIDE ACTOPHILUS 339
below the gape, running through the eye and over the ear-coverts to
join its fellow from the other side and thence down the back of the
neck to the mantle; rest of the face and neck white; general colour
above rich chestnut, becoming maroon on the rump and tail; wing
quills and primary coverts black, the latter and the inner secon-
daries with more or less rufous at the base and on the inner web ;
below including the axillaries and under wing-coverts maroon-
rufous; the lower neck golden-yellow, separated from the rufous by
a row of black feathers forming an incipient transverse band.
Iris blackish-brown; crown of the head and basal half of the
bill leaden-blue, greyish towards the tip; legs and feet slate-coloured,
slightly darker on the feet and ankles; a blunt spur on the first
metacarpal.
Fic. 109.—Head of Actophilus africanus. x 13.
Length about 10:0; wing 5:5; tail 1:7 ; culmen 1:25, to posterior
edge of frontal shield 2:0; tarsus 2:5; middle toe and claw 3:3.
The sexes are alike, the female being slightly larger, frontal
shield 2-2, tarsus 2°75, wing 6:0.
A young bird has the crown and hind neck brown; the back an
oily-brown; the rump and tail dusky-brown and the breast and
lower parts white, with traces of the coming maroon. They pro-
bably only attain adult plumage at the second year.
Distribution.—The Jacana is found throughout the greater part
of Africa from Senegal and Abyssinia southwards to Cape Colony.
Within our area it is widely distributed where suitable condi-
tions exist, and appears to be specially abundant on the coast of
Natal and Zululand, along the Zambesi, and about the Okavango
River. It is not at all common in Cape Colony.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony— Cape division,
340 PARRID ACTOPHILUS
Swellendam and Colesberg (S. A. Mus.), Zwartkops River near Port
Elizabeth (Rickard), rare at King (Trevelyan) ; Natal—Clairmont,
near Durban (Stark and Millar), St. Lucia Lake in Zululand (Wood-
ward) ; Transvaal—Sabi River Flats in Lydenburg (Rendall), Mashu-
pan River in Lydenburg (W. Ayres) ; Transvaal—near Johannesburg
(Haagner); Bechuanaland — Nocana (Fleck), Lake Ngami and
Botletli River (Andersson and Bryden), Koomoorooi Pan (Ayres);
Rhodesia—Pandamatenka (Holub), Feira on the Zambesi (Stoehr) ;
German South-west Africa—Okavango River (Andersson) ; Portu-
guese Hast Africa—Zambesi (Kirk and Alexander), Urema River
near Beira (S. A. Mus.), Inhambane (Francis).
Habits.—This bird, to which Sir Harry Johnson has given the
appropriate name of Lily-trotter, is remarkable for the extra-
ordinary length of its toes and claws, which enable it to run rapidly
over the surface of floating leaves and decaying vegetable matter; it
is found in pairs or sometimes in small parties inhabiting stagnant
pools or still backwaters at the sides of rivers and lakes, especially
where water weeds abound ; it is a vivacious bird and by no means
shy, often allowing a near approach ; its flight is weak and seldom
far prolonged, it usually flutters over the surface of the pool with
its long legs hanging down, which gives it a clumsy appearance ;. it
feeds on insects and the seeds of water-plants, which it obtains by
turning over the floating vegetation. In the breeding-season the
male becomes very demonstrative, chasing the female from one side
of the pool to the other and uttering a series of hoarse guttural
notes, and battling with and driving off any intruding rival.
Mr. Millar informs me that numbers of these birds are to be
seen throughout Natal frequenting the lagoons and pans. At
Clairmont, near Durban, in a vlei covered with water-lilies, quan-
tities of them breed, their nesting-season being from December to
February. The nest is composed of floating weeds gathered
together, being just sufficient to support the bird; sometimes the
eggs even rest in the water. The clutch consists of four beautiful
shiny eggs with a very hard shell. The young recently hatched often
lie flat on the floating leaves of water-lilies to escape detection, and
may even be occasionally picked up in the hand without moving.
The South African Museum is indebted to Mr. Millar for two
eggs of this bird obtained at Clairmont on December 4; they are
very glossy, long ovals, sharply pointed at one end, and are very
beautifully marked with scrolls of a very dark brown and a some-
what lighter shade intermingled on -a pale ochraceous-brown
ground ; they measure respectively 1:34 x 0-84 and 1:29 x 0°88,
PARRIDE MICROPARRA 341
Genus II. MICROPARRA.
Type.
Microparra, Cab. Journ. Ornith. 1877, p. 349 ......... M. capensis.
Resembling Actophilus in other respects, but with no trace of
a frontal shield ; a small blunt carpal spur present.
Only the one species here described is assigned to this genus.
714. Microparra capensis. Smaller Jacana.
Parra capensis, Smith, Ill. Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pl. 82, (1889); Gurney,
Ibis, 1860, p. 221, 1864, p. 360 [Natal]; Layard, B.S. Afr. p. 336
(1867) ; Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 880 (1872); Holub
§ Pelz. Orn, Siid-Afr. p-297 (1882); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr.
p. 649 (1884).
Microparra capensis, Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 884; Sharpe, Cat.
B. M. xxiv, p. 89 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 187 (1896); Wood-
ward Bros. Natal B. p. 183 (1899); Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 270
(1900).
Description. Male.—Crown and nape chestnut, with a slight
metallic wash; below the nape a metallic-purplish black patch
separating two straw-coloured patches on the sides of the breast and
neck ; back and wings sepia-brown slightly mottled with metallic-
purplish and chestnut, the coverts with paler, almost white tips,
quills black, the secondaries tipped with white ; upper tail-coverts
and tail chestnut, the latter with dark brown tips to some of the
feathers ; forehead and lores golden-yellow, a distinct white eye-
brow ; beneath white throughout except the axillaries and sides of
the body, which are chestnut ; under wing-coverts black.
Tris hazel ; bill brown; legs and feet greenish-brown.
Length about 6; wing 3:5; tail 11; culmen 0:6; tarsus 1:5;
middle toe and claw 2:2; hind toe about 2-0, of which the claw,
which is excessively elongated, forms 1:5.
The sexes are alike.
Distribution.—The Smaller Jacana is not so common or so
widely distributed as the larger species. It was first obtained by
Smith from the neighbourhood of Algoa Bay, and subsequently by
‘Trevelyan at King William’s Town ; these are the only records of
its occurrence in the Colony; Ayres obtained it at Sea Cow Lake,
and Millar at Clairmont, both near Durban, Bradshaw and Holub
near the Upper Zambesi at Pandamatenka, and Andersson and Fleck
in the Ngami country and on the Okavango. Beyond our limits it
342 CHARADRIIDH ARENARIA
extends through Nyasaland and Hast Africa as far north as Lake
Naivascha in British East Africa.
Habits.—Ayres states that the Smaller Jacana does not differ
from its larger relation in habits. He found both species inhabiting
the same localities near Durban, and the only peculiarity he noticed
was that the present species bobbed its head up and down like a
small flower.
Mr. Millar tells me that this Jacana resembles the larger species
in its nesting habits in every way, except that it breeds later in the
year; it builds a floating nest and lays three to four eggs which are
similarly marked, but of course a good deal smaller. Mr. Millar
found several clutches in the Clairmont vlei near Durban, in
March, 1904.
Family V. CHARADRIIDA.
Skull schizorhinal; basipterygoid processes present ; nostrils
pervious; cervical vertebre fifteen in number; hallux generally
present but small; webs between the toes varying in development ;
eggs large, conical, and four in number, so that they lie with the
pointed ends towards one another.
In subdividing this large family I have followed Mr. Blanford
(Fauna of India, Birds, vol. iv. p. 221) grouping the numerous forms
into four subfamilies.
Subfamily I. CHARADRIINA.
Bill moderate, not longer than the head; nasal groove not
extending more than half the length of the upper mandible ; tarsus
reticulated behind and often in front as well.
Genus I. ARENARIA.
Type.
Arenaria, Briss. Orn. v, p. 182 (1760)... ccc A. interpres.
Bill moderate, rather conical and tapering; culmen about as
long as the tarsus, shorter than the head; no dertrum or swelling
towards the tips of the mandibles; nostrils linear ovals in a slight
depression, not extending beyond the basal half of the mandibles ;
, CHARADRIIDE ARENARIA 343
wings long and pointed, first primary the longest, reaching to the
tip of the tail when the wings are closed; tail of twelve feathers,
very slightly rounded; tarsus about the length of the middle toe
and claw with a few transverse scutes in front, on the sides and
posteriorly covered with reticulate scales; hind toe present; no web
between the anterior toes.
Two species of this genus are generally recognised, one confined
to Western and North-western America, the other practically cos-
mopolitan and here described.
Fic, 110.—Left foot of Arenaria interpres. x 13.
715. Arenaria interpres. Twrnstone.
Tringa interpres, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 248 (1766).
Strepsilas interpres, Gurney, Ibis, 1864, p. 355 [Natal] ; Dresser, B.
Eur, vii, p. 555, pl. 532 (1875); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p.
671 (1884); Seebohim, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 410, with fig. (1888).
Cinclus interpres, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 801 (1867); Gurney, in
Andersson's B, Damaral. p. 276 (1872).
Arenaria interpres, Sharpe, Cal. B. M. xxiv, p. 92 (1896); Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 190 (1896); Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 142 (1900).
Description. Male in non-breeding plumage.—Above dark brown,
mottled and streaked with darker brown, most of the wing-coverts
tipped with white, forming a white wing bar, primaries and primary-
coverts black, the former with white shafts; secondaries chiefly
white ; lower back and rump and the longer upper tail-coverts pure
white; the shorter upper tail-coverts black, forming a band across
the lower back; central tail-feathers black with white bases, outer
feathers with more white, the outer ones completely white ; sides of
344 CHARADRIID ~ ARENARIA
the face mottled black and white; below, including the axillaries
and under wing-coverts white throughout, except for a black patch
on either side of the chest extending across the lower neck to form
a bar.
Iris dark brown ; bill black ; feet orange; claws black.
Length (in flesh) 9-0, wing 6:0, tail 2-5, culmen 0°84, tarsus 1:0.
In the breeding plumage the back, scapulars and coverts are
mottled with many chestnut, or partially chestnut feathers, the
crown of the head and hind neck are white, the former mottled, the
latter streaked with black; the black on the breast is much more
extensive and deeper in tone; the young bird closely resembles the
adult in winter plumage.
Fie. 111.—Head of Arenaria interpres. x 14. a, In non-breeding plumage ;
b, in breeding plumage.
Distribution.—The Turnstone is perhaps the most thoroughly
cosmopolitan of all birds. It breeds on the shores of the Arctic
Ocean in Europe, Asia and America, and also on the Islands off the
coasts of Scandinavia and Denmark. During the northern winter it
is found on the coasts of all the continents and islands south of the
Tropic of Cancer. In South Africa the Turnstone occurs along
the sea coast in summer, and has been once obtained in April in
breeding-dress by Andersson. Layard believed that it bred on
Robben Island, as he had seen what he believed to be young birds
running about, but further evidence is required before this state-
ment can be accepted.
Hitherto no undoubted eggs have been taken south of the Baltic.
The following are localities: German South-west Africa—
Swakopmund, December, Walfisch Bay, April, in breeding dress
CHARADRIIDE LOBIVANELLUS 345
(Andersson) ; Cape Colony—Port Nolloth, December (S. A. Mus.),
Jut Island in Saldanha Bay, May (Stark), Robben Island, False
Bay, October, and Orange River near Upington, December (S. A.
Mus.); Natal—seashore (Ayres).
Habits.—The Turnstone is almost exclusively a bird of the sea-
shore, though occasionally, especially on migration, found inland;
it prefers rocky places to sandy beaches, and feeds on small crus-
tacea and mollusca, which it obtains by turning over stones and
seaweed ; it is wary and difficult to approach, and its note is a clear
whistle.
As already stated it is not known definitely to breed in South
Africa, but in northern regions its nest is placed on or near the sea-
shore, and consists merely of a lining of a few dry leaves or bents
in ashallow depression. Four eggs of agreenish-grey colour spotted
and streaked with bluish-ash and brown and measuring 1:6 x 1:1 are
laid, and both sexes share in incubation.
Genus II. LOBIYANELLUS.
Type.
Lobivanellus, Strickl., P. Z. S., 1841, p. 33 ............ L. lobatus.
Bill moderate, about the same length as the middle toe and claw ;
a well-marked swelling or dertrum at the tip of the mandibles ;
nostrils linear in an elongated depression on the mandible, extend-
ing two-thirds the length of the bill; a large leaf-like wattle between
Fic. 112.—Bend of the right wing of Lobivanellus lateralis, to show the
carpal spur. 2
the eye and the base of the bill ; wings long and pointed, the second
and third primaries sub-equal and longest, a strong, sharp carpal
spur; tarsus more than twice the length of the middle toe and claw,
and covered with transverse scutes in front and reticulations behind ;
346 CHARADRIIDE LOBIVANELLUS
hind toe present, though very small; outer and middle toes con-
nected by a basal web.
This genus contains four species, two of which are found in
Africa and two in Australasia; only one of these comes within the
limits of our fauna.
716. Lobivanellus lateralis. Wattled Plover.
Vanellus lateralis, Smith, Ill. Zool. S. Afr. Aves pl. 28 (1889).
Lobivanellus senegalensis (nec Linn.), Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 831.
Chettusia lateralis, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 292 (1867); Buckley, Ibis,
1874, p. 387.
Lobivanellus lateralis, Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 267
(1872) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1873, p. 283; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 368 [Mashona-
land]; Holub & Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 240 (1882) ; Seebohm, Geogr.
Distr. Charadr. p. 198, with fig. (1888); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv,
p. 144 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i. p. 187 (1896); Sowerby, Ibis, 1898,
p. 575; Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 264; Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 452;
Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 194 (1900).
Lobivanellus senegalus (nec Linn.), Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr.
pp. 666, 855 (1884).
** Querri-querri”’ of Mashonas (Sowerby).
Description. Adult Male.—A double triangular wattle between
the eye and the beak; forehead and fore part of the crown white ;
eyebrow and hind crown very dark brown, becoming lighter on the
nape and neck, where the feathers are dark-centred; back brown,
with an olive tinge, becoming paler on the wing-coverts, the tips of
which are white, forming a very conspicuous wing bar; wing-quills,
primary coverts and bastard wing black, the bases of the primaries
white, which colour increases until only the distal third of the
secondaries are black; upper tail-coverts and tail white, with a
broad subterminal black bar to the latter ; chin white, throat black ;
sides of the face and rest of the neck whitish streaked with dusky ;
breast olive-brown, like the back, below which is a transverse band
of black, best developed on the flanks; under tail-coverts, under
wing-coverts and axillaries white.
Tris steel-grey, surrounded by a-ring of tawny-brown, and again
by a ring of black; bill bright gamboge yellow, tips black ; upper
portion of wattle bright brick-red, under portion and eyelid gamboge
yellow; tarsi and feet pale greenish-yellow ; a pointed conical black
spur on the angle of the wing ; a small hind toe present.
Length about 13:5; wing 9-5; tail 4-0; tarsus 8-25; culmen 1:3;
CHARADRIIDE LOBIVANELLUS 347
hind toe about 0:35. The female is smaller; wing about 8:25;
tarsus 3°25.
Distribution.—The Wattled Plover was first described by Sir A.
Smith, who obtained a single example on the banks of the lower
Tugela River in Natal. There is only one notice of its occurrence
in Cape Colony, which is perhaps due to error, but it becomes more
abundant north of the Vaal, and is common in Rhodesia, Northern
Bechuanaland and Ovampoland, especially in the wet season.
Beyond our limits it extends to Angola, Nyasaland and German
East Africa, as far as Victoria Nyanza. The following are locali-
ties: Cape Colony—Port Elizabeth (Rickard) ; Natal—Tugela River
Fic. 113.—Head of Lobivanellus lateralis. x 1}.
(Smith), Zululand (Millar); Transvaal — Potchefstroom, April,
August, December (Ayres), Swaziland (Hutchinson); Bechuana-
land—Lake Ngami, rainy season (Andersson); Rhodesia—Khami
River, near Bulawayo (S. A. Mus.), Upper Zambesi (Holub), Fort
Chiquaqua, rainy season (Sowerby); German South-west Africa—
Okavango River and Ondongo, rainy season (Andersson); Portu-
guese East Africa—Zambesi (Kirk and Alexander).
Habits.—The Wattled Plover is, so far as our present know-
ledge goes, only a migrant during the rainy season, between October
and March, to our region. It is generally found in small flocks,
though sometimes seen singly or in pairs; it haunts flats near rivers
and vleis, where it searches for beetles and other insects and small
mollusea, on which it preys; it is a roving bird, circling round like
348 CHARADRIIDE XIPHIDIOPTERUS
an English Peewit and uttering loud cries. Marshall states that it
is often to be heard during the night time; he also observed that
the males used the spurs on their wings when fighting with one
another.
Mr. Millar gives me the following information in regard to the
nesting of this Plover: ‘On September 29, when hunting near the
Buedsi River in the Beira province of Mozambique I noticed one of
these birds leave a shingle bed not far from a pool, and here I dis-
covered a nest containing one egg only. The nest was simply a
depression in the soil, which was very hard and had been picked up
by the bird, so that it resembled a mass of small pebbles, in the
centre of which lay the egg. The egg was slightly incubated
and measured 1:8 x 1:16. It resembled the egg of the Crowned
Plover (Stephanibyx coronatus) but was much larger. The mark-
ings assimilated the surroundings very closely, and although the egg
was exposed it was by no means easy to detect.”
Genus III. XIPHIDIOPTERUS.
Type.
Xiphidiopterus, Reichenb., Nat. Syst. Vég., p.18(1852) X. albiceps.
Closely allied to Lobivanellus, but with no hind toe ; carpal spur
long and sharp and facial wattles very large. Only two species of
this genus are known, one here described and another from the
Malayan Islands of Java, Sumatra and Timor.
717. Xiphidiopterus albiceps. White-headed Wattled Plover.
Vanellus albiceps, Gould, P. Z. S. 1834, p. 45.
Hoplopterus albiceps, Layard, B. 8S. Afr. p. 293 (1867); Gurney, Ibis,
"1868, p. 255.
Sarciophorus albiceps, Ayres, Ibis, 1874, p. 104.
Lobivanellus albiceps, Holub § Pelz., Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 240 (1882) ;
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. pp. 667, 855 (1884); Seebohin,
Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 195, pl. viii. (1888); Shelley, B. Afr. i,
p. 187 (1896) ; Alewander, Ibis, 1900, p. 451.
Xiphidiopterus albiceps, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 147 (1896)
Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 192 (1900).
Description. Adult Male—Forehead and band down the middle
of the crown white; rest of the head, sides of the face and neck
slaty-grey ; centre of the back and scapulars light brown; some of
CHARADRIIDE XIPHIDIOPTERUS 349
the outer scapulars (forming a patch), bastard wing, primary coverts
and wing-quills, except the first three, white ; wing-coverts and first
three primaries black, the latter white towards their bases; rump
and upper tail-coverts white; tail-feathers white for their basal,
black for their distal halves; centre of the throat and under surface
of the body pure white throughout.
Tris pale yellow; bill black, the basal half clear citron-yellow ;
legs and feet grass-green; claws black; lappet about an inch in
length and rounded at the tip, dark citron-yellow, with a black spot
on the inner side; a long, sharp-pointed black carpal spur about
0-7 long ; uo hind toe.
Length about 11:5; wing 8:25; tail 3:8; culmen 1:3; tarsus 2°8.
Distribution.—This is a tropical African Plover, which has but
seldom occurred south of the Zambesi. It is stated to have been
obtained by Verreaux on the Buffalo River in Namaqualand, but
possibly this is an error. It is found all over West and East Africa,
from Liberia and Kordofan southwards.
The following are localities : Transvaal —Potchefstroom (Ayres) ;
Rhodesia— near Victoria Falls (Holub); Portuguese Hast Africa—
Senna, July, and Tete, August (Alexander), Urema River in the
Beira district, October (S. A. Mus.)
Habits.—Captain Alexander gives the following account: ‘“ This
bird is found in pairs here and there along the river, haunting the
margin of the water where the banks are gently sloping and of a
sandy nature. At one’s approach they jump up in a spasmodic
manner to fly out across the water. When startled they are noisy
birds, uttering their plaintive but not unmusical ‘ whit whit,’ repeated
rapidly in succession. They are often found at some distance from
water, haunting the sandy stretches of a dried-up river bed or moist
spots where the grass is short and succulent. In such places a
small party may regularly be observed towards evening fully occu-
pied in‘ drawing’ worms. The flight of this species is strong and
buoyant, with a steady beat of wings. At dusk these Plovers often
become noisy, giving vent to plaintive ‘ whits.’ ”’
Mr. Ayres’ only specimen was shot in a garden in Potchefstroom
and was subsequently unfortunately lost.
Mr. Millar found this bird abundant along the Pungwe and
Dingi-dingi Rivers in the Beira district in October. He readily
recognised them when in flight by the patch on the wing. A pair
were evidently nesting or had young along the river in the shingle,
but he was unable to find the nest. Subsequently he shot and
850 CHARADRIIDE HEMIPARRA
skinned a female, which contained an egg in the oviduct; this was
of the usual Plover-shape with light blue ground, minutely spotted
throughout, but of course this may not have been the colour of the
egg when laid. It measured 1:6 x 0°8.
Genus IV. HEMIPARRA.
Type.
Hemiparra, De Filippi, Atti Soc. Ital. viii, p. 270
(LEGO) ican tinea. as node ilo eae dutacdans eatannaeaes H. crassirostris.
Defilippia, Salvad., Atti Soc. Ital. viii, p. 278
(L865) eons cane yeiwadiees eotiinvdatad Mivapateebaneen xe H. crassirostris.
Bill moderate, culmen less than half the length of the tarsus; a
marked swelling or dertrum towards the tip of both mandibles ;
nostrils linear in a groove extending nearly two thirds the length of
the bill; no wattles; wing with the first primary the longest; a
sharp-pointed small carpal spine; legs very long and slender, tarsus
with transverse scutes in front, reticulated, or partially so, at the
sides and behind ; hind toe present; toes long and slender, with a
very slight basal web between the middle and outer toes.
Only two species are included in this genus, which is confined
to East Africa from the Upper Nile valley to Natal.
718. Hemiparra leucoptera. Long-toed Lapwing.
Hoplopterus crassirostris (vec De Fil.) Layard, Ibis, 1871, p. 105 [St.
Lucia Bay]; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 669 (1884).
Lobivanellus albiceps (nec Gould) Holub § Pelz., Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 240
(1882); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.S. Afr. pp. 667, 855 (1884).
Vanellus crassirostris, Secboln, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 214, with fig.
(1888). ;
Vanellus leucopterus, Reichenow, Journ. Ornith. 1889, p. 265; Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 189 (1896).
Defilippia leucoptera, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 127, pl. vii, fig. 1
(1896).
Hemiparra leucoptera, Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 185 (1900).
Description. Adult.—Forehead and eyebrow, sides of the face
and neck, chin and throat white; back of the head, nape, upper
part of the mantle, sides and centre of the breast, black ; lower
mantle, scapulars, and some of the inner secondaries, slaty-grey,
darkest on the rump; rest of the wings, except the three outer
CHARADRIIDE HOPLOPTERUS 851
primaries, which are black, pure white; upper tail-coverts white ;
tail-feathers black on their terminal, white on their basal halves;
body beneath, except for the conspicuous black breast, white
throughout.
Iris scarlet, eyelids carmine; bill black, base violet; feet rosy-
violet, the large tarsal scales black.
Length 12:0; wing 7:5; tail 3:25; culmen 1:3; tarsus 3°15;
middle toe and claw 2:0.
Distribution.—This Plover is found in South Central Africa from
about the southern end of Victoria Nyanza to the Zambesi and
Zululand. It has only twice been recorded from within our limits—
by Holub from the Upper Zambesi and its tributaries near the
Victoria Falls, and by Layard, who examined examples obtained
by Mr. Fellowes near St. Lucia Lake, in Zululand.
Habits—This Lapwing has very much longer toes than most of
its allies, and is found about the banks of rivers, where it obtains
its food among the floating vegetation. It has some resemblance
to the Rails and Jacanas, but probably this is only adaptive.
Reichenow describes the eggs as pale grey-green, with larger and
smaller dark brown markings, both round and linear, and measuring
about 1:70 x 1:30.
Genus V. HOPLOPTERUS.
Type.
Hoplopterus, Bp. Saggio Distr. Met. Anim. Vert.,
Pe 06 (BBL) oe cesses sass gas ae dae con sos luag oe exces H. spinosus.
Bill moderate, with a distinct apical swelling or dertrum ; nostrils
linear, placed in a groove extending two-thirds the length of the bill;
no facial wattles; a long, sharp, black carpal spur; wings long and
pointed ; first and second primaries longest and subequal; tarsus
Fic. 114.—Left foot of Hoplopterus armatus. x 2.
long, about twice the length of the middle toe and claw, reticulated
before and behind, the scales in front somewhat larger and hexa-
852 CHARADRIIDE HOPLOPTERUS
gonal, but hardly forming transverse scutes; no hind toe; a basal
web between the middle and outer toe.
Out of three species spread over South-east Europe, Africa and
Southern Asia, one only is found within our limits.
719. Hoplopterus armatus. Blacksmith Plover.
Charadrius armatus, Burchell, Travels i, p. 501 (1822).
Charadrius speciosus, Wagl., Isis, 1829, p. 649.
Pluvianus armatus, Jard. and Selby, Ill. Orn. i, pl. 54 (1888).
Hoplopterus armatus, Gurney, Ibis, 1865, p. 271 [Durban]; Layard,
B.S. Afr. p. 293 (1867); Gurney, Ibis, 1868, pp. 255, 468 [Potchef-
stroom]; Ayres, Ibis, 1869, p. 299; Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 387;
Barratt, Ibis, 1876, pp. 191, 212; Bryden, Nat. and Sport, pp. 55,
101 (1897).
Hoplopterus speciosus, Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 267
(1872) ; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 325 (1881); Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 363
[Gt. Chine Pan]; Holub & Pelz., Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 239 (1882); Sharpe,
ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 667 (1884); Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p.
882; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 161 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i,
p. 188 (1896); Woodward Bros., Natal B. p. 184 (1899); Alexander,
Ibis, 1900, p 452; Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 188 (1900); Oates, Cat.
B. Eqs, ii, pp. 18, 845 (1902).
Vanellus speciosus, Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 221 with fig.
(1888); Rendall, Ibis, 1896, p. 176.
“Setula tsipi” (Iron-hammer or Blacksmith) of the Bechuanas
(Andersson).
Description. Adult Male.—Forehead and crown, a large patch
forming a collar on the base of the neck, upper and under tail-
coverts, under wing-coverts, sides of the body and abdomen white ;
hinder half of crown, sides of the face, ear-coverts, chin, throat
and breast, mantle and parapteral plumes black; upper scapulars,
wing-coverts and inner secondaries lavender-grey, primary coverts
and wing-quills black, the inner secondaries with a good deal of
white on their inner webs, which increases in extent towards the
innermost ; tail-feathers white on the basal, black on the terminal
half; the outer feathers with less black, and a white tip.
Iris bright carmine ; bill, legs and feet black; a short, black
carpal spur, measuring about 0°35; no hind toe.
Length about 12:0; wing 8:3; tail 35; culmen 1:15; tarsus 3:1.
The sexes are alike.
Distribution.—The Blacksmith Plover was first discovered and
described by Burchell, who obtained his example at Klaarwater or
CHARADRIIDE HOPLOPTERUS 353
Griquatown, in the district of Hay; south of the Orange River it
has only been recorded from Colesberg, but further north in the
Orange River Colony, Transvaal, Bechuanaland and German terri-
tories it becomes very common and is a resident, while in Natal it
is only found as a migrant during the cold weather, at any rate on
the coast... Beyond our limits it extends through Nyasaland and
Angola, as far north as Kiliman-jaro and Lake Naivascha.
The following are the chief recorded localities: Cape Colony—
Griquatown (Burchell), Colesberg (Arnot) ; Natal—Durban in winter
(Ayres) ; Orange River Colony—near Bloemfontein (Barratt), Vrede-
fort Road (B. Hamilton) ; Transvaal—Barberton, January (Rendall),
Branslow’s Farm, near Springs, December (Oates), Potchefstroom,
April, October (Ayres); Bechuanaland—Great Chine Pan, January
(Ayres), Shashi River, October (Oates), Ngami region (Andersson),
Tati, January (S. A. Mus.); Rhodesia—Zambesi above Victoria
Falls, September (S. A. Mus.); German South-west Africa—Great
Namaqualand and Damaraland (Andersson), Windhoek and neigh-
bourhood, June, August (Fleck), Okavango River (Andersson).
Habits.—This Plover is never found far from water; it prefers
the borders of swamps and snipe-grounds, where it obtains the
insects, worms and small Mollusca which form its food. It is most
often met with in small flocks of about a dozen birds and is by no
means shy ; indeed, when nesting it will fly out at an intruder with
low and piercing screams and endeavour to drive him away. Every
observer comments on its noisiness, which disturbs and frightens
other game-birds. The ery is a metallic harsh “click click,’ some-
23 VOL, IV.
354 CHARADRIIDE STEPHANIBYX
what resembling the ring of a blacksmith’s hammer, whence it has
derived its Bechuana and English name; it may be heard both by
day and night. Ayres found its nests in the neighbourhood of
Potchefstroom in August and September; they consist merely of
slight excavations in the bare ground some fifty to a hundred yards
away from the edge of a swamp, lined with a layer of grass roots;
the eggs are two to four in number.
The South African Museum contains two eggs of this Plover
from Omanbondé in Damaraland, where they were obtained by a
friend of Mr. Andersson’s. These are somewhat pointed at one end
and sandy-buff, profusely spotted with larger and smaller irregular
black spots; they measure 1:55 x 1-1.
Genus VI. STEPHANIBYX.
Type.
Stephanibyx, Reichenb. Nat. Syst. Vg. p. 18 (1852) S. coronatus.
Bill moderate, about as long as the middle toe and claw, with
a distinct swelling at the tip; nostrils a linear slit in a depression
occupying at least two-thirds the length of the bill; no facial
wattles; carpal spur represented by a slight projection; wings
fairly long, the second primary the longest; secondaries broad and
rounded at the tips, the difference between the longest primary and
shortest secondary not equal to half the wing; tarsus reticulated ;
no hind toe; basal web between the middle and outer toes well
developed. ,
The species of this genus, three in number, are confined to Africa
and have all been met with within our limits.
Key of the Species.
A. Forehead black, crown black with an encircling
band of White ssciseseeiniccesarisenvaeeeasicacne eae S. coronatus, p. 355.
B. Forehead white, crown ashy or dusky.
a. Larger, wing over 8:0; under wing-coverts
white throughout........cccssssesssessesrsreeesesees S. melanopterus, p. 357.
b. Smaller, wing under 8:0; outer and under
wing-coverts grey, contrasting with the inner
WH be ONES osin cs sosinead depesieuinnneamecne sive mealunumne S. inornatus, p. 358.
CHARADRIIDE STEPHANIBYX 355
720. Stephanibyx coronatus. Crowned Lapwing.
Charadrius coronatus, Bodd. Pl. Enl. p. 49 (1783); Grill, K. Vet. Akad.
Handi. ii, no. 10, p. 52 (1858).
Hoplopterus coronatus, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 294 (1867); Buckley,
Ibis, 1874, p. 387; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p.191; Butler, Feilden and
Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 341; Bryden, Gun and Camera, p. 287 (1898) ;
id. Nature and Sport, p. 102 (1897).
Vanellus coronatus, Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 49 [Upper Natal]; Ayres,
Ibis, 1869, p. 8300; Seebohm, Geogr. Distr, Charadr. p. 222, with fig.
1888).
Se coronata, Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 268 (1872) ;
Harting, P. Z. S. 1874, p. 456; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 825 (1881);
Holub ¢ Pelz., Orn. Sud-Afr. p. 236 (1882); Shelley, Ibis, 1882,
p. 863 [Spaldings]; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. pp. 670, 855
(1884); Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 882; Haagner, Ibis, 1902,
pp. 574, 580.
Stephanibyx coronatus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 178 (1896) ; Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 188 (1896); Woodward Bros. Natal Bds. p. 184 (1899) ;
Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 180 (1900); Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, ii, pp.
16, 346 (1902); Whitehead, Ibis, 1903, p. 286; Sharpe, Ibis, 1904,
p- 9 [Deelfontein]. ;
“Kiewit” or “Kiewitje” of the Dutch; ‘“ Ititihoya”’ of Zulus (Wood-
ward).
Description. Adult Male——Centre of the crown black, sur-
rounded by a white ring, this again is surrounded by a black ring
which occupies the forehead and lores, and running above the eye
and ear-coverts meets its fellow on the nape; back and wings pale
olive-brown ; the greater coverts with broad white tips forming with
some of the inner secondaries a band of that colour; primary
coverts also white ; wing-quills ‘black with concealed white bases ;
upper tail-coverts and tail white, the latter with a broad subterminal
band of black, less broad on the outer feathers; chin and throat,
lower breast, abdomen, under wing- and tail-coverts white; sides
of the face, neck and breast olive-brown of a rather paler shade
than that of the back; a narrow transverse band of black crosses
the breast dividing the olive-brown from the white.
Tris yellow ; bill bright red, the tip horn-coloured ; feet bright
red, the toes tinged with dark purple on the upper surface. No
spur, wattle or hind toe. ;
Length about 12:0; wing 7:7; tail 3-5; culmen 1-2; tarsus 3:0.
The sexes are alike. A young bird is like the adult but browner,
the feathers of the upper parts mottled and barred with paler. The
crown is brown with sandy edges to the feathers, the ring round is
sandy-buff and only white on the occiput.
356 CHARADRIIDE STEPHANIBYX
Distribution.—The Crowned Lapwing is found in considerable
abundance throughout the greater part of South Africa, especially
on the high veld; it does not appear to reach the coastlands of
Natal nor has it hitherto been recorded from Rhodesia, though this
last is probably due to lack of observation. Beyond our limits it
extends through Nyasaland and Hast Africa as far north as Somali-
land and Shoa. It appears to be a resident everywhere.
The following are localities : Cape Colony—Malmesbury (Stark),
Worcester (S. A. Mus.), George (Victorin), Port Elizabeth (Brown),
East London, common (Wood), Peddie (8S. A. Mus.), Eland’s Post,
Fic. 116.—Head of Stephanibyx coronatus. x 43.
i.e., Seymour (Bt. Mus.), Deelfontein, common (Seimund), Orange
River at Upington, rare (Bradshaw), near Aliwal North, common
(Whitehead), Spaldings in Barkly West district (Ayres) ; Natal—
Escourt and Newcastle (Reid), Colenso (Seebohm), Zululand (8. A.
Mus.) ; Orange River Colony—near Bloemfontein (Barratt), Vrede-
fort Road (B. Hamilton); Transvaal—Sabi River in Lydenburg
(S. A. Mus.), Bisschops Farm near Springs (Oates), near Johannes-
burg, common (Haagner), Potchefstroom, January, June (Ayres),
near Palla on Limpopo (Bryden); Bechuanaland—Tati (Oates),
Ngami region (Andersson) ; German South-west Africa—Reheboth
(Fleck), Otjimbinque and Okavango River (Andersson).
Habits.—The Kiewit or Kiewitje is found usually in small flocks
of from twenty to thirty individuals especially in winter, scattered
all over the country about open grassy places and often far from
water; they are active both by day and night and can frequently be
heard calling on moonlight nights. The call is loud and plaintive
and very characteristic. They fly well and quickly but are also
CHARADRIIDE STEPHANIBYX 357
good runners, and are sometimes difficult to flush. Their food
consists of beetles and grasshoppers and other insects, and they
are specially fond of patches of freshly-burnt grass-land, where
insects are to be easily found. Mr. Wood informs me that they
breed near East London early in October, but Eriksson found nests
on the Limpopo in August and September as well. The nest is
merely a slight depression in the ground and the clutch usually
consists of three eggs; these are oval and rather pointed at one
end, of a yellowish-brown ground-colour blotched all over with
blackish-brown and indistinct purple, chiefly at the obtuse end ;
they measure about 1-6 x 1:15.-
The South African Museum contains clutches from Potchef-
stroom taken in October, and from Ladysmith taken in July and
August, by Mr. Roberts and Major Sparrow respectively.
721. Stephanibyx melanopterus. Bilack-winged Plover.
Charadrius melanopterus, Cretzschm. in Riipp. Atlas, p. 46, pl. 81
(1826); P. L. Sclater, P. Z. S. 1866, p, 23 [Cathcart].
Charadrius spixii, Wagler, Syst. Av. Charadrius, p. 57, no. 7 (1827).
Vanellus melanopterus, Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 217, 1862, p. 38 [Natal];
Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 224, with fig. (1888).
Hoplopterus melanopterus, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 294 (1867).
Chettusia melanoptera, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 669 (1884).
Stephanibyx melanopterus. Sharpe, Cut. B. M. xxiv, p. 180 (1896);
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 188 (1896); Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 184
(1899) ; Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 179 (1900).
Description. Adult Male—F¥orehead and forepart of the crown
white; hinder portion slaty; back and wings olive-brown with
a slight coppery gloss, median coverts tipped with white and with
a narrow subterminal cross band of black; the greater coverts pure
white; primary coverts, bastard wing and wing-quills black, the
secondaries white at the base, which increases until some of the
inner ones are quite white; upper tail-coverts and tail white, the
latter with a broad subterminal band of black, less marked on the
outer feathers; below, chin whitish, sides of the face and breast
slaty, deepening into a black cross-band across the chest; rest of
the lower surface, including the axillaries and under wing-coverts
white. No spur or hind toe.
Tris pale yellow ; eyelids scarlet; bill black; feet dark scarlet ;
toes dusky scarlet.
358 CHARADRIIDE STEPHANIBYX
Length 10:5; wing 85; tail 3:0; culmen 1:05; tarsus 2°35.
A young bird has the whole head, including the forehead, brown
like the back, the throat and -foreneck are also light brown and the
chest-band is not so distinctly marked.
Distribution —The Black-winged Plover is found throughout
Eastern and Southern Africa, from Abyssinia southwards to Nyasa-
land and Cape Colony. It was first described by Riippell from
Jeddah on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea. Within our limits it
has hitherto only been noticed in Natal and the Cape Colony, where
it appears to be a resident.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Malmes-
bury, Mossel Bay and Grahamstown (S. A. Mus.), Hast London and
Port Elizabeth (Rickard), Elands Post (Atmore), Cathcart (Boulger),
King William’s Town, April and May (Bt. Mus.) ; Natal—Maritz-
burg, common (Fitzsimmons).
Habits.—Ayres is the only observer who has remarked on the
habits of this bird; he states that it is found in open country and
away from the coast, and that it is a noisy bird with a loud harsh
note like that of the Green Bee-eater. It is bold and fearless,
circling round in the air above dogs and endeavouring, often success-
fully, to drive them away.
‘An egg taken by Rickard from a bird shot near East London on
August 23, 1869, is in the South African Museum. It is some-
what elongated, conical and tapering, of a greenish-grey ground-
colour, moderately covered with darker and lighter purplish-brown
spots and blotches; these are less abundant at the pointed end ; it
measures 1:7 x 11.
722. Stephanibyx inornatus. Swainson’s Plover.
Vanellus inornatus, Swains. B. W. Afr. ii, p. 239 (1837); Seebohm.
Ibis, 1887, p. 850; id. Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 225, with fig. (1888).
Charadrius frontalis, Sundev. Oefvers. K. Vet. Akad. Forh. 1850, p. 110.
Stephanibyx inornatus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 181 (1896) ; Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 188 (1896); Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 179 (1900).
Description. Adult.—General colour above brown with a slight
oily-greenish gloss; a white patch on the forehead; primary coverts
and wing-quills black, the inner primaries and the outer secondaries
tipped with white, the inner secondaries almost entirely white ; tail-
coverts and tail white, the middle feathers with a terminal black
band, the black decreasing to the outer pair of feathers which are
CHARADRIIDZ SQUATAROLA 359
pure white ; below, the chin, lower breast and abdomen are white,
the sides of the face, neck and upper breast slaty-brown ; axillaries
and inner wing-coverts white, primary under wing-coverts slaty-
brown.
Tris orange-yellow ; bill black ; feet reddish-brown.
Length 8°75 ; wing 6:5; tail 2-5; culmen ‘88; tarsus 2:3.
Distribution.—This Plover was first described by Swainson from
the Gambia in West Africa, whence it is found as far south as the
Loango; it reappears on the Hast Coast, where it extends from
Zanzibar to Natal and inland to Nyasaland. Seebohm first recog-
nised this bird as a South African one; he examined specimens
shot by Mr. Harry Millar near Durban, and states that it is not
uncommon in that neighbourhood.
Genus VII. SQUATAROLA.
Type.
Squatarola, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm. Bds. B. M. p.
BO! (1 BEG) «sis cstcopetiadeluls voueaa a0 slemsehe aiertai san dentate 8. helvetica.
Bill moderate, about as long as the middle toe and claw; tip
swollen, forming a dertrum; nostril a linear slit in a depression
extending more than half way along the bill; no facial wattles or
carpal spurs; wings long and pointed, first primary clearly the
longest, inner secondaries long and pointed, difference between the
shortest outer secondaries and the longest primary more than half
the length of the wing; tail moderate and very slightly rounded ;
a minute rudimentary hind toe present; tarsus with reticulate
scaling throughout; a basal web between the middle and outer
toes.
This genus contains only the Grey Plover, a bird of wide
distribution in both hemispheres.
723. Squatarola helvetica. Grey Plover.
Tringa helvetica, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 250 (1766).
Tringa varia, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 252 (1766).
Squatarola helvetica, Gurney, Ibis, 1865, p.271 [Natal]; Layard, B.S.
Afr. p. 295 (1867); Dresser, B. Eur. vii, p. 455, pls. 515, fig. 2, 517,
fig. 1 (1871); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 658 (1884) ; id. Cat.
B. M. xxiv, p. 182 (1896) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 189 (1896).
Squatarola varia, Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 270 (1872).
360 CHARADRIID SQUATAROLA
Charadrius helveticus, Seebolm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 102, with fig.
(1888).
Charadrius squatarola, Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 381.
Squatarola squatarola, Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 163 (1900).
Description. Male in non-breeding dress—Above ashy-brown
mottled with white; primary coverts and quills black, the former
slightly edged with white, the latter with the outer half of the webs
white and a good deal of white towards the basal half of the
feathers; tail-coverts and tail white, the latter irregularly barred
with ashy-brown, the outer feathers almost pure white; below, the
chin, lower breast and under tail-coverts pure white, the sides of the
face and foreneck somewhat mottled grey with dark shaft-marks.
Axillaries black; under wing-coverts white, except those of the
primaries, which are grey.
Tris dusky-brown ; bill black ; legs and feet black.
Length about 11°5; wing 7-4; tail 2°75; culmen 1:2; tarsus 1'8.
The sexes are alike in non-breeding plumage; the male in
breeding plumage is black below, including the sides of the face and
neck, the whole of the crown and neck above is white, the centre of
the crown slightly mottled with black; the back and wings are
mottled with black and white and are much darker than in the non-
breeding plumage ; the young bird is slightly spangled with golden
on the upper surface, but can always be recognised by its black
axillaries.
Distribution.—The Grey Plover is one of the most cosmopolitan
of birds, being found all over the world (except perhaps in the
southern part of South America) at one time of the year or another.
It breeds far north on the tundras, beyond the limit of forest in
Europe, Asia and America, and migrates south during the northern
winter to Northern South America, Africa, India and Australia.
Within our limits it has only been found, so far as I am aware,
either on or close to the sea-coast during the southern summer
months. It is stated by Sharpe, on the authority of Gurney, to
have occurred in the Transvaal, but it is not included in the many
lists of birds of that country obtained by Ayres.
The following are localities: Cape Colony—Robben Island,
March (S. A. Mus.), Zoetendals viey in Bredasdorp (Verreaux),
Knysna, October and February (Marais), Port Elizabeth, common in
summer (Brown), East London (Wood); Natal—Durban, January,
February (S. A. Mus.), Monocusi River (Ayres); German South-
west Africa—Walvisch Bay, October and December (Andersson),
May (Fleck).
CHARADRIIDE GIALITIS 361
Habits.—The Grey Plover is only a migrant to our shores from
the northern winter, and is almost always in winter or non-breeding
dress, though a bird in partial summer dress was found among Mr.
Andersson’s collections from Damaraland. It occurs chiefly along
the tidal rivers, or where there are extensive mud flats left by the
receding tides; here it may be seen, usually singly, though some-
times in pairs, running over the mud or even into the water with
great rapidity in search of small crustacea, insects and worms,
which form its principal:-food. It is very wary and suspicious,
especially if it is pursued. Its flesh is very palatable. It is not
probable that it will ever be found breeding south of the Equator.
Genus VIII. ASGIALITIS.
Type.
Agialitis, Bote, Isis, 1822, p. 558 ...... cece eee es A. hiaticola.
Ochthodromus, Reichenb. Nat. Syst. Vég. p. 18
(1852 sexiness sn raninadns Hie xeectenenh ees evades wads obaee a ZB. wilsoni.
Oxyechus, Reichenb. Nat. Syst. Vig. p. 18 (1852) ... AB. vocifera.
Resembling Squatarola in all essential structural characters but
with no hind toe. In plumage the members of this genus have the
upper surface more or less uniform brown and the lower surface
white, the amount of black never exceeding a pectoral band.
Some thirty species of shore-loving birds are included in this
genus; some of these are migrants with considerable seasonal
~ changes of plumage, others are residents with very little variation
in this respect. The genus is cosmopolitan. Seven species, most of
them migrants from the north, are included in our fauna.
Key of the Spectes.
A. Larger, wing over 5°5.
a. A brown patch on either side of the chest;
outer tail-feathers pure white .............06 4K. geoffroyt, p. 862.
b. A broad brown band across the chest; outer
tail-feathers pale brown edged with white... 4. asiatica, p. 863.
B. Smaller, wing under 5:0.
a. With two black bands across the chest......... 44. tricollaris, p. 867.
b. With a single broad black band across the
CHESE, shi. vccnenwnelsnatitineds dee belibeinaneddea vais sennane 44. hiaticola, p. 364.
With a rufous band across the chest ............ 4G. venusta, p. 370.
as
No defined band across the chest.
362 CHARADRIIDE EGIALITIS
a\, A white collar on the hind neck continuous
with the white of the underparts.
a’, A black line from the base of the bill to
the ear-coverts and a black patch on
either side of the chest ........cccccccnesses 44. alexandrina, p. 366.
b*. No black on the lores or the chest ...... i, marginata, p. 871.
b'. A white collar on the hind neck separated
from the white of the underparts by a
black band running from the ear-coverts
to the mantle ....ccssesesssescerseees die 4. pecuaria, p. 874.
724. Aigialitis geoffroyi. Great Sand Plover.
Charadrius geoffroyi, Wagler, Syst. Av. Charadrius, p. 61, no. 19
(1827); Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 146 (1888) ; Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 189 (1896); Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 166 (1900).
Charadrius leschenaulti, Lesson, Man. Orn. ii, p. 322 (1828); Layard,
B. 8. Afr. p. 299 (1867).
Aigialitis geoffroyi, Harting, Ibis, 1870, p. 878, pl. 11; Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B. 8S. Afr. p. 664 (1884).
Ochthodromus geoffroyi, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 217 (1896).
Description. Adult in non-breeding dress.—General colour above
brown, hind neck a little paler; wing-coverts with white tips
forming a narrow wing bar, primary coverts and primaries dark
brown, the shaft of the outer one white, the inner primaries and
secondaries having a good deal of white about their edges and tips ;
rump and upper tail-coverts pale brown, white at the sides; tail-
feathers ashy-brown, becoming paler towards the outermost pair,
which are pure white; most of the feathers with obscure darker
subterminal patches; lores, forehead, eyebrow, cheeks, sides of the
neck and underparts white, with a patch of brown on either side of
the upper breast; axillaries and under wing-coverts white.
Tris brown ; bill black; legs greenish-grey ; toes dusky.
Length about 7:45; wing 5°75; tail 2:0; tarsus 1-4; culmen 0-9.
The adult in breeding plumage has the hinder part of the crown
light brown surrounded by cinnamon-rufous, which extends down
the hind neck and forms a broad collar of cinnamon-rufous ; the
base of the forehead is. white followed by a narrow black band;
lores black, continued back above and below the eye along the top
of the ear-coverts ; a broad band of cinnamon-rufous across the
chest.
Distribution.—The Great Sand Plover is a bird of wide distribu-
CHARADRIIDE AGIALITIS 363
tion ; during the northern winter it is found along the coasts of the
Indian Ocean from Cape Town to the Red Sea, including Madagas-
car, and thence to India, South China, the Malay Archipelago and
northern Australia. It was believed by Mr. Seebohm to breed in
Japan, Formosa and Hainan, but some uncertainty attaches to this
statement.
In South Africa it has only been recorded on three occasions :
from Salt River, nea Cape Town, by Layard; from Port Elizabeth,
by Rickard ; and from Durban, in March, by Gordge.
Habits.—The Great Sand Plover is a shore bird never found
inland ; it is usually gregarious in small flocks and feeds on minute
crustacea, worms and insects, which it finds about the sea-beach.
725. Aigialitis asiatica. Caspian Plover.
Charadrius asiaticus, Pall. Reis. Russ. Reichs ii, p. 715 (1778) ; Layard,
B. 8. Afr. p. 299 (1867); Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, pp.
341, 460; Holub § Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 241 (1882); Seebohm,
Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 144 (1888); Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894,
p. 882; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 189 (1896); Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i,
p: 167 (1900).
Charadrius damarensis, Strickland, Contr. Ornith. 1852, p. 158.
Eudromias asiaticus, Harting, Ibis, 1870, p. 202, pl. 5; Ayres, Ibis
1871, p. 263, 1878, p.410; Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 271
(1872); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. pp. 665, 855 (1884).
Adgialitis asiatica, Ayres, Ibis, 1880, p. 267.
Octhodromus asiaticus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 280 (1896).
Description. Adult in non-breeding plumage.—Closely re-
sembling 4. geoffroyi, but distinguished by the broader band of
pale brown across the breast, by its outer tail-feathers, which are
pale brown, edged with white and not pure white, by its under wing-
coverts which are pale brown edged and mottled with white, and
finally by its much smaller and slenderer bill, the terminal vault of
which never occupies half the length of the whole bill.
Iris dusky-hazel ; bill black ; feet greenish-olive ; toes dusky.
Length 8-5; wing 5:5; tail 2:1; culmen 0:75; tarsus 1:5.
In the breeding-plumage the band across the chest is bright
chestnut, followed by a narrow black band. The young bird has
marked sandy edges to the feathers of the upper surface.
Distribution.—The Caspian Plover is said to breed on the
steppes of Central Asia, especially in the neighbourhood of the
364 CHARADRIIDE AGIALITIS
Caspian Sea and Sea of Aral, and its egg is described in Dresser’s
‘Birds of Europe.” It is found on migration in Arabia, and North-
east and Central Africa, and spends the northern winter in South
Africa,
Within our limits it is widely spread during the summer months
from October to March, and is found inland as well as by the sea.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Knysna,
January (Andersson), Grahamstown (Layard), Hanover, September,
Port Elizabeth (S. A. Mus.), King William’s Town (Trevelyan),
Colesberg (Arnot), Griqualand West, October (8. A. Mus.); Natal
—near Durban, December (Reid), near Newcastle, November (Feil-
den); Orange River Colony—Leeuwspruit, October (B. Hamilton) ;
Transvaal—near Potchefstroom, September and January (Ayres) ;
Rhodesia—Matopos, December (S. A. Mus.), Pandamatenka (Holub);
German South-west Africa — Otjimbinque, December, February,
Ondonga, November (Andersson), Reheboth, February (Fleck).
Habits —The Caspian Plover is usually seen in small flocks of
from ten to twenty individuals on the open veld, often far from
water, though in some places they only appear after rain has fallen.
It feeds on small insects and rungs like a Courser, though not quite
so rapidly. The ery is a ‘chuck.’ Though usually in the non-
breeding plumage, individuals are not infrequently obtained in full
summer dress. Mr. Brown writes to me that in the neighbourhood
of Port Elizabeth this bird is an irregular migrant during the
summer months and is found both in summer and winter plumage.
726. Aigialitis hiaticola. Ringed Plover.
Charadrius hiaticula, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i. p. 258 (1766); Grill,
K. Vet. Akad. Handl. ii, no. 10, p. 58 (1858) [Knysna]; Layard, B.S.
Afr. p. 298 (1867) ; Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 125 (1888) ;
Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 174 (1900); Hellmayr, Journ. Ornith,
1902, p. 287 [Port Elizabeth and Pienaars River].
Aigialitis hiaticula, Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 218 [Natal]; Gurney, in
Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 276 (1872); Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 85;
Dresser, B. Eur. vii, p. 467, pl. 525 (1876); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.S.
Afr. p. 660 (1884) ; ¢d. Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 256 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr.
i, p. 190 (1896); W. L. Sclater, Ibis, 1899, p. 114 [Inhambane].
Agialitis intermedius (nec Ménétr.), Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p.255; Sharpe
ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 661 (1884).
Description. Adult Male——Above dark brown ; a narrow frontal
band continued on either side below the eye to the ear-coverts,
CHARADRIIDA AGIALITIS 365
black ; a frontal band to in front of the eye and a stripe over the
eye to above the ear-coverts white ; front of crown black, hind part
and nape brown like the back ; a white collar encircles the neck and
runs forward on either side to the throat and chin; an ill-defined
black collar follows the white one at the top of the mantle. Wings
and wing-coverts brown, the shafts of the primaries white, an
increasing amount of white on the inner primaries and secondaries,
some of the latter being entirely white; central tail-feathers like the
back with darker tips; lateral feathers with dark subterminal spots.
and white tips; the outermost pair entirely white; below white
throughout except for the large triangular patch occupying the
breast and extending forwards on to the foreneck.
Tris blackish-brown ; bill orange, black at the tip; feet yellowish-
bronze ; claws black.
Mba aes
Fic. 117.—Head of Agialitis hiaticola. x 3,
Length 7:3; wing 4:9; tail 2:0; culmen 0:5; tarsus 0-95.
The sexes are alike ; young birds are lighter than the adults and
have paler margins to the feathers of the upper surface ; there is no
black on the crown and the band on the foreneck is brown tinged
with buff in the middle. In the winter dress, as generally seen in
South Africa, the black on the head and breast is partially replaced
by brown, and the band across the chest is more or less broken in
the middle.
Distribution.—The Ringed Plover breeds in the northern hemi-
sphere, from Cumberland Bay on the American side of Davis Straits
through Greenland, Iceland, and Northern Europe and Asia as far
as Lake Baikal. It is generally distributed in the British Isles both
as a migrant and a resident. During the northern winter it is found
throughout Africa from Cape Town to Cairo, but chiefly along the
coast lines.
366 CHARADRIIDE ZGIALITIS
The following are localities: Cape Colony—Cape division,
September, April (8. A. Mus.), Knysna, November, April (Bt. Mus.
and Victorin), Port Elizabeth (Penther), East London, summer
(Wood); Natal—Durban (Shelley); Transvaal—Pienaar River
bridge, near Pretoria, April (Penther) ; German South-west Africa—
Walvisch Bay, October (Andersson); Portuguese East Africa—In-
hambane, September (Francis).
Habits.—Little has been written about the habits of the Ringed
Plover in South Africa; it is essentially a shore bird, and is found
about mud flats and sandbanks, where it runs very swiftly and
searches for small worms, insects and sand-hoppers, adding a good
deal of grit and sand to aid digestion. Its note is a melodious
whistle. The nest, not hitherto found in South Africa and pro-
bably not likely to be found, is merely a shallow cavity in the sand
usually lined with small stones. The eggs, four in number, are
pear-shaped and of a stone-buff colour spotted with black and
measuring 1-4 x 1:0.
727. Aigialitis alexandrina. Kentish Plover.
Charadrius alexandrinus, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 258 (1766); Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 189 (1896); Retchenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 169 (1900).
Charadrius cantianus, Lath., Ind. Orn. Suppl. p. lxvi (1801); Seebohm,
Geogr. Dist. Charadr. p. 168, with fig. (1888).
ARgialites alexandrinus, Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 272
(1872); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 275 (1896).
AKgialitis cantianus, Dresser, B. Hur. vii, p. 483, pl. 523 (1876).
Description. Adult.—General colour above pale earthy brown ;
forehead and eyebrow white, separated from the crown by a black
patch on the fore part of the head; hind neck with a white collar
continuous with the white of the lower surface; primaries and their
coverts dark brown with white shafts, the inner ones with a good
deal of white to their bases, and the secondaries with white tips as
well; central tail-feathers brown, lateral ones white, intermediate
ones smoky; below white throughout, a black line from the base of
the bill running through the eye to the ear-coverts, and a black patch
on either side of the breast.
Tris brown; bill black, dusky flesh on the base of the lower
mandible ; legs dusky black.
Length 6:0; wing 4:10; tail 1:75; tarsus 1:20; culmen 0:30.
CHARADRIIDE AZGIALITIS 367
The female resembles the male, but has no black patch on the
crown, and the patch on the side of the breast is brown not black.
In non-breeding plumage the black on the crown and breast are not
so well developed and are brown not black.
Distribution.—The Kentish Plover breeds throughout Europe
and Asia from England to Japan, and winters in Africa, India and
Australia.
It is very rarely found so far south as South Africa, in fact, the
“only record of its occurrence within our limits is that of Andersson,
who met with it at Walvisch Bay, on the coast of Damaraland. An
example obtained there by him is now in the British Museum.
Layard states that he obtained a specimen from Knysna. This
individual is still in the South African Museum, but is undoubtedly
a Ringed Plover (Zgialites hiaticola) in winter dress.
728. Aigialitis tricollaris. Three-banded Plover.
Charadrius indicus, Lath., Ind. Orn. ii, p. 750 (1790).
Charadrius tricollaris, Vieill., N. Dict. d’Hist. Nat. xxvii, p. 147 (1818) ;
Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 296 (1867); id. Ibis, 1869, p. 76; Heuglin,
Orn. N. O. Afr. ii. pt. 1, p. 1027, pl. 34, fig. 5 (1873); Holub & Pelz.,
Orn. Sud-Afr. p. 240 (1882); Seebohm, Ibis, 1887, p. 888; id. Geogr.
Distr. Charadr. p. 134, with fig. (1888); Bryden, Gun and Camera,
p. 167 (1893) ; Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 881; Reichenow, Vog.
Afr. i, p. 176 (1900).
Charadrius bitorquatus, Licht., Verz. Doubdl. p. 71 (1828) ; Grill, K. Vet.
Akad. Hamdl. ii, no. 10, p. 52 (1858).
Adgialites tricollaris, Gurney, Ibis, 1865, p. 271 |Natal]; ad. in Anders-
son’s B. Damaral. p. 274 (1872); P. L. Sclater, P. Z. S. 1866, p. 23
[Cathcart]; Harting, P. Z. 8. 1874, p. 457, pl. 60, fig. 5 [eggs]; Shelley,
Ibis, 1875, p. 85; Ayres, Ibis, 1877, p. 348, 1880, p. 266; Oates, Mata-
beleland, p. 826 (1881); Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 841;
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.S. Afr. p. 662 (1884); Symonds, Ibis, 1887,
p. 884; Harris, Essays and Photos. p. 110, pl. xxvii (1901) ; Haagner,
Ibis, 1902, pp. 574, 580; Whitehead, Ibis, 1908, p. 236; Shortridge,
Ibis, 1904, p. 202.
Oxyechus tricollaris, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 247 (1896); Shelley, B.
Afr. i, p. 190 (1896); Woodward Bros., Natal B., p. 185 (1899) ;
Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 265; Alexander, ibid, p. 454; Oates, Cat. B.
Eggs, ii, pp. 22, 848 (1902) ; Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 9 [Deelfontein].
“ Strandlooper ” of the Dutch, “ Sea-Cow Bird.” of the Hunters of the
Interior.
368 CHARADRIIDE ZGIALITIS
Description. Adult Male.—Above uniform brown ; forehead and
fore part of the crown white, this colour continued as a narrow band
above the eye and down the neck, meeting its fellow on the other
side and encircling the crown and nape; a second white band cross-
ing the middle of the breast, passes under the shoulder on to the
Fic. 118.—Aigialitis tricollaris and nest with two eggs. From photographs
taken by Mr. H. E. Harris at Caledon.
back and is separated from its ellow by a black patch; all the
coverts and quills brown with white tips, most developed on
the inner secondaries; shafts of the primaries dark; central tail-
feathers like the back, others tipped with white and with a sub-
terminal patch of darker brown ; outer feathers white, with a brown
subterminal spot on the inner web only ; below, the sides of the face
and neck are ashy-grey, the ear-coverts a little darker; across the
CUARADKIID.A EGIALITIS 369
chest are two black bands separated by a narrow white onc; rest of
the under parts and axillaries white ; under wing-coverts asby with
white tips.
Tris hazel; wattle round the eye orange to red; bill black; base
pink ; legs flesh-coloured with a purplish tinge.
Length (in flesh) 6:5; wing 4:20; tail 2:3; culmen 0°65;
tarsus 0°95. The sexes are alike, and there is hardiy any difference
between the summer and the winter plumage. The young birds
have the feathers on the upper parts edged with buffish-white, and
the collars on the nape and upper mantle are absent.
Distribution.—This little Plover is found throughout the greater
part of Africa, from Abyssinia and from Loango, or even, perhaps,
Gaboon, southwards to Cape Colony, and appears to be everywhere
a resident bird.
In South Africa it is abundant throughout, as the following list
of selected localities will show: Cape Colony—Cape division, March
and October (5S. A. Mus.), Caledon (Harris), Knysna (Victorin), Port
Elizabeth and Hast London (Rickard), Orange River, near Uping-
ton, November (Bradshaw, in 8. A. Mus.), Hanover, August (S. A.
Mus.), King William’s Town (Trevelyan), Port St. Johns (8. A.
Mus.), Deelfontein (Seimund), Linokana, near Mafeking (Holub) ;
Natal—Durban (Seebohm), near Newcastle (Bt. Mus.); Orange
River Colony—Kroonstad, November (Symonds); Transvaal—near
Potchefstroom, March, May, August to October (Ayres), near
Johannesburg, common (Haagner); common in Mashonaland
(Marshall) ; German South-west Africa—throughout (Andersson) ;
Portuguese East Africa—Tete (Kirk), and Mesanangue (Alexander)
on the Zambesi.
Habits.—This little Sand Plover is common everywhere in South
Africa, and is’ usually found along mud flats and on the banks of
rivers and water holes, more rarely on the seashore; it is usually
solitary or in pairs, sometimes in small parties, but each bird keeps,
as a rule, to its respective area and if disturbed returns soon after-
wards to the same place. It runs with great swiftness and has a
jerky flight, seldom far prolonged; it feeds on minute crustacea,
shell-fish and insects, which it obtains on the muddy beaches, and
its note, a sharp squeak, is often heard at night.
This Sand Plover is in the interior in constant attendance on the
Hippopotamus, probably in order to feed on insects which are
attracted towards him; it has, in consequence, obtained its name
often bestowed on it of ‘‘ Sea-cow Bird.”
24 VOL, Iv.
370 CHARADRIIDZ AGIALITIS
The nest is merely a slight depression on the ground, generally
among a few pebbles or stones, and is quite unprotected. The eggs,
usually two in number, are laid in October or November in Cape
Colony and the Orange River Colony, perhaps a little earlier further
north (Mr. Alexander found a nest with three young in down, on
August 17, on the Zambesi). They are very large for the size of
the bird and measure, on an average, 1:2 x 0-87; in colour they
are yellowish-white, thickly covered with zigzag lines of yellowish-
brown and sepia, and in some cases slightly rubbed with blackish
so as almost to conceal the ground colour.
729. Aigialitis venusta. Fischer's Sand Plover.
Charadrius venustus, Fischer ¢ Reichenow, Journ. Ornith. 1884, p. 178,
1885, pl. vi, fig. 4; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 189 (1896) ; Reichenow, Vig.
Afr. i., p. 173 (1900).
Aigialitis venusta, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 286 (1896).
Description.—General colour above very pale slaty-grey, with
traces of a lighter collar at the back or the neck; primaries and
their coverts dark brown, paler on their inner webs, the shafts white,
at least in their middle portion ; some of the inner primaries with a
good deal of white on their outer webs; secondaries white-tipped ;
central portion of the rump and upper tail-coverts brown, sides
white; central tail-feathers dark brown, like the wings, lateral ones
pure white; forehead, sides of the face and neck and the whole of
the lower parts, including the under wing- and tail-coverts, pure
white; a semi-circular band of rusty chestnut separates the throat
from the breast ; quills pale brown below.
Bill black ; legs and feet greenish-grey.
Length about 66; wing 3-9; tail 1:35; tarsus 1:1; culmen 0-60.
This description is drawn up from Mr. Whitehead’s specimen,
which appears to have been a female. In the male, as described by
Reichenow, the chestnut chest band is margined above by black,
and is continued up the side of the neck and across the crown, and
there is also a distinct black line running from the eye to the base
of the beak.
Distribution.—This little Plover was first obtained on the shores
of the Salt Lake, near Nguruman, in the interior of German East
Africa, by Fischer, in July. Neumann, a few years later, met with
if on the Manjara Salt Lake, a little south of Nguruman, in
November. Mr. C. F. H. Whitehead recently presented to the
CHARADRIID MGIALITIS 371
South African Museum an example of this species, with a well
formed egg inside, shot at the Salt Pan, near Port Elizabeth, on
August 23,1902. Mr. J. G. Brown informs me that this bird is an
irregular migrant to Port Elizabeth, arriving about April and depart-
ing in October, and that he has only seen it on the edge of the water
of the Salt Pans, more rarely on the sea beach. Except for these
two instances, it has never before been noticed from South Africa.
Ch. rufocinctus, Reichw. (‘' Wiss. Ergeb. Deutsch. Teefsee-
Exped. VII,” p. 352, pl. xxiii.), obtained at Great Fish Bay in
Southern Angola by the Valdivia Expedition, appears to be closely
allied, if not identical with this species.
730. Aigialitis marginata. White-fronted Sand Plover.
Charadrius marginatus, Vieill., N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. xxvii, p. 188
(1818); Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 298 (1867); Seebohm, Ibis, 1887, p.
338; id. Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 161 (1888); Fleck, Journ. Ornith.
1894, p. 881; Shelley, B. Afr.i, p. 189 (1896); Reichenow, Vig. Afr.i,
p. 170 (1900).
Charadrius leucopolius, Wagler, Syst. Av. Charadrius, p. 65 (1827);
Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stockh. ii, no. 10, p. 52 (1858) [Knysna].
Egialitis marginata, Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 218 [Natal]; Gurney, in
Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 272 (1872); Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 85;
Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 341; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s
B.S. Afr. p. 659 (1884); id. Cat. B. M. xxiv, pp. 282, 747 (1896) ;
Harris, Essays and Photos. p. 161, pls. 43, 44 (1901); Oates, Cat. B.
Eggs, ii, p. 849 (1902); Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 202.
Description. Adult in breeding dress.—General colour above
pale ashy-grey ; a broad frontal band of white separated from the
ashy crown by a black transverse band of black, and from the white
chin and throat by a narrow line of black running through the eye
to the ear-coverts, a white collar round the hind neck divides the
crown from the back; wing-coverts tipped with white; wing-quills
brown, darker than the back, the shafts white, a good deal of white
on the base and the tips of the inner ones, the innermost short
secondaries quite white; two outer pairs of the tail feathers quite
white, centre pair dark brown, others white with a dark brown sub-
terminal spot; below white throughout, with a very faint sandy
tinge on the breast.
Tris dark brown ; bill black; legs dirty flesh; feet darker.
Length 65; wing 4:3; tail 1:75; culmen 0°65; tarsus 1-0.
Birds in non-breeding dress have no black band across the fore-
872 CHARADRIID/ EGIALITIS
head, and the breast is without the sandy wash. A pair of these
Plovers, shot on December 23 at Port St. Johns, differ from the
specimens described above in having a strong sandy chestnut tinge
on the nape and all over the back ; they appear to be freshly moulted
Fic. 119.—Zgialitis marginata and nest, in sea-grass, with two eggs. From
photographs taken by Mr. H. E. Harris, at Knysna.
birds and are also somewhat intermediate between this and the
following species.
Distribution.—The White-fronted Sand Plover is found all round
the shores of South Africa from Walvisch Bay to Durban, and
-appears to be a resident everywhere; further north, on both the
CHARADRIIDE EGIALITIS 373
east and west coasts of tropical Africa, it is replaced by a smaller
and rather darker subspecies (4. pallida).
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Berg River
mouth and Hoetjes Bay, September breeding (Stark), Cape division,
January, April, July (Victorin and §. A. Mus.), Knysna, June
(Victorin), December, breeding (Harris), Port Elizabeth, resident
(Brown), Kast London, resident (Wood), Port St. Johns, September,
December (S. A. Mus.); Natal—Durban Bay, August, December
(Reid) ; German South-west Africa—Walvisch Bay, May, December
(Andersson).
Habits —The White-fronted Sand Plover is found all along the
coasts of South Africa in suitable localities; Layard states that it
is met with on inland waters as well, but I have never heard of its
occurrence except near the sea. It is common everywhere and
resident throughout the year. It does not usually associate in
flocks, though a good many may be found together in one locality ;
it runs swiftly and does not take to flight, as a rule, unless hard
pressed, it is also very clever at concealing itself in any little
inequality of the ground. Its note is a low “‘ pirritt,” uttered rather
softly, and its food consists of sand flies and other small insects
found akout the beach.
It breeds early at Walvisch Bay in April or May according to
Andersson; Stark found eggs near the mouth of the Berg River in
September, while at Knysna Harris obtained eggs in December.
Two eggs only are laid in a slight depression on the beach, often
lined with small pebbles and stones and very difficult to detect;
Harris found nests also made among dried sea grass on an island at
Knysna ; in this case the lining was of chopped material. The eggs
are somewhat pyriform in shape, though not so markedly so as in
some other Sand Plovers; they are pale stone buff-coloured, marked
with conspicuous spots and blotches, and sometimes scroll marks
of dark brown. They measure about 1:37 x 1:0.
731. AMgialitis marginata pallida. Tropical White-fronted
Sand Plover.
Charadrius pallidus, Strickland, Contr. Ornith. 1852, p. 158; Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 189 (1896) ; Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 452.
Charadrius tenellus, Hartlaub, Faun. Madag. p. 72 (1861).
Aigialitis marginatus tenellus, Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 163,
pl. vii (1888).
374 CHARADRIIDE AIGIALITIS
Aigialitis pallida, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, pp. 284, 747 (1896).
Charadrius marginatus tenellus, Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p- 171 (1900).
Description.—Similar to 4. marginata but smaller, and having
the inner secondaries brown edged ‘with white, none being pure
white.
Tris brown ; bill black ; feet lead-coloured.
Length 6:0; wing 4:0; tail 1:9; culmen 0°65; tarsus 1:0.
This species seems hardly worthy of more than sub-specific
separation; birds from Port St. John, in Pondoland, and from
Durban are clearly intermediate in character.
Distribution.—This sub-species replaces the former one on the
tropical portions of the east and west coasts of Africa from Angola
to the Gold Coast on the west, and from the Zambesi to Lindi, and
perhaps to the Red Sea on the east. Within our limits it has only
been definitely recorded from the Zambesi, near Chicowa, by Alex-
ander, and near Feira by Dr. Stoehr.
Habits —Alexander found this bird well distributed along the
Zambesi, especially during the dry season, from June to December.
He found nests on several occasions in September and October, and
from observations made and recorded, believes that the eggs are
hatched, to great extent, by the heat of the sun, as he found that
during the day the eggs were always deserted by the parent bird
and covered over with sand.
The following is Alexander’s description of the eggs: ‘‘ Ground
colour pale buffish-brown, minutely spotted and streaked all over
with reddish-brown, with faint underlying markings of a purplish
colour. Average measurements 1:15 x 0:88.”
732. AMigialitis pecuaria. Kittlitz’s Sand Plover.
Charadrius varius (nee Linn.) Vieill., N. Dict. d'Hist. Nat. xxvii,
p. 148 (1818) ; Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 171 (1900).
Charadrius pecuarius, Temm., Pl. Col. v, pl. 183 (1828); Grill, K. Vet.
Akad. Handl. Stockh. ii, no. 10, p. 52 (1858) [Cape and Knysna] ;
Seebohm, Geogr. Dist. Charadr. p. 158 (1888); Shelley, B. Afr. i,
p. 189 (1896).
Leucopolius kittlitzi, Bp., C. R. xliii, p. 417 (1856).
Charadrius kittlitzi, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 297 (1867).
Agialitis kittlitzi, Newton, Ibis, 1867, p. 251; Ayres, Ibis, 1869, p. 300.
Agialitis pecuarius, Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 274 (1872) ;
Harting, P. Z. S. 1874, p. 457, pl. 60, fig. 4 [egg]; Sharpe, Cat.
B. M. xxiv, p. 297 (1896); Harris, Essays and Photos. p. 165, pls. 45,
CHARADRIID AGIALITIS 875
46 (1901) ; Oates, Cat. B. Eggs ii, pp. 29, 8350 (1902); Whitehead, Ibis,
1908, p. 286; Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 10 [Deelfontein].
Aigialitis varius, Harting, Ibis, 1878, p. 262, pl. viii; Ayres, Ibis, 1878,
p. 299, 1880, p. 267; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 661 (1884).
Description. Adult Male.—General colour above dark brown,
most of the feathers with paler edges and tips; forehead white,
separated from the brown crown by a black transverse band, and
from the throat by a strongly marked black band running from the
lores through the ear-coverts to the mantle; above this latter a band
Fic. 120.—Agialitis pecuaria. Adults and nestlings. From photographs
taken by Mr. H. E. Harris, at Knysna.
of white runs from above the eye, surrounding the crown and nape
and joining its fellow on the other side; primary coverts and wing-
quills blackish, the shaft of the first primary white, that of the third
and fourth black throughout; secondaries blackish-brown, narrowly
fringed with white; rump and upper tail-coverts blackish, with a
few white feathers, especially at the sides; central tail-feathers
blackish-brown, others paler with white tips, outermost white, with
376 CHARADRIID RGIALITIS:
a slight smoky tinge ; below white, the whole of the breast strongly
tinged with rusty.
Iris very dark brown; bill, legs and feet black.
Length about 65; wing 4:10; tail 1:75; culmen 0:65; tarsus
1:15.
The sexes are alike. A bird in non-breeding plumage has a
somewhat paler breast. A young bird has no black frontal band,
the loreal band is brown and does not go beyond the ear-coverts,
the white markings on the head are rusty and sometimes almost
obsolete; the chest is not sandy, but has indications of dark brown
shaft stripes ; there is a little white on the outer web at the base of
the sixth to tenth primaries.
Distribution.—Kittlitz’s Sand Plover is found all over the
Ethiopian region from Senegambia on the west and Egypt on the
east, southwards to Cape Colony; it has also been obtained in
the Cape Verd Islands and Madagascar, while in St. Helena it is
replaced by a closely allied but somewhat larger bird (4. sancte
helene), the ‘‘ Wire bird” of the inhabitants. Kittlitz’s Sand Plover
is by no means confined to the coast, but is found about inland
waters and rivers and is a resident, so far as is known, throughout
its range. ‘
In South Africa it is widely spread and fairly common. The
following are the chief recorded localities:—Cape Colony—Berg
River, breeding, September (Layard), Cape division, March, July,
October (S. A. Mus.), Knysna, May (Victorin), Port Elizabeth,
May (Rickard), King William’s Town, April (Bt. Mus.), Deelfontein
(Seimund), Orange River, near Aliwal, January, May (Whitehead) ;
Natal—Ladysmith, breeding ‘(Sparrow); Orange River Colony—
Vredefort Road (B. Hamilton) ; Transvaal—Potchefstroom, January,
August, October (Ayres) ; German South-west Africa—Otjimbinque,
January, March, November (Andersson); Portuguese Hast Africa
—Tete (Brit. Mus.).
Habits.—Kittlitz’s Plover does not differ much from the White-
fronted Sand Plover in habits, except that it is more frequently
met with on inland waters, and that it is usually associated in small
flocks ; its note is a gentle ‘‘towhit,’”’ and it feeds on small insects
and water mites. In common with other Sand Plovers, it has a
somewhat ludicrous habit of stopping and turning round avd
bobbing its head very frequently when observed or disturbed. It
breeds on the Berg River in September, according to Mr. Layard,
and during the same month near Potchefstroom, as reported by
CHARADRIID HEMATOPUS 377
Ayres, while Major Sparrow has taken fresh eggs at Mooi River
in Natal on August 14.
Mr. Harris gives a very detailed account of the nesting habits of
this bird near Knysna, illustrated by some life-like and character-
istic photographs. The eggs are very difficult to find; they are
placed in a slight hollow in the sand and covered with a few small
‘stones and bark; when the hen leaves them, a final kick with her
foot dusts over the spot. The eggs, which are two in number, are
rather shorter and more pyriform than those of 2. marginata ;
the ground colour is a creamy-buff, with a slight greenish tinge,
they are very thickly covered with irregular streaks and scrolls of
very dark brown, with underlying greenish-brown markings of the
same nature ; they measure about 1:24 x 0:95.
Subfamily II. HATMATOPODINA.
Bill very long; tarsus reticulated throughout.
Genus I. HASMATOPUS.
Type.
Hemotopus, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 257
(VV GG) scccas enscmsoesiie atbane adies eeads te he ie eR oe H. ostralegus.
Bill long, compressed and almost straight, culmen longer than
the head or tarsus; angle of the mandible nearer the gape than the
tip; nostrils elongate in a groove confined to the proximal half of
the bill; wings long; first primary the longest; tail nearly square ;
tarsus short, but slightly longer than the middle toe and claw,
covered with reticulate scales all round; no hind toe; a basal web
between the middle and outer toe ; toes stout with broad soles.
The Oyster Catchers form a compact genus containing about
twelve species spread all over the world; only one of these is found
in South Africa.
733. Hematopus moquini. Black Oyster Catcher.
Hematopus niger, (nec Pall.) Temm. Man. Orn. ii, p. 583 (1820) ;~
Gray, Gen. B. iii, pl. 146 (1847).
Ostralega capensis, Licht. Verz. Doubl. p. 73 (1823) (nom. nud.].
Hematopus moquini, Bp. C. R. xliii, p. 1020 (1856); Gurney, Ibis,
1862, p. 34 [Natal]; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 800 (1867); Gurney, in
378 CHARADRIIDH HAMATOPUS
Anderson’s B. Damaral. p. 277 (1872); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv,
p. 119 (1896) ; Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 141 (1900) ; Oates, Cat. B.
Fggs, pp. 7, 344 (1902).
Hematopus capensis, Sharpe, ed. Layard’ ;
,ed. Layard’s B, &. Afr. p. 672 (1884) ;
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 198 (1896). ;
a unicolor capensis, Scebohm, Geogr. Distr. Chardr. p. 809
8).
Toby” of the fishermen of Saldanha Bay.
Fig. 121.—Left foot of Hematopus moquini. x 44.
Description. Adult Male.—Black throughout, above and below ;
nasal groove on the bill only extending just beyond the line of the
gonys of the mandible.
Iris red; eyelids orange; bill vermilion-red ; legs and feet pinky-
red.
Length 21:5; wing 10-5; tail 4:5; tarsus 2:1; culmen 2°8.
A female is a little smaller than the male; wing 10-0; tar-
sus 2:0.
CHARADRIIDZ HEMATOPUS 379
A young bird is paler than the adult, the feathers being all edged
with dusky-brown.
Distribution.—The Black Oyster Catcher is found on the African
coast from Gaboon on the west and the Red Sea on the east, south-
ward to Cape Colony ; it has also been noticed at Madeira and the
Canaries, where it breeds. In South Africa it is most common
on the west coast, becoming somewhat rarer towards Natal. It
appears to be a resident.
The following are localities: German South-west Africa—Wal-
visch Bay (Andersson); Cape Colony—Saldanha Bay, May, Septem-
ber, October (Stark) ; Cape division—January, June (8. A. Mus.),
Robben Island (Layard), Knysna, February (Stark), Port Elizabeth
and East London (Wood) ; Natal—rare (Ayres).
Fic, 122.—Head of Hematopus moquini. x 2.
Habits.—The Black Oyster Catcher is essentially a shore bird
and is found both on the mainland and also on the numerous
islands along the west and south coast of South Africa. It is
usually seen in pairs, though found in considerable flocks by
Andersson in October. It feeds on the beach on small fishes, crus-
tacea and mollusca. Stark saw one trying to wedge a mussel from
a rock and persisting in its efforts, although the waves were con-
stantly dashing up and submerging it up to the breast. It has a
shrill cry and sometimes soars to a great height; it also runs and
swims with great ease and dexterity.
The eggs have been obtained by Mr. Hugo in the neighbourhood
of Simonstown, by Andersson, and also by Dr. Stark on Jut Island
in Saldanha Bay in May. According to Hugo the clutch consists of
two, according to Andersson of four eggs, while Stark found three
380 CHARADRIIDE HIMANTOPUS
nests, one with two, and two with one egg each. These are laid in
a slight depression in the sand just above high water mark without
any nest. Mr. Wood found a nest at Cove Rock, near East
London, on January 1, with two eggs almost ready to hatch. The
nest was a mere dint in the rocks with a sprinkling of sand and was
in an exposed position. Eggs in the South African Museum are
slightly pointed at the acute end, pale grey-brown, marked with
irregular spots and scrolls of pale purplish and very dark brown ;
they average 1:35 x 1:65.
Genus II. HIMANTOPUS.
Type.
Himantopus, Briss. Orn. v, p. 33 (1760) ............6. H. candidus.
Bill very long, slender, straight and pointed, without a dertrum
or swelling at the tip, nearly twice as long as the middle toe and
claw ; nostrils linear, near the base of the bill-is a shallow depres-
sion which extends about half-way along the bill; wings long and
pointed, extending considerably beyond the tail, the first primary
far the longest ; tail short and even; legs very long, stretching far
beyond the wings and tail; tarsus about three times the length of
the middle toe and claw, covered with a fine network of hexagonal
scales ; three toes of moderate length with a slight basal web, most
developed between the middle and outer toe; hind toe absent.
Seven species of this almost cosmopolitan genus are generally
recognised ; only the one here described is found in Africa.
734. Himantopus candidus. Black-winged Stilt.
Charadrius himantopus, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 255 (1766).
Himantopus candidus, Bonn. Enc. Meth. i, p. 24 (1790); Layard, B.S.
Afr. p. 328 (1867); Dresser, B. Eur. vii, p. 587, pls. 535, 536 (1877) ;
Sharpe, ed. Layard'’s B. 8. Afr. p. 675 (1884); Ayres, Ibis, 1885,
p- 847; Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 882; Woodward Bros., Natal
B. p. 188 (1899); Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 455. ,
Himantopus melanopterus, Meyer, Ann. Wetter. Ges. iii, P- 177 (1814) ;
Burchell, Travels, i, p. 288 (1822); Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr.
p. 277 (1888).
Himantopus autumnalis, Finsch ¢ Hartl. Vég. Ost-Afr. p. 758 (1870) ;
Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 815 (1872).
CHARADRIID HIMANTOPUS 381
Himantopus himantopus, Sharpe, Cat. B. MM. xxiv, p. 810 (1896);
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 193 (1896); Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 207
(1900).
“Roodepoot elsjc’’ (t.¢., Red-legged cobbler’s awl) of the Dutch.
Description. Adult Male.—Mantle and wings black with a
greenish gloss; all the rest of the plumage, including the axillaries,
pure white, except the tail-coverts and tail, which are a very pale
grey.
Tris rose; bill blackish; legs and feet rose-pink.
Length about 16-5; wing 9:5; tail 3-25; tarsus 4-8; culmen 2°5.
A female has the mantle, scapulars and inner secondaries ashy-
brown instead of black. Young birds in their first plumage are like
the female, but have white tips to the inner wing-quills and the
crown of the head and nape brown or black, the amount of which
appears to vary considerably.
‘
f
fl
ae
tat
i}
Fic. 123.—Head of Himantopus candidus. x 33.
Distribution.—The Black-winged Stilt is a resident in Southern
Europe and Asia from Spain to Western China, but is only an
irregular visitor to Northern Europe and the British Islands. It is
spread all over Africa and Madagascar and breeds in suitable
localities. It is not a very common bird in South Africa and has
only been noticed in one or two isolated localities ; these are: Cape
Colony—Cape division, July, November (S. A. Mus.), Berg River,
breeding in September (Layard), Zak River in Fraserburg (Bur-
chell) ; Natal—Durban, breeding (Woodward) ; Transvaal—Potchef-
stroom, July (Ayres); Bechuanaland ~ Ngami region, August
382 CHARADRIIDE RECURVIROSTRA
(Fleck); German South-west Africa—Okavango River and On-
donga, November (Andersson) ; Rhodesia—Feira on the Zambesi,
September (Stoebr) ; Portuguese East Africa—Tete (Kirk).
Habits.—The Stilt is usually found singly or in pairs in marshes
or along the shores of lakes and rivers ; it can be often seen wading
up to its tarsal joints in shallow water looking out for small snails,
insects and other water animals, on which it feeds. Its plumage
makes it a conspicuous bird when on the wing, while its bright red
legs and slender sharp, pointed bill have gained for it its Dutch
name of ‘‘ Roodepoot elsje.”’
Mr. Andersson found these birds breeding in considerable
abundance at the Berg River in September, but he gives no details.
Eggs obtained by him on this occasion are still preserved in the
South African Museum ; they are pyriform in shape like that of a
plover, and with little or no gloss; the ground colour is buff of
‘various shades from pale brown to cream, generally with a tinge
of greenish; the markings are irregularly rounded spots and
blotches of a dark brown colour fairly evenly distributed. They
measure about 1:80 x 1:37.
Genus III]. RECURYIROSTRA.
Type.
Recurvirostra, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 256
(L768) sesneswsseoneemsonune eras mraamenamnawaeeanenals R. avocetta,
Fic. 124.—Left foot of Recurvirostra avocetta. x 4.
Bill long and pointed, more than twice the length of the head,
both mandibles flattened and strongly up-curved towards the tip ;
nostrils linear, in an ill-marked groove hardly extending half way
CHARADRIIDE RECURKVIROSTRA 383
along the bill; wings moderate, hardly reaching the tip of the tail,
first primary the longest ; tail moderate, slightly rounded ; legs not
so long as in Himantopus ; the tarsus about twice the length of the
middle toe and claw, and reticulated all round; hind toe small and
rudimentary, but clawed; front toes strongly webbed more than
half way down the phalanges.
Four species of Avocet are recognised, spread nearly all over the
world; only one, here described, is found in Africa.
735. Recurvirostra avocetta. <Avocet.
Recurvirostra avocetta, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 256 (1766) ; Kirk,
Ibis, 1864, p. 382; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 828 (1867); id. Ibis, 1869,
p. 76; Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 314 (1872); Dresser,
B. Eur. vii, p. 577, pl. 584 (1875); Butler, Feitden and Reid, Zool.
1882, p. 425; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 678 (1884); 7d.
Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 826 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 193 (1896) ;
Reichenow, Vg. Afr. i, p. 206 (1900); Oates, Cut. B. Eggs, ii, p. 35
(1902); Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 10 [Deelfontein].
Himantopus avocetta, Seebohin, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 289, with
fig. (1888).
“ Bonte Elsje” (7.e., Pied Cobbler’s Awl) also “ Sprinken yogel” of the
Dutch.
Description. Adult Male.—Forehead, crown and a broad band
down the hind neck, a V-shaped patch on the mantle and inner
scapulars, median coverts and inner secondaries forming a band
along the wing, outer primaries and primary coverts, except at the
bases, black ; rest of the plumage pure white, the tail ashy-grey.
Iris reddish ; bill black ; legs and feet leaden-black.
Length about 18-0; wing 8-25; tail 3-25; culmen 3:25; tarsus
3:2.
The sexes are alike.
Distribution.—The Avocet is found in suitable localities through-
out Central and Southern Europe and Asia, from Spain to Mon-
golia and India. It was formerly a regular summer migrant to the
British Islands, but now, chiefly owing to the drainage of the Fen
country, is only an occasional visitor. It is found throughout Africa
and Madagascar and breeds in suitable localities.
The following are recorded localities in South Africa, where it is
by no means uncommon, and apparently resident throughout the
year: Cape Colony—Berg River, breeding, Cape division and
>
384 CHARADKIIDA KRECURVIROSTRA
Nelspoort, February (Layard), Colesberg, breeding (Ortlepp), Wor-
cester, Deelfontein, January, Middleburg, July (S. A. Mus.), Port
Elizabeth (Rickard); Natal—Newcastle, October (Feilden) ; German
South-west Africa—Ondonga, Otjimbinque, Walfisch Bay, Avgra
Pequena (Andersson) ; Zambesi Valley (Kirk).
Habits —The Avocet is usually found along the coast, at the
mouths of tidal rivers and on the shores of lagoons; it is also
occasionally met with inland. It is generally seen in small flocks
and is somewhat shy and wary. Its diet consists of small insects
and worms and crustacea; these it obtains on the mud banks, em-
ploying its curiously shaped up-curved bill with a sideways scooping
action, which leaves a zigzag mark on the soft mud or sand; it may
also be observed wading up to the tarsal joints in shallow water ;
its flesh is said to be good eating.
Fic. 125.—Head of Recurvirostra avocetta. x 3,
Layard obtained eggs from the Berg River, where it breeds in
considerable numbers, and also from the neighbourhood of Coles-
berg, where Ortlepp found it nesting in the shallow vleis. Layard
describes the nests as being placed on the summit of a slightly raised
hummock on marshy ground which is always damp and generally
flooded. The nest cavity is lined with dry sedge or grass, and the
eggs, usually four in number, are placed with their pointed ends
together in the centre. The young are very precocious, running and
swimming beautifully within a short time after they are hatched.
Eggs in the South African Museum are pale buff, some with a
slight greenish tinge spotted and scrolled with dark brown or black,
together with a few underlying secondary spots of pale purplish.
In shape they are pyriform and pointed and they measure about
2:0 x 1:45.
CHARADRIIDE NUMENIUS 385
Subfamily III. TOTANINAS.
Bill variable in length ; nasal groove extending along the greater
part of the mandible; eyes normal; tarsus shielded in front; a
distinct seasonal change of plumage. :
Genus I. NUMENIUS.
Type.
Numenius, Briss. Orn. v, p. 311 (1760) .......... eee N. arquatus,
Bill long, at least twice the length of the head, slightly down-
curved and arched, the upper mandible obtuse and projecting
beyond the lower; nostrils linear slits in a distinct depression
extending about three quarters the length of the bill; wing
Fic. 126.—Left foot of Numenius arquatus, x }.
moderate, first primary the longest, inner secondaries nearly as
long as the primaries; tarsus stout, hardly twice the length of the
middle toe and claw, covered in front for the distal two-thirds with
transverse scutes, elsewhere with reticulate scales; hind toe present
25 VOL. IV.
386 CHARADRIIDE NUMENIUS
and well developed; a basal web between the anterior toes, best
developed between the middle and outer ones.
About nine species of this genus, which contains the Curlews
and their allies, are found distributed over the greater part of the
world; two of these, both well-known European birds, are found
within our limits.
Key of the Species.
A. Larger, wing about 11:0; crown like the back; the
feathers pale mottled with darker centres............ N. arquatus, p. 886.
B. Smaller, wing under 10:0; crown dark brown with
a central whitish median longitudinal band ......... N. pheopus, p. 888.
736. Numenius arquatus. Curlew.
Scolopax arquata, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 242 (1766).
Numenius arquatus, Grell, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stockh. ii, no. 10,
p. 538 (1858) [Knysna] ; Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 218 |Natal] ; Layard,
B.S. Afr. p. 822 (1867); Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaraland,
p- 299 (1872); Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 248, pl. 578 (1872); Buckley,
Ibis, 1874, p. 388; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 218; Ayres, Ibis, 1877,
p. 850; Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 424; Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 692 (1884) ; Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr.
p. 822 (1888); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 341 (1896); Shelley, B.
Afr. i, p, 192 (1896); Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 186 (1899) ;
Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 455; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 209 (1900) ;
Haagner, Ibis, 1902, p. 580.
Fig. 127.—Head of Numenius arquatus. ~ }.
Description. Adult Male in non-breeding plumage.—General
colour above pale brown with darker brown centres to the feathers
giving a striped appearance to the bird; wing-coverts dark brown
edged and slightly notched with white; primaries blackish, the
outer ones with the shafts white and the inner web notched and
barred with whitish ; the inner primaries and secondaries notched
CHARADRIID NUMENIUS 387
on both webs ; rump and upper tail-coverts white, a few longitudinal
streaks of brown on the latter; tail white with from eight to ten
transverse bars of brown; below white, the sides of the face, neck
and breast with narrow shaft-marks of brown, the chin, axillaries,
under wing- and tail-coverts plain.
Iris brown ; bill brown shading to black towards the tip; legs
and feet leaden-grey.
Length about 23-5 ; wing 11:0; tail 4:25; culmen 5:25; tarsus
3°6; another specimen also sexed as a male has the culmen 6°5.
The female is larger than the male, and has, as a rule, a longer
bill. In breeding-plumage the birds are darker and more heavily
striped throughout.
Distribution. — The Curlew is found throughout Northern
Europe and Asia from Ireland to Lake Baikal during the nor-
thern summer; although some birds remain in the north all the
year round, the bulk of them migrate southwards to Africa and
India during the northern winter. During this season it is found
all over Africa from the Mediterranean to the Cape, and is also a
visitor to Madagascar, the Canaries and Azores.
In South Africa the Curlew is found more commonly along the
coast and is rarer inland; although it has never yet been observed
breeding in southern latitudes a few individuals undoubtedly remain
here all through the year.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Port Nol-
loth, December (S. A. Mus.), September (Stark), Cape division,
August, October (S. A. Mus.), Knysna, February (Stark), March,
June (Victorin), Port Elizabeth and East London (Rickard); Natal
—Durban, March (Seebohm), Newcastle, September, October
(Butler) ; Transvaal—Potchefstroom (Barratt), Modderfontein, near
Johannesburg, rare (Haagner); German South-west Africa —
Walvisch Bay (Andersson); Portuguese East Africa—Zambesi,
October (Alexander).
Habits.—The Curlew is a well-known English bird, and in
South Africa it appears to have much the same habits as in
England; it is usually seen in small flocks about flat marshy
ground and along the open sea-beach; here it searches for its food
which consists of marine insects, crustacea and worms; it is very
wary and shy and seldom allows itself to be approached within
gunshot ; it also swims well according to Andersson though not by
choice; it is fat and very good eating at times.
As already stated it has not yet been known to breed in South
388 CHARADRIIDE NUMENIUS
Africa, though here all the year round, but in England it usually
nests inland, on the moors among the heather, or on grass pas-
tures, laying four pear-shaped eggs olive-green and blotched with
brown.
737. Numenius pheopus. Whimbrel.
Scolopax pheopus, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 248 (1766).
Numenius phwopus, Gurney, Ibis, 1865, p. 272 [Natal] ; Layard, B.
S. Afr. p. 322 (1867): Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 300
(1872); Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 227, pl.576 (1878); Ayres, Ibis, 1877,
p. 350, 1878, p. 801; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.S. Afr. p. 698 (1884) ;
Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 828 (1888); Sharpe, Cat. B. M.
xxiv, p. 855 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 192 (1896); Woodward
Bros. Natal B. p. 186 (1899); Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 210 (1900).
Description. Adult Female in non-breeding plumage.—Crown of
the head dark brown with a median streak and a well-marked eye-
brow of whitish streaked with brown; general colour above brown;
the wing-coverts a good deal mottled and tipped with white ; wing-
quills black, the outer ones with white shafts and notched on the
inner web with white, the inner ones and secondaries notched on
both webs with the same colour; lower back and rump white ;
upper tail-coverts and tail white, transversely barred with brown ;
below white, the sides of the face, neck, upper breast and flanks
with brown streaks; the axillaries and under wing-coverts with
brown bars; the chin, lower breast and under tail-coverts pure
white.
Iris brown; bill black, pale brown at the base of the lower
mandible; legs and feet greyish-blue to black ; claws black.
Length about 15:75; wing 9:25; tail 3-7; tarsus 2-45; culmen
3:0.
The sexes are alike; the breeding plumage is very similar, but
the rump, underparts and flanks are more profusely marked with
black ; young birds are more mottled on the upper surface and have
a good deal of rufescent buff on both webs of the feathers and have
shorter bills.
Distribution.—The Whimbrel breeds in Iceland, the Faroes,
Northern Russia and Scandinavia; it is chiefly known as a bird of
passage throughout the rest of Europe and Northern Africa, while
it spends the winter in India, Tropical and South Africa and
Madagascar.
CHARADRIIDE TOTANUS 389
As in the case of the Curlew, some individuals, generally im-
mature, appear to spend the whole year both in the winter and
summer quarters; but hitherto the Whimbrel has not been known
to breed within our limits.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Port Nol-
loth, December (S. A. Mus.), St. Helena Bay in Malmesbury, Sep-
tember (Stark), Cape division, August (S. A. Mus.), Knysna,
November (Marais), February (Stark); Natal—Durban Harbour,
March (Seebohm) ; Transvaal—Potchefstroom, November (Ayres) ;
German South-west Africa—Walvisch Bay, September (Andersson).
Habits —The Whimbrel is much less plentiful than the Curlew
in South Africa, though it closely resembles the latter in its habits
and is generally associated with it in the same localities. It is
a bird of powerful flight and very wary and difficult to approach.
Its food consists of small mollusca, crustacea and insects about mud
flats and sand beaches. In the north it is stated to be partial to
bilberries and to feed much more on the land than the Curlew ; its
note is a rippling whistle, “tatty tatty tet.” As already stated, it
has not hitherto been known to breed in South Africa.
Genus. II. TOTANUS.
Type.
Totanus, Cuvier, Legon Anat. Comp. i, tabl. 2 (L800)... T. calidris
Bill long and slender, usually longer than the head, straight or
very slightly up-curved; tip of the upper mandible hard and bent
downwards ; nostrils linear slits in a groove extending at least half
the length of the bill; wings moderate, first primary the longest ;
tail slightly rounded; tarsus rather variable in length but usually
longer than the middle toe and claw, invariably covered with trans-
verse scutes before and behind; hind toe present, anterior toes
united by a web of somewhat variable development, sometimes
almost rudimentary, between the inner and middle toes.
Owing to variations in the relative lengths of the bill and tarsus
and in the development of the basal web between the toes, the
Sandpipers have been split into a number of genera by some
authors. I have here followed Mr. Blanford and other recent
authors and disregarded these distinctions.
Sandpipers are generally distributed all over the world, and
390 CHARADRIIDE TOTANUS
those found in South Africa are all migrants from northern lands ;
none of the seven species found within our limits have been
known to breed with us.
Key of the Species.
A, Large, wing 6:0 or over; lower back white, tail
and upper tail-coverts barred with brown.
u. Secondaries nearly uniform white; axillaries
WHILE sewsamewwvaarsies chant suaiienecaaues diniddedsausednawe T. calidris, p. 390.
b. Secondaries like the back but slightly edged
with white; axillaries white freckled with
BEOWI sia iiadnaatacrnannaqadaduaceinandgeeasenaaenmandsue T. glottis, p. 892.
B. Smaller, wing under 6:0.
w. Axillaries white.
a, Bill straight.
a. Lower back and upper tail-coverts white T.stagnatzlis, p. 894.
o?. Lower back and upper tail-coverts bronzy-
brown like the back ......cccseccsseeeeseeeees T. hypoleucus, p. 399.
b'. Bill slightly wp-curved ; rump and upper
tail-coverts QYEY ....ccscsecceseeseeseneecusenenceneenes T. cinereus, p. 398.
b. Axillaries white with narrow V-shaped bars of
brown ; outer tail-feathers barred .............4. T. glareola, p. 395.
c. Axillaries brown with narrow bars of white ;
outer tail-feathers pure white .......cccccesesseeee T. ochropus, p. 897.
738. Totanus calidris. Redshank.
Scolopax calidris, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 245 (1766).
Totanus calidris, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 324 (1867); Gurney in Anders-
son’s B. Damaral. p. 300 (1872); Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 157, pl. 568,
fig. 1, pl. 569, fig. 2 (1875); Butler, Fetlden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p.
CHARADRIDE TOTANUS 391
425; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 688 (1884); Seebohm, Geogr.
Distr. Charadr, p. 358, with fig. (1888); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv,
p. 414 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 191 (1896).
Totanus totanus, Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 220 (1900).
Description. Adult in non-breeding plumage.—Above ashy-
brown, slightly streaked and mottled with darker brown; median
and greater coverts notched with white; primaries and primary
coverts black, some of the inner primaries variegated with white ;
secondaries white with blackish bases; rump white; upper tail-
coverts and tail white, narrowly barred with black; below white,
sides of the face, lower neck and breast streaked; flanks with
wavy bars of dusky.
Tris dark brown ; bill dark brown; feet yellow, web between the
middle and outer toe very small.
Length about 10°5; wing 6°5; tail 2-3; culmen 1:8; tarsus 1:95.
The breeding plumage is less uniform, being mottled and barred
with a good deal of reddish above and more thickly marked with
blackish below.
Distributton.—The Redshank breeds throughout the whole of
Europe and Central Asia to Persia and Mongolia; during the
northern winter the greater number of these birds seek a more
congenial climate in India and throughout Tropical and South
Africa. The Redshank is certainly a rare bird in South Africa,
probably only a few stragglers get so far south; Layard shot
examples near Cape Town and at Knysna, and also found these
birds abundant at Zoetendals Vley in Bredasdorp in November, but
there is no other notice of their occurrence in Cape Colony. Reid
saw a Redshank at the mouth of the Umgeni River in Natal in
December. The only other records are Lake Ngami (Chapman)
and Walvisch Bay (Andersson).
Habits——No observation on the habits of the Redshank in
South Africa have been made hitherto. In England it is found
along the coasts in the winter months, and inland in marshy spots
in summer. Its flight is quick but rather wavering, and the white
on the wing shows very conspicuously. Aquatic insects, worms
and crustacea form the food; it dives when wounded, and can swim.
It is improbable that the Redshank will ever be found breeding
within our limits.
392 CHARADRIIDE TOTANUS
739. Totanus glottis. Greenshank.
Tringa littoria, Linn. Syst. Nat. 10th ed. p. 149 (1758).
Scolopax totanus, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. p. 245 (1766).
Scolopax glottis, Lath. Gen. Syn. Suppl. i, p. 292 (1787).
Scolopax canescens, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 668 (1788).
Totanus glottis, Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stockh. fi, no. 10, p. 58
(1858) [Cape and Knysna]; Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 218 [Natal] ;
Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 825 (1867); Gurney, in Andersson’s B.
Damaral. p. 301 (1872); Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 888; Scebohm,
Geogr. Distr. Charadr, p. 855, with fig. (1888).
Totanus canescens, Sharpe and Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 173, pl. 570
(1871) ; Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 86; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 218; Ayres,
Ibis, 1880, p. 268, 1884, 233; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 825 (1881);
Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p.365 [Mashonaland] ; Butler, Feilden and Reid,
Zool. 1882, p. 425; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 687 (1884);
Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 265; Alewander, ibid. p. 454; Whitehead,
Ibis, 1903, p. 237.
Totanus littoreus, Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 883; Reichenow, Vég.
Afr. i, p. 217 (1900).
Glottis nebularius, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 481 (1896); Woodward
Bros. Natal B. p. 187 (1899).
Totanus nebularius, Shelley, B. Afr. i, p- 192 (1896).
Description. Adult in non-breeding plumage.—Above ashy-
brown, the crown and neck streaked with whitish and dark brown,
thé feathers of the back mottled with submarginal blackish and
marginal whitish edges to the feathers ;| wing-coverts, inner
primaries and secondaries darker than the back, slightly margined
with white, and mottled towards the bases of the inner webs;
primary coverts and outer primaries blackish, the shaft of the outer
primary white; lower back, rump and upper tail-coverts white, the
latter with a few small spots of brown; tail white with a few
narrow, rather irregular, broken bands of brown, which disappear
towards the outer feathers; forehead, sides of the face and lower
surface throughout pure white; a patch on both sides of the breast
freckled with brown; axillaries and under wing-coverts white,
slightly and irregularly marked with brown; hardly any web
between the middle and inner toe.
Iris dark brown ; bill black towards the tip, greenish-brown at
the base ; legs and feet greenish-grey.
Length (in flesh) 13-5; wing 7:3; tail 3-1; tarsus 2-45; culmen
21.
In the breeding-plumage the back has a ruddy-brown tinge and
CHARADRIIDE TOTANUS 393
the feathers are black-centred; the chest and foreneck have
numerous ovate black spots.
Distribution.—The Greenshank is found during the northern
summer breeding in Northern Europe and Asia from Scotland to
the Stanovoi mountains in Siberia; during the northern winter it
migrates southwards to the Mediterranean basin, Africa, Southern
Asia, the Malay regions and Australia.
In South Africa this is one of the commonest of the visiting
European Waders and has been met with between October and
March throughout the whole country, both on the coast and inland,
wherever suitable conditions occur.
Fia. 129,—Head of Totanus glottis. x }t
The following are the chief recorded localities: Cape Colony—
Port Nolloth, December, and Cape division, September, October
(S. A. Mus.), Knysna, March, April (Victorin), January (Andersson),
Port Elizabeth (Brown), East London (Rickards and Wood),
Orange River, near Upington, December (Bradshaw), near Aliwal
North, common (Whitehead) ; Natal—Along the coast (Seebohm),
about Newcastle, September, October (Butler); Orange River
Colony—Modder River, December, and Kroonstad (Barratt) ;
Transvaal—Potchefstroom, October, September, March (Ayres),
Komatipoort, September (S. A. Mus.) ; Rhodesia—Inyati, Septem-
ber (Oates), about Salisbury, September (Marshall); German
South-west Africa—Walvisch Bay, October, Otjimbinque, January
(Andersson) ; Portuguese Hast Africa—Tete on the Zambesi, August
(Alexander). 5
Habits.—The Greenshank is a somewhat shy bird; it is some-
times seen in flocks, especially about the seashore or the estuaries
394 CHARADRIIDE TOTANUS
of rivers where it often associates with Curlews, wading in the
water up to its body and searching for its food; it appears to arrive
in flocks from the north and then spread over the interior of the
country, where it is generally solitary. It has a very characteristic
shrill cry, which it utters when on the wing; it is a powerful flyer
and feeds on fish fry, worms, insects and crustacea, The flesh,
according to Andersson, is very palatable. It is not known to breed
south of the equator.
740. Totanus stagnatilis. Marsh Sandpiper.
Totanus stagnatilis, Bechst. Orn. Taschenb. ii, p. 292 (1803); Gurney,
Ibis, 1863, p. 329 [Natal] ; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 824 (1867); id.
Ibis, 1869, p. 76; Sharpe and Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 151, pl. 566
(1871) ; Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 802 (1872) ; Sharpe,
ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 690 (1884); Seebohm, Geogr. Distr.
Charadr. p. 357 (1888); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 422 (1896);
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 192 (1896); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 270;
Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 220 (1900); Whitehead, Ibis, 1908, p. 237.
Description. Adult Female in non-breeding plumage.—General
colour, including the crown, ashy-grey with slight traces of black
centres and barring and of white edging to some of the feathers;
wing-coverts slightly darker than the back; primary coverts and
primaries blackish, the latter paler and freckled at the base of the
inner web; secondaries grey fringed with white, otherwise un-
marked ; rump and upper tail-coverts white, the latter with a few
traces of black bars; central tail-feathers ashy, irregularly barred
with black, the others white slightly freckled with blackish ; below,
including the lores, eyebrow and axillaries white; under wing-
coverts slightly mottled with grey and brown.
Tris dark brown ; bill black; legs and feet yellowish-green.
Length about 10:5; wing 5:3; tail 2:25; culmen 1:6; tarsus
: "the sexes are alike; in the breeding-plumage the general colour
above is rather lighter and has a decidedly rufous tinge; the back
and wings are strongly marked with bars and blotches of black ;
below, the foreneck and breast are spotted and the flanks slightly
barred with black. sd
Distribution.—The breeding range of the Marsh Sandpiper is
-somewhat more southerly than that of the Redshank. It may be
briefly described as extending from Southern France to Southern
CHARADRIIDE TOTANUS 395
Siberia through Turkestan, while during the northern winter this
species is spread all over Africa, India, the Malay countries and
Australia. In South Africa it is by no means uncommon and
appears to be found in suitable situations throughout the greater
part of the country during the southern summer months.
The following are recorded localities : Cape Colony——Clanwilliam,
January, Berg River, Cape division, October, Caledon, February
(S. A. Mus.), Knysna, January (Marais), George, October (Atmore),
Colesberg (Ortlepp), Orange River near Upington, January, Febru-
ary (Bradshaw), near Aliwal North, January (Whitehead); Natal—
(Ayres) ; Orange River Colony—Vredefort Road (B. Hamilton) ;
Rhodesia—near Salisbury (Marshall); German South-west Africa—
Hykomkop, December, and Otjimbinque, January, December, in
Swakop Valley, Omanbonde (Andersson); Tete on the Zambesi
(Kirk).
Habits.—Like most of the Sandpipers this species is only a
migrant to South Africa during the colder months of the Northern
Hemisphere. It is to be seen singly or in pairs about small pools
and streamlets and on mud banks searching for its food, which con-
sists of worms, small mollusca and fish fry. This species occa-
sionally assumes its summer breeding-plumage before leaving South
Africa, as two examples in the South African Museum, both
obtained in February, from the Orange River and from the Caledon
division respectively, are in this garb.
741. Totanus glareola. Wood Sandpiper.
Tringa ochropus glareola, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed.i, p. 250 (1766).
Totanus glareola, Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. ii, no. 10, p. 53 [Cape
and Oudtshoorn] ; Gurney, Ibis, 1859, p. 248, 1864, p. 360 [Natal] ;
Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 826 (1867); Gurney, in Andersson's B.
Damaral. p. 302 (1872); Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 86; Dresser, B. Eur.
vill, p. 143, pl. 565 (1877) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1877, p. 351, 1878, p. 301, 1885,
p. 348, 1886, p. 293; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 325 (1881); Shelley,
Ibis, 1882, p. 8366 [Spaldings] ; Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882,
p. 425; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 690 (1884); Seebohm,
Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 865, with fig. (1888); Fleck, Journ. Ornith.
1894, p. 383; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 192 (1896); Alexander, Ibis,
1900, p. 455; Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 222 (1900); Shortridge,
Ibis, 1904, p. 203.
Rhyacophilus glareola, Sharpe, Cat. B. M, xxiv. p. 491 (1896).
396 CHARADRIIDE TOTANUS
Description. Adult in non-breeding dress.— Above, including the
crown and hind neck very dark brown, slightly spotted with white,
chiefly on the outer webs of the feathers; wing-coverts and pri-
maries nearly uniform brown, the secondaries slightly margined
and mottled on the inner web with white; rump like the back ;
upper tail-coverts white with a few blackish markings ; central tail-
feathers dark brown strongly notched with white, the white increas-
ing towards the outer feathers which have a few brown spots on the
outer web only; a distinct white eyebrow reaching to about the ear-
coverts; sides of the face and neck, foreneck, chest and flanks
whitish, profusely mottled and streaked with brown, throat and rest
of the under surface white; axillaries white with a few marks of
brown, under wing-coverts mottled brown and white.
Iris dark brown; bill dusky-greenish at the base; legs pale
yellowish-green.
Length (in the flesh) 8:0; wing 4:7; tail 1:9; culmen 1:15;
tarsus 1:4.
In breeding plumage the markings both above and below are
more strongly delined, the head and neck above and the breast
below are broadly streaked with blackish-brown.
Distribution.—The Wood Sandpiper, though rare in England,
breeds commonly on the continent from Holland to Kamschatka,
while during the northern winter it migrates south to the Mediterra-
nean basin, Africa, South Asia, Malaysia and Australia. It is
found all over Africa during the winter months (October to March)
and is fairly abundant throughout South Africa where suitable
conditions exist.
The following are localities: Cape Colony — Cape division,
December, March, Port Elizabeth, February, Peddie, November,
Port St. John’s, November, Orange River near Upington, Septem-
ber (S. A. Mus.), Zoetendals Vley in Bredasdorp, November
(Layard), Oudtshoorn, December (Victorin), Hanover, September
(S. A. Mus.), Spaldings, January (Ayres); Natal—near Durban
(Shelley), Maritzburg, December, Newcastle, September, October,
December (Reid); Orange River Colony—Bloemfontein (Brit. Mus.) ;
Transvaal— Potchefstroom, August to March (Ayres); Rhodesia—
Tnyati, September (Oates), Tati, January (S. A. Mus.), Livingstone
on the Zambesi, September (S. A. Mus.); German South-west
Africa—Otjimbinque, December and Ondonga (Andersson), near
Barmen, January (Fleck) ; Portuguese Hast Africa—Zambesi River,
August, November (Alexander).
CHARADRIID TOTANUS 397
Habiis.—The Wood Sandpiper appears in Europe, at any rate,
to be in the habit of perching on trees more often than other Sand-
pipers, hence its name. Nothing very special is known about its
habits in South Africa; it is found in small flocks or sometimes in
pairs about marshes and streams, and mud banks at the mouths of
the rivers where it feeds on worms and small insects. Andersson
states that the flesh is palatable, though in Europe it is said to have
a disagreeable, musky odour. Andersson also believed that it bred
in Damaraland though he did not actually find the nest, but no
other evidence has been since forthcoming on this point.
The Wood Sandpiper sometimes moults into winter plumage
after its arrival in South Africa; there is an example in worn
summer plumage at the British Museum obtained by Ayres at
Potchefstroom on August 28, and Alexander noticed the same thing
with birds arriving in September on the Zambesi; they also, like
many other South African Waders, assume full breeding-plumage in
March, before leaving again for the north.
742. Totanus ochropus. Green Sandpiper.
Tringa ochropus, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 250 (1766).
Totanus ochropus, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 325 (1867); Dresser, B. Eur.
viii, p. 135, pl. 564 (1876); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 689
(1884); Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 368, with fig. (1888) ;
Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 222 (1900).
Helodromas ochropus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 487 (1896).
Description. Adult Male in non-breeding plwmage.—General
colour above uniform olive-brown, with a slight tinge of bronzy; a
few obscure white spots on the margin of the scapulars and wing-
coverts ; wing-quills dusky-brown with very slight traces of white
spots along the edges of the secondaries; upper tail-coverts white ;
tail-feathers white, centre pair with three dark bars, which gradually
disappear towards the outer feathers, which are pure white; a
supra-loral streak and indistinct eyebrow white; sides of the face
and neck and fore neck white, streaked with brown; rest of the
lower surface white, except for a brown patch on either side of the
breast; under wing-coverts and axillaries blackish, narrowly barred
with white.
Tris dusky; bill dusky above, reddish below; legs and feet
greyish-blue.
398 CHARADRIIDE TOTANUS
Length about 8°5; wing 56; tail 2:1; culmen 1-4; tarsus 1:3.
The sexes are alike; in the breeding plumage the back is con-
siderably spotted with white; the head and neck streaked with the
same colour. This bird has only one posterior emargination on
each side of the keel of the sternum, and has consequently been
usually placed in a distinct genus, but variations of this kind are
not uncommon among the Limicola, even in forms closely allied in
outward appearance and habits.
Disiribution.—The Green Sandpiper ranges all over Europe and
Asia from the Atlantic to the Pacific, breeding in the north up to
the Arctic circle and spending the winter in Southern Asia and
Europe and throughout the greater part of Africa,
The occurrence of the Green Sandpiper in South Africa rests on
the authority of Mr. Layard, who stated that he received several
examples of this bird from Mr. Arnot, procured near Colesberg, and
that it also occurred at Zoetendals Vley in Bredasdorp, near
Knysna, and at the Kowie River mouth. No other observer or
collector, however, has noticed the occurrence of this Sandpiper in
South Africa, nor is there a South African example in the South
African Museum. It is quite possible, therefore, that Mr. Layard
was mistaken in regard to the matter.
743. Totanus cinereus. Terek Sandpiper.
Scolopax cinerea, Giildenst., Nov. Comm. Petrop. xix, p. 473, pl. 19
(1774).
Terekia cinerea, Gurney, Ibis, 1863, p. 830 [Natal]; Dresser, B. Eur.
viii, p. 195, pl. 572 (1871); Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaraland
p. 804 (1872); Sharpe, ed. Layard's B.S. Afr. p. 691 (1884); Sharpe,
Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 474 (1896) ; Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 214 (1900).
Limosa cinerea, Pelzeln, Novara Reise, Vogel p. 129 (1865); Layard,
B.S. Afr. p. 823 (1867). ;
Totanus terekia, Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 369, with fig. (1888).
Description. Adult in non-breeding plumage.—General colour
above, including the crown and upper tail-coverts pale greyish-
brown, with faint dark shaft stripes; wing-quills and coverts
blackish, the outer primaries with white bases on the inner web,
the inner ones tipped and margined with white as well, secondaries
broadly tipped and margined with white; tail-feathers like the
back, the outer ones paler, almost white and slightly mottled, but
not barred ; a white supra-loral and superciliary patch not extend-
CHARADRIIDE TOTANUS 399
ing behind the eye; below white, the sides of the face and neck, the
fore neck and chest slightly darker and with faint brown shaft
streaks ; axillaries white.
Iris brown ; bill dark brown, yellowish at the base of the lower
mandible, slightly up-curved towards the tip; legs and feet yellow.
Length about 9°5; wing 4:9; tail 2:0; culmen 1:5; tarsus 1-1.
The sexes are alike ; in the breeding plumage the black centres of
the upper surface are much more conspicuous and there is a rufes-
cent tint; beneath the sides of the head and breast are distinctly
striated with brown.
Distribution.—The Terek Sandpiper breeds in North-east Europe
and Northern Asia, from Archangel to Behring Straits; it winters
in India and the Malay regions and occasionally in Australia. In
Africa it has only been noticed in a few localities and is, perhaps,
of accidental occurrence.
Ayres sent home an example shot out of a flock of four or five
of these birds in Durban Harbour, while there is an example in
the British Museum from Walvisch Bay obtained, in October, by
Andersson, who states that he has further occasionally met with
this bird in the Swakop River Valley at Hykomkop and Otjim-
binque, and also at Omanbonde. It has apparently escaped the
notice of modern writers that Zelebor, the naturalist attached to the
Austrian Novara Expedition, shot a Terek Sandpiper on the edge
of a small pond near Simonstown; beyond these I know of no
other South African records.
Habits.—Andersson states that the birds met with by him were
always solitary and were found feeding on the sedgy borders of
sluggish streamlets. The food consists of small insects.
744. Totanus hypoleucus. Common Sandpiper.
Tringa hypoleucus, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 250 (1766).
Tringoides hypoleucus, Gurney, Ibis, 1861, p. 134, 1868, p. 469 [Natal] ;
Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 882; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 327 (1867); Sharpe,
ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 686 (1884); Ayres, Ibis, 1885, p. 348;
Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 456 (1896); 2d. Ibis, 1897, p. 517; Wood-
ward Bros., Natal B. p. 187 (1899); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 265;
Alexander, ibid. p. 455; Reichenow, Vog. Afr.i, p. 224 (1900) ; Short-
ridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 203.
Actitis hypoleucus, Gurney, in Anderson’s B. Damaral. p. 803 (1872) ;
Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 86; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 325 (1881) ; Holub
400 CHARADRIIDE TOTANUS
& Pelz. Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 292 (1882); Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool.
1882, p. 425.
Totanus hypoleucus, Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 127, pl. 563 (1877); See-
bohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 371, with fig. (1888) ; Shelley, B. Afr.
i, p. 192 (1896).
Description. Adult in non-breeding plumage—General colour
above bronzy olive-brown, with slight traces of dark centres to the
feathers ; wing-coverts like the back but barred with blackish and
fringed with ashy towards the tips; wing - quills blackish, the
primaries white towards the base of the inner web, the secondaries
with white bases and white tips, some of the inner ones almost pure
white ; rump, upper tail-coverts and tail like the back; the outer
tail-feathers nearly white and barred with brown; a superciliary
streak of white; below white with obscure dusky streaks on the
sides of the face, neck and breast; a patch of dusky-brown on either
side of the breast; axillaries and upper under wing-coverts pure
white, lower under wing-coverts ashy-brown tipped with white.
Tris dark brown; bill dusky-brown ; legs and feet yellowish-ash.
Length about 7:5; wing 4:20; tail 2:1; culmen 1:0; tarsus 0-95.
The sexes are alike; in the breeding plumage the back is much
more clearly marked with black centres and arrow-shaped spots,
and below the black patches on the sides of the breast and the
dusky streaks are more conspicuous. Young birds are easily recog-
nisable by the sandy and dark cross bars to the feathers of the back
and the very uniform throat and breast.
Distribution.—The Common Sandpiper breeds in the northern
half of Europe and Asia from the British Isles to Japan, and
winters in Africa, Southern Asia, the Malay regions as far as the
Solomons, and Australia; although it has been found during the
breeding season in Teneriffe and North-east Africa it is not actually
known to breed there.
In South Africa it is a common bird in suitable localities through-
out the country during the summer months, from October to March,
and has occasionally been met with earlier and later, but has not
been known to breed. Like some of the other Sandpipers it assumes
its summer or breeding plumage before leaving for the north, as is
evidenced by an example obtained by Dr. Bradshaw near Upington,
on the Orange River, on February 25, now in the South African
Museum.
The following are the chief recorded localities: Cape Colony—
Cape division, Paarl, March, Zoetendals vley, in Bredasdorp and
CHARADRIID/ PAVONCELLA 401
Kowie River, February (Layard), Port Elizabeth (Brown), Port St.
Johns, December (8. A. Mus.), Orange River near Upington,
November, February (Bradshaw) ; Natal—Durban Bay and Colenso
(Seebohm), Newcastle (Butler), Ulundi in Zululand (Woodward) ;
Transvaal — Potchefstroom, August, September, May (Ayres) ;
Rhodesia—Inyati, October, and Sibanini, December, in Matabeleland
(Oates), Sesheke, January (Holub), and Feira, August (Stoehr in
S. A. Mus.), both on the Zambesi, near Salisbury (Marshall) ;
German South-west Africa—Otjimbinque, September (Andersson) ;
Zambesi River, August (Alexander).
Habits —Tbe Common Sandpiper is found about running water
and fresh-water lakes; in South Africa it is generally solitary; it
swims and dives well, and lives on small insects and crustacea.
Genus III. PAYONCELLA.
Type.
Payoncella, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mamm, Bds. B. M. p. 29
(ASIC) covess as cow ced deacon ares wan teen gas wots ea aes cane na P. pugnax.
Bill moderate, about as long as the head and shorter than the
tarsus, straight and slender with the tip of the upper mandible
projecting beyond the lower and bent downwards ; nostrils linear,
in a groove running nearly to the tip of the bill; wings moderate,
first primary the longest; tail somewhat graduated, outer feathers
falling short of the central ones by about the length of the hind
toe; tarsus scutellated before and behind as in Totanus ; a small
web between the outer and middle toes, that between the middle
and inner toes almost obsolete ; only a single notch on either side of
the keel of the sternum posteriorly.
This genus is hardly separable from Totanus, except for the fact
that the male is always considerably larger than the female and
assumes during the breeding season a very remarkable plumage of
variable coloration and development. Only one bird, the well-
known Ruff, is assigned to this genus; it is found throughout the
greater part of the Old World and has accidentally occurred in
America.
26 VOL. IV.
402 CHARADRIIDE PAVONCELLA
745. Payoncella pugnax. Ruf.
Tringa pugnax, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 247 (1766).
Philomachus pugnax, Gurney, Ibis, 1862, p. 34 [Natal] ; Layard, B. 8.
Afr. p. 829 (1867); Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 804
(1872) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1873, p. 288, 1877, p. 850; Buckley, Ibis, 1874,
p. 888; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 825 (1881); Holub §& Pelz. Orn.
Siid-Afr. p. 292 (1882).
Machetes pugnax, P. L. Sclater, P. Z. S. 1866, p. 28 [Cathcart] ;
Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 87, pls. 557-8 (1878); Butler, Feilden and
Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 425; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 685
(1884) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1885, p. 348.
Totanus pugnax, Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 873 (1888) ;
Fleck, Jowrn. Ornith. 1894, p. 383; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 216
(1900).
Pavoncella pugnax, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 500 (1896); Shelley, B.
Afr. i, p. 191 (1896); Woodward Bros. Natal B. p. 186 (1899) ;
Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 11 [Deelfontein].
Description. Adult Male in non-breeding plumage.—General
colour above pale brown with darker brown centres to the feathers ;
wings like the back but slightly darker, the greater coverts broadly
tipped with white; primaries with white shafts; the secondaries
white on the base of the inner web and along the outer margins;
rump and central upper tail-coverts like the back, the lateral upper
tail-coverts pure white; tail-feathers brown with white margins ;
sides of the face, neck all round, and chest and flanks ashy slightly
mottled with darker, rest of the lower surface and throat white ;
axillaries and under wing-coverts white.
Iris dark brown; bill dark brown; legs and feet varying from
greenish-olive to flesh-colour.
Length about 9-5; wing 6°85; tail 2:5; tarsus 18; culmen 1-2.
The female resembles the male in plumage but is much smaller ;
wing 5°85; tarsus 1°7; culmen 1:2. The males in breeding dress
vary to such an extent that hardly two specimens are alike; but
there are generally yellow tubercles on the face and crown, and the
feathers on the back of the head are elongated to form the ruff
which may be white, black, chestnut or orange, and often has a
metallic-green gloss ; the back, scapulars and inner wing-coverts are
variegated with ashy, but the primaries, secondaries, lesser and
primary wing-coverts, lower back and rump always remain the
same at all times of the year. The females in summer have the
feather of the upper surface blackish with sandy-buff borders, and
the tertiaries are mottled with buff and black bars.
CHARADRIIDE PAVONCELLA 403
Distribution.—The Ruff nests throughout the northern part of
the Old World from Holland to the Amoor Valley. It formerly
bred freely in the marshy parts of England, but drainage and the
efforts of collectors have reduced its number, and it is now only
a visitor. During the northern winter months the Ruff retreats to
Africa, North India and Burma.
In South Africa the Ruff is widely distributed and commonly
met with between the months of August and March wherever suit-
able conditions occur.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony — Cape
division, September, Upington on the Orange River, November
(S. A. Mus.), Knysna, November (Marais), Port Elizabeth (Brown),
King William’s Town (Trevelyan), Deelfontein, January to March,
common (Siemund) ; Natal—Durban (Ayres and Woodward), New-
castle, September (Butler); Orange River Colony—Vredefort Road
(B. Hamilton) ; Transvaal—Potchefstroom, August, September,
January (Ayres); Rhodesia — Ramaqueban River, November
(Oates); German South-west Africa—Otjimbinque, August, Wal-
visch Bay, October (Andersson), Reheboth, October (Fleck),
Omaruru, November, February (Eriksson).
Habits —The Ruff is one of the most interesting of birds and
affords several problems to the student of variation which have
remained hitherto unsolved. Unfortunately, in South Africa there
is no opportunity for studying these problems, as the birds are only
here during the non-breeding season.
The Ruff is the only polygamous wading bird, and correlated
apparently with this habit is the remarkable plumage of the male in
the breeding dress, So variable is this plumage that it is almost
impossible to describe it exactly, as hardly any two of the birds are
quite alike. This variation has no geographical significance, but
is purely individual, and it has been proved in the case of birds in
captivity that each bird regains each year during the breeding
season the same plumage it had the previous year. In the spring
of the year the males “hill,” z.¢., assemble on knolls of ground and
contend with one another for the females.
The birds on arrival in South Africa have still sometimes a
portion of their nuptial plumage, though the greater part is lost at
the end of the breeding season before starting south ; on the other
hand, the ornamental dress is not put on until it has again reached
its northern breeding grounds.
In South Africa the Ruff is generally seen in small flocks of
404 CHARADRIIDE TRINGA
from three to twelve birds, mostly females, with perhaps one male
distinguished by its greater size; they are chiefly found inland in
moist situations, but also on the coast, especially about tidal mud
banks at the mouths of rivers. Their food, like that of other
Waders, consists of worms, insects, and small crustacea, as well as
wheat and other grains. It need hardly be added that the Ruff has
not been known to breed south of the equator.
Genus IV. TRINGA.
Type.
Tringa, Briss. Orn. v, p. 177 (1760) ........ cece eens T. canutus.
Bill long and slender, generally longer than the tarsus ; nostrils
linear ovals near the base of the mandible, in a groove running
almost the entire length of the bill; wings long and pointed, first
primary the longest, difference between the longest and shortest
primary more than twice the length of the culmen; tail square or
slightly rounded, sometimes the two central feathers elongated and
pointed ; tarsus moderate, with transverse scutes before and
behind; hind toe present; anterior toes cleft to the joint without
webs.
As in the case of the Sandpipers, so here various slight modifi-
cations of the comparative length of the bill and tarsus have been
utilised by some authors to form a number of separate genera for
the Stints which comprise this genus; but it is quite obvious that
the various forms are very closely allied, and it seems more
logical and convenient to place them together under one generic
heading.
The species are about twenty-two in number and nearly all are
migratory, breeding in the Arctic regions and wintering to the south
throughout the tropical and temperate zones of both hemispheres ;
four species reach South Africa.
Key of the Species.
A, Bill straight.
a. Larger, wing over 6:0; upper tail-coverts
white banded with brown...........ccceccessenteeee T. canutus, p. 405.
b. Smaller, wing under 6:0; upper tail-coverts like
the back, not banded.
a', Larger, wing over 5:0; tarsus longer than
the middle toe and claw ..........ceeeeeeceeeees T. bairdi, p. 406.
CHARADRIIDE TRINGA 405
b'. Smaller, wing under 4:0; tarsus equal to the
middle toe and claw .........ccccsecceseeeceneewes T. minuta, p. 406.
B. Bill slightly decurved towards the tip; upper tail-
COVEFES WHILE cesses casesesevacveninseie scseiedcitgietangse T. subarquata, p.408.
746. Tringa canutus. Knot.
Tringa canutus, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i. p. 251 (1766); Gurney, Ibis,
1868, p. 260 [Walvisch Bay] ; id. in Andersson’s B. Damarai. p. 806
(1872); Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 77, pls. 555-6 (1877); Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B. 8S. Afr. p. 683 (1884) ; Seebohm, Geogr, Distr. Charadr.
p. 422, with fig. (1888); Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 593 (1896);
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 191 (1896); Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 229 (1900).
Description. Adult in non-breeding plumage.—Above ashy-grey,
uniform except for a few dusky bars on the rump; upper tail-
coverts white, barred with black; greater coverts tipped with white ;
quills dusky-brown, the shafts white; the inner primaries and
secondaries margined with white; tail ashy-grey with white shafts
and margins; forehead and patch above the ear-coverts white, lores
dusky-grey ; sides of the face and below white; the sides of the
face and neck, breast and flanks with small spots or bars of brown ;
axillaries white with a few dusky bars.
Tris dark hazel; bill and feet black.
Length about 10:0; wing 6:4; tail 2-5; tarsus 1:2; culmen 1:3.
In the breeding plumage the back and head are mottled with
black, chestnut and a little white; beneath the whole of the under
surface of the body is rich chestnut, including the eyebrow and
sides of the face.
Distribution.—Hitherto very few absolutely authentic eggs of
the Knot have been obtained, but there can be no doubt that it
breeds in North Greenland and other parts of Arctic America, as
well as in the Taimyr Peninsula in Siberia (cf. Ibis, 1904, p. 232)
and passing south on migration, winters in Southern Asia, Australia,
South America and Africa.
The Knot is not a common bird anywhere in Africa; it has been
noticed on the Gambia and the Gold Coast in the west, and in the
Nile Valley in the east, while in South Africa the only authentic
record of its occurrence is that of Andersson, who obtained two
specimens at Walvisch Bay in Damaraland on October 20 and
November 4, 1863. Layard states that Verreaux informed him that
he had shot Knots in Algoa Bay, but no one appears to have met
with this bird within our limits since.
‘406 CHARADRIIDE TRINGA
747. Tringa bairdi. Bazrd’s Sandpiper.
Actodromus bairdi, Cowes, Proc. Acad. Nat. Sct. Philad. 1861, p. 194.
Tringa bairdi, Harting, Ibis, 1870, pp. 151-2 [Walvisch Bay]; Gurney,
im Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 808 (1872); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.
S. Afr. p. 682 (1884); Seebohm, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 444, with
fig. of tail (1888); Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 232 (1900).
Heteropygia bairdi, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 570 (1896).
Description. Adult Male-——General colour above dusky, with
darker centres to the feathers and with paler edges and tips, espe-
cially on the secondaries and primaries; quills dusky, almost black,
ashy on the inner webs; tail uniform brown, the two centre feathers
darker with dark shafts, the others paler brown with white shafts,
Below white, chest isabelline, finely streaked with dusky centres to
the feathers; axillaries and under wing-coverts white ; those near
the edge of the wing with slight brown mottling.
Iris dark brown ; bill black ; legs and feet slaty-black.
Length about 7-0; wing 5-20; tail 1:90; culmen ‘85 to 1:10;
tarsus ‘85.
In the breeding plumage this bird is more brightly coloured,
having a good deal of bright rufous edging to the feathers of the
upper surface and the spots and streaks on the breast band very
much more numerous and distinct.
Distribution.—Baird’s Sandpiper is an American bird which
breeds in Alaska and the Valley of the Mackenzie River, and pass-
ing south on migration, winters in South America as far south as
Chili. It has only once occurred within our limits, or ever, so far
as I am aware, in the Old World. An example was obtained by
Andersson at Walvisch Bay on October 24, 1863, and was identified
and described by Harting. .
748. Tringa minuta. Little Stint.
Tringa minuta, Leisl. in Bechst. Naturg. Deutschl. Nachtr. i, p. 74
(1812); Gurney, Ibis, 1865, p. 272 [Natal]; 1868, p. 469; Layard,
B.S. Afr. p. 831 (1867); Sharpe and Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 29,
pls. 549-52: (1871); Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaraland, p. 310
(1872); Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 86; Ayres, Ibis, 1878, p. 301, 1880,
p. 268, 1885, p. 348; Butler, Fetlden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 425;
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 681 (1884); Seebohm, Geogr.
Distr. Charadr. p. 485, with fig. (1888); Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894,
CHARADRIIDE TRINGA 407
p. 883; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 191 (1896); Reichenow, Vog. Afr.i, p. 233
(1900); Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 203.
Limonites minuta, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 588 (1896).
Description. Adult in non-breeding plumage.—Above ashy-
brown with dark shaft-marks to most of the feathers; a rather
paler collar round the hind neck; greater wing-coverts tipped with
white forming a wing-bar; wing-quills blackish, the inner primaries
and secondaries margined with white, all paler towards the base of
the inner web; rump and upper tail-coverts dusky-black in the
centre white at the sides; tail dark brown on the centre feathers,
pale smoky on the outer feathers ; lores, sides of the face and neck
light brown, slightly streaked with darker; forehead, supra-loral
stripes, lower surface and axillaries pure white, slightly ashy on the
foreneck and breast; edge of the wing mottled with brown, under
primary coverts ashy, tipped with white.
Iris dark brown; bill and legs black.
Length (in flesh) 5°56; wing 3°8; tail 1:35; culmen -75;
tarsus °88.
In the breeding plumage the upper surface is sandy-rufous
mottled with black and white; the throat and neck are tinged with
rufous, an¢ the chest is ashy mottled with dusky spots.
Distribution.—The Little Stint breeds in the northern part of
the Old World from North Cape to the Yenesei, east of which it is
replaced by a closely allied subspecies ; passing south on migration,
it winters throughout Africa, including Madagascar, and Southern
Asia from Persia to Burma.
In South Africa it is fairly common from October to March in
suitable situations, both along the coast and also inland.
The following are localities : Cape Colony—Cape division, Sep-
tember, December (S. A. Mus.), February (Shelley), Port Elizabeth,
common (Brown), East London (Rickard), Port St. John’s, Novem-
ber (S. A. Mus.), Orange River near Upington, November (Brad-
shaw); Natal—near Newcastle, October (Reid); Orange River
Colony—Rhenoster River, May (Ayres); Vredefort Road (B.
Hamilton); Transvaal—Potchefstroom, October, December, April
(Ayres) ; Bechuanaland—Ngami region (Andersson); German
South-west Africa—Walvisch Bay, November, January, Otjim-
binque, December, Ondonga, October (Andersson), Reheboth,
October (Fleck).
Habits.—This little Wader is generally seen about mud-flats and
marshy places either near the sea or often inland along rivers and
408 CHARADRIIDZ TRINGA
on the edges of marshes. It usually associates in flocks, and is shy
and rapid in its flight; as is the case with other Waders its food con-
sists mostly of insects, small crustacea and aquatic worms. Traces
of the breeding plumage are sometimes noticed on its arrival here
in September and October, while Gurney notes that in an example
obtained at the beginning of May in the Orange River Colony
by Ayres, almost the entire nuptial plumage had been assumed.
749. Tringa subarquata. Curlew Sandpiper.
Scolopax subarquata, Guldenst. Nov. Comm. Petrop. xix, p. 471 (1774).
Tringa subarquata, Gurney, Ibis, 1862, p. 34 |Natal] ; Layard, B.S.
Afr. p. 330 (1867); id. Ibis, 1869, p. 76; Gurney, in Andersson’s B.
Damaral. p. 306 (1872) ; Dresser, B. Hur. viii, p. 59, pl. 553 (1878) ;
Ayres, Ibis, 1878, p. 411; Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p.
425; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 682 (1884); Seebohm, Geogr.
Distr. Charadr. p. 419 (1888); Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 383;
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 190 (1896); W. L. Sclater, Ibis, 1899, p. 144
[Inhambane]; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 230 (1900); Shortridge,
Ibis, 1904, p. 208.
Ancylochilus subarquatus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 586 (1896).
Description. Adult in non-breeding dress —Above ashy-brown
with darker shaft-streaks to most of the feathers, the head slightly
streaked with white; greater wing-coverts tipped with white ;
primary coverts aud quills dusky-brown, the inner primaries and
secondaries margined with white, all paler towards the base of the
inner webs; centre of the rump like the back ; sides and upper tail-
coverts white ; tail-feathers ashy-brown margined with white and
white at the base as well as on the outer feathers ; supra-loral stripe
and eyebrow, lower surface and axillaries white, breast and fore-
neck slightly soiled with narrow lines of dusky-brown; edge of
the wing above and beneath mottled with brown and white; bill
decurved towards the tip.
Tris blackish ; bill and legs black.
Length 8-75; wing 4:8; tail 1-6; culmen 1°5; tarsus 1:1.
In the breeding dress the back is deep cinnamon-rufous mottled
with white edges and black centres to the feathers ; upper tail-
coverts with a few black bars and a tinge of rufous; sides of the
face and under surface of the body rich chestnut with distinct
remains of hoary margins to the feathers; vent and under tail-
coverts white, with a slight tinge of rufous and a few black
spots.
CHARADRIJDE TRINGA 409
Examples shot early in the season in South Africa (Upington
August 31, and Inhambane September 5), are intermediate in
character, retaining traces of the chestnut and black mottling on
the back and of the chestnut below, while a specimen in full
breeding dress was brought alive to Mr. Layard on April 26, and is
still preserved in the South African Museum.
Distribution.—It is only quite recently that the breeding-
grounds of the Curlew Sandpiper have been discovered and the
eggs obtained. On July 3, 1897, Mr. Hugh L. Popham found a
nest with four eggs on a little island at the mouth of the Yenesei
River in Siberia (see Newton, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1897, p. 890, pl. 51,
figs. 1-4). On migration this bird is found throughout the greater
part of Europe and Asia, while it winters in the Mediterranean
basin, Africa and South Asia as far as Australia. It has acci-
dentally occurred in Alaska, Eastern and North America and the
West Indies.
In South Africa the Curlew Sandpiper is abundant during the
northern winter months from October to March, though sometimes
arriving in August; it is met with chiefly along the sea-coast, but
also inland in suitable localities.
The following are recorded occurrences: Cape Colony—Cape
division, September, November, April (S. A. Mus.), Saldana Bay,
September (8. A. Mus.), Port Elizabeth (Brown), Port St. John’s,
September (S. A. Mus.), Orange River, August 31 (Bradshaw) ;
Natal—near Durban, December (Reid), January (S. A. Mus.);
Orange River Colony—Vredefort Road (B. Hamilton); Transvaal
—Potchefstroom, November (Ayres); German South-west Africa
—Walvisch Bay, October, November, April (Andersson), Reheboth,
October (Fleck); Portuguese East Africa—Inhambane, September
(Francis).
410 CHARADRIIDE CALIDRIS
Habits.— Andersson found the Curlew Sandpiper the commonest
of all the migratory Waders at Walvisch Bay and along the neigh-
bouring coast, and states that it congregates in flocks, not infre-
quently in company with the Little Stint and the Sanderling. Its
flight is strong and swift, and its food consists of aquatic insects,
small crustacea and worms, which it obtains on the mud banks at
the mouths of rivers and in similar situations.
Genus V. CALIDRIS.
Type.
Calidris, Briss. Orn. v, p. 226 (L760) ....... eee C. arenaria.
Bill moderate, about equal to the tarsus, slender and flexible,
almost straight; nostrils linear ovals in a depression extending
nearly the whole length of the bill; wings long, first primary
longest ; tail nearly square, but the two central tail-feathers pointed
Fic. 131.—Left foot of Calidris arenaria. x }
and projecting slightly beyond the others; tarsus transversely
scutellated before and behind; no hind toe; anterior toes cleft to
the base and without webs.
This genus was formed for the reception for a single species, the
Sanderling, which is found nearly all over the world; it is closely
allied to the Stints but easily distinguished by the absence of the
hind toe.
750. Calidris arenaria. Sanderling.
Tringa arenaria, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed.i, p. 251 (1766); Seebohm,
Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 431, with fig. (1888).
Calidris arenaria, Gurney, Ibis, 1865, p. 272 [Natal]; Layard, B. S. Afr.
p. 332 (1867); Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 811 (1872);
Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 86; Dresser, B. Hur. viii, p. 101, pls. 559, 560
CHARADRIIDE CALIDRIS 411
(1877); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 684 (1884) ; id. Cat. B. M.
xxiv, p. 526 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 191 (1896); W. LD. Sclater,
Ibis, 1899, p. 114[Inhambane]; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 226 (1900) ;
Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 203.
Description. Adult in non-breeding plumage.—General colour
above pale ashy-grey, with lighter edges and dark shaft-stripes to
most of the feathers; primaries blackish, paler towards the base of
the inner web and with white shafts, inner secondaries chiefly
white ; central feathers of the rump and upper tail-coverts like the
back, lateral feathers white; central tail-feathers ashy-brown,
margined with white, lateral ones rather paler, all with white
shafts; forehead, lores, sides of the face and underparts throughout
white; axillaries and under wing-coverts white, the edge of the
wing slightly mottled with brown; hind toe entirely absent.
Tris, bill and legs black.
Length 7:75; wing 4:6; tail 2:2; culmen ‘90; tarsus -93.
In the breeding plumage the upper surface is cinnamon-rufous
mottled with black centres to the feathers, which have ashy edges ;
sides of the face, throat and breast deep cinnamon-rufous mottled
with black centres, rest of the under surface white.
Birds on arrival in South Africa in September have the upper
surface considerably mottled with black and sometimes with chest-
nut as well; in one example in the South African Museum (St.
John’s River, September 2) there are traces of the cinnamon on the
throat and foreneck, while the breast is mottled with brown. The
summer plumage is also beginning to be assumed before the birds
leave in May.
Distribution.—The Sanderling breeds very far north along the
shores of the Arctic Ocean, and eggs have hitherto been only
obtained in Grinnel Land, Greenland and Iceland. It passes
southwards along the coasts or across the northern continents on
migration, and winters in all the southern continents—South
America, South Asia, Africa and Australia, besides occurring in
most of the islands of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans as
a wanderer.
In South Africa the Sanderling is abundant in the southern
summer months along the coast, but does not appear to have
been met with inland.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Port
Nolloth, December (S. A. Mus.), Hondeklip Bay, September (Stark),
Cape division, July, October (8S. A. Mus.), Port Elizabeth and East
412 CHARADRIIDE GALLINAGO
London (Rickards), Port St. John’s, September, October (Short-
ridge); Natal—near Durban, March (Seebohm); German South-
west Africa-- Walvisch Bay, October, December, April, May
(Andersson) ; Portuguese East Africa —Inhambane, September
(Francis).
Habits.—As its name implies, the Sanderling is chiefly found
along the seashore, which it prefers to the mud banks generally
affected by other wading birds. It is usually to be seen in South
Africa in considerable flocks, close to the breakers, running in and
out of the water with considerable rapidity, and sometimes flying
off at a great pace. Its food, which it obtains by using its bill like
a snipe, consists chiefly of insects and small crustacea, but it will
also eat grain on occasions, as Francis found the stomachs of some
individuals shot by him crammed with millet grains and mealie
meal. A very good account of its habits is given by Andersson as
follows: ‘‘ The Sanderling hardly ever leaves the immediate edge
of the water, where it is amusing enough to observe it feeding
along the beach on which the surf is breaking, now running away
from the threatening waters, then turning, as if by instinct, the
moment they have spent their fury, closely following the receding
waves and rapidly seizing the minute marine animals upon which
it subsists. The cry of this species is a kind of shrill chirping call,
low and short, but shrill. Its flesh is very palatable; and being
plump little birds, they are worth the trouble of shooting and
cooking.”’
Subfamily IV. SCOLOPACINAL.
Bill long and slender, with a nasal groove along the greater part
of its length; eyes very large and placed far back in the head; no
distinct seasonal change of plumage.
Genus I. GALLINAGO.
Type.
Gallinago, Leach, Syst. Cat. Mam. Bds. B. M., p. 31
(VSG): 1 ae sesiaren Dew veld shite vale aan aay Hayes Beate Ges G. media.
Bill long, straight and slender, slightly swollen and soft at the
tip, about twice the length of the tarsus; nostrils linear ovals, close
to the base of the bill in a groove running for about three quarters
Fic, 132.—Tails of (1) Gallinago major, and (2) Gallinago nigripennis, from
above, to show the difference between the two species. After Seebohm.
414 CHARADRIIDE GALLINAGO
of its length ; eye large and placed rather far back so that the ear
orifice is just below its hinder edge; wings rather short, first and
second quills sub-equal, difference between the longest and shortest
primaries about two-thirds the length of the culmen; tail rounded,
composed of from twelve to twenty-eight feathers (sixteen in South
African species), the outer ones usually narrowed ; tarsus short, not
as long as the middle toe and claw, with transverse scutes before
and behind; hind toe present; anterior toes cleft to the base
without web ; sexes alike, no seasonal change of plumage.
Out of some twenty species of Snipes spread all over the world
only two are found in South Africa—one a migrant from the northern
hemisphere, and the other a resident.
Key of the Species.
A. The three outer tail-feathers pure white with-
out spots Or bars 2.20... cette sestteetetereceeeeee G. major, p. 414.
B. The three outer tail-feathers white, with obso-
lete spots OF DATS ssccsssssccvnseanscvnesraseasenaennnss G. nigripennis, p. 416.
751. Gallinago major. Double Snipe.
Scolopax major, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 661 (1788); Seebohm, Geogr.
Distr. Charadr. p. 482, with fig. of tail (1898).
Gallinago major, Gurney, Ibis, 1861, p. 134, 1864, p. 360, 1868, p. 261
[Natal]; id. in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 812 (1872); Ayres, Ibis,
1873, p. 283, 1877, p. 851, 1878, p. 411, 1880, p. 268, 1885, p. 348,
1886, p. 293; Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 631, pl. 541 (1876); Sharpe,
ed. Layard’s B. &. Afr. p. 678 (1884); zd. Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 626
(1896) ; Woodward Bros., Natal B. p. 188 (1899).
Gallinago media,” Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 192 (1896); Retchenow, Vég-
Afr. i, p. 235 (1900).
“Great or Solitary Snipe” of some authors.
Description. Adult Male.—Above mottled black and sandy-buff,
the crown black, with a median and two supra-loral and supra-
ocular streaks of buff; wing-coverts conspicuously tipped with
white; bastard wing, primary coverts and wing-quills black, the
two former and the secondaries with white tips; rump and upper
tail-coverts sandy-buff, barred with dusky; sixteen tail-feathers,
centre ones bright rufous with black bases and a narrow sub-
terminal black and a terminal white tip, the white gradually
* Gerini’s name “media,” adopted by some authors, is not admissible
under the laws of nomenclature.
CHARADRIIDE GALLINAGO 415
increasing till the four outer feathers on each side are white, except
for a few dark spots towards the bases of the feathers; a dusky
loreal streak; beneath the chin and centre of the abdomen are
white; the sides of the face and neck, the fore neck and breast
sandy-buff, streaked with brown; the flanks and under tail-coverts
also sandy-buff but barred with brown; axillaries and under wing-
coverts barred with black and white.
Ivis dark umber; bill pale yellowish, dusky towards the tip;
tarsus and feet light greenish-yellow.
Length about 11:0; wing 5:3; tail2-0; culmen 2°45; tarsus 1°4 ;
weight 8 oz. (Trevelyan). A female is similar, wing 55; culmen
2:4; tarsus 1:37; weight 8 oz. (Ayres.)
Fic. 133.—Head of Gallinago major. x 14
The breeding plumage is rather brighter than the winter plumage ;
young birds are more rufous than the adults; the white tips to the
wing-coverts are tinged with buff and the white outer tail-feathers
are barred with dusky-brown.
Distribution.—The Double Snipe nests in Eastern and North-
eastern Europe and Northern Asia from Germany to the Yenesei,
while in the British Islands it is only a casual visitor. It passes
over South Europe and winters in Africa, where, however, it seems
to be confined to the eastern and southern portions of the con-
tinent, and has not hitherto been met with in the western tropical
districts.
As the present species is frequently confused with the resident
Ethiopian Snipe it is difficult to give exact details, but the following
are recorded localities, and the bird is probably generally distributed,
though by no means so abundant as the other species : Cape Colony
416 CHARADRIID/ GALLINAGO
—Cape division (S. A. Mus.), East London in summer (Wood),
King William’s Town (Trevelyan) ; Natal—November (Brit. Mus.) ;
Transvaal—Potchefstroom, September to April (Ayres); Bechuana-
land—Tebra country, near Lake Ngami, April (Eriksson) ; German -
South-west Africa—Ondonga, February (Andersson).
Habits.—Though few observations have been made on the habits
of the Double Snipe in South Africa, it does not seem to differ at all
from the Ethiopian Snipe in this respect. Though the majority of
birds reach South Africa in September or October, Ayres states that
a few individuals may be found at all times of the year. They are
found singly or in pairs, seldom in larger numbers, on marshy
ground and about swampy vleis, and feed on soft beetles and other
insects. Mr. Wood tells me that there are always a few pairs on the
mud banks of the tidal rivers in the neighbourhood of Hast London
during the summer (i.¢., between October and March).
752. Gallinago nigripennis. Hihiopian Snipe.
Gallinago nigripennis, Bp., Icon. Faun. Ital. Uce. text to pl. 43 (1882) ;
Gurney, Ibis, 1864, p. 355 [Natal] ; 1868, p. 51; Holub § Pelz., Orn.
Siid-Afr. p. 293 (1882); Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 366 [Mashonaland];
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 676 (1884) ; Ayres, Ibis, 1885, p. 347 ;
Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 180 (1892); Sharpe, Cat.
B. M. xxiv, p. 631 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 192 (1896); Wood-
ward Bros., Natal B. p. 188 (1899); Alarshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 265;
Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 236 (1900); Haagner, Ibis, 1902, p. 574;
Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, ii, pp. 60, 357 pl. ii, fig. 3 (1902); Sharpe, Ibis,
1904, p. 11 [Deelfontein].
Gallinago equatorialis, Riipp., Syst. Uebers. pp. 128, 126 (1845) ; Layard,
B. 8. Afr. p. 883 (1867); Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 261; Ayres, Ibis,
1869, p. 302, 1878, pp. 801, 411; Layard, Ibis, 1869, p. 877; Buckley,
Ibis, 1874, p. 888; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 212; Butler, Feilden and
Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 425.
Gallinago macrodactyla (nec Bp.) Gurney, in Anderson’s B. Damaral.
p. 812 (1872).
Scolopax equatorialis, Seebohm, Ibis, 1886, p. 136, 1887, p. 344; ad.
Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 500, with fig. of tail (1888).
“ Black-quilled Snipe” of some authors; “ Spook-vogel,” of the Dutch ;
“ Kue-kue Lemao” of the Basutos (Murray).
Description. Adult Male.—Closely resembling G. major, but
darker and more richly coloured, the back having a velvety gloss
and the buff a richer tinge; the other distinguishing marks are the
much narrower and less conspicuous white tips to the wing-coverts ;
CHARADRIID3 GALLINAGO 417
the inner secondaries (except the innermost elongated ones) are
blackish with white tips and no rufous bars; the three outer tail-
feathers are white with clearly marked dusky spots, or bars, on the
‘outer web; finally, the bill is somewhat longer.
Tris dark hazel; bill black; legs brownish-green.
Length about 11:0; wing 5:1; tail 2-6; culmen 2:9; tarsus 1:45.
The female resembles the male; wing 4:9; culmen 3:3; tarsus 1°5.
Distribution.—This Snipe is confined to Africa, where it appears
to be a resident; its range extends from Abyssinia, through Central
Africa and Nyasaland to Cape Colony; it does not appear to have
been met with in West Africa, except in Angola, while in Mada-
gascar a peculiar species (G. macrodactyla) occurs.
In South Africa the Ethiopian Snipe is widely distributed
throughout the country, though rare in Bechuanaland and in
German South-west Africa. It is a resident, though probably
subject to local movements in search of damp ground.
The following are recorded localities : Cape Colony—Cape divi-
sion, October, Caledon, February, Albany (8S. A. Mus.), Port Eliza-
beth, rare (Rickard and Brown), East London, rare (Rickard and
Wood), King William’s Town (Trevelyan), Deelfontein, July (Sei-
mund), near Aliwal North, breeding (Wood); Natal—Isipingo
Flats, near Durban (Bt. Mus.), Maritzburg, May (Buckley), New-
castle, April, May, June, September (Butler and Reid); Transvaal—-
Potchefstroom, breeding, April, July, August, December (Ayres) ;
Linokana, in Zeerust, July (Holub), Johannesburg (Ross); Rho-
desia—near Salisbury (Marshall); Damaraland (Andersson, in
Bt. Mus.).
Habits—The Ethiopian Snipe is generally distributed over
South Africa, where there is suitable ground; they move about
from place to place as the swamps and vleis gradually dry up; they
lie more closely and fly more slowly than the English Snipe, and
are therefore not nearly so difficult to shoot. Their food consists of
worms and aquatic insects, which they obtain by boring in the
damp ground with their long bills, while pebbles and small stones
as well are usually found in their stomachs to aid, doubtless, in the
process of digestion. Snipes are somewhat nocturnal in their habits,
and during the breeding season the cocks perform a series of curious
evolutions in the air, rising, and then descending again, at the same
time making a curious loud vibrating, rushing sound, compared by
Ayres to the neighing of a horse. The same sound is made by the
English Snipe (G. celestis), and is usually known as ‘“ drumming.”
27 VoL, Iv,
418 CHARADRIID ROSTRATULA
The cause of this remarkable noise is obscure, but it is probably
made by the vibration of the webs of the outer tail-feathers as they
are rapidly drawn through the air. It is generally believed that only
the male ‘‘ drums,” but Ayres states that he shot a female bird in
mid-air while making a similar sound.
Ayres found this bird breeding in the swamps near Potchef-
stroom in August, and on one particular occasion as late as April.
The nests are placed and formed in a tussock of grass, the centre of
which the bird treads well down, while the outer blades form a
shelter from the sun and cold winds. The eggs are an olive-buff
colour spotted and blotched, chiefly the obtuse end, with two or
three shades of dark brown; they have a fair amount of gloss, and
measure about 1:75 x 1:25; the number in a clutch does not seem
to have been noticed.
Genus II. ROSTRATULA.
Type.
Rostratula, Viedll., Analyse, p. 56 (1816) ... ........... R. capensis.
Bill long and slender but not so long as in Gallinago, hardly
exceeding the tarsus in length; not pitted at the end and with the
tip slightly decurved; nostrils as in Gallinago, wings rather short
and rounded, the first and second primaries sub-equal and the
longest ; tails square, of ten feathers, outer feathers not narrowed ;
tarsus moderate, about equal to the middle toe and claw; hind
toe present, anterior toes without webs.
The Painted Snipes are not migratory, and have a curious
distribution, one being found in South America, one in Australia,
while the third is common to Africa and India.
753. Rostratula capensis. Painted Snipe.
Scolopax capensis, Linn., Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 247 (1766).
Rhynchea capensis, Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. ii. no. 10, p. 58 (1858)
[Oudtshoorn] ; Gurney, Ibis, 1863, p. 880 [Natal] ; Layard, B. 8.
Afr. p. 834 (1867); Shelley, B. Egypt, p. 250, pl. 11 (1872); Gurney,
in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 818 (1872) ; Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 212 ;
Ayres, Ibis, 1877, p. 851; Wood Mason, P. Z. S. 1878, p. 745, pl. 47
[trachea]; Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 866 [Shangani River]; Holub §
Pelzeln, Orn. Stid-Afr. p. 294 (1882); Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool.
1882, p. 425; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B, S. Afr. pp. 679, 855 (1884) ;
CHARADRIIDZ ROSTRATULA 419
Seebohin, Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 456 (1888) ; Nicolls and Egling-
ton, Sportsm. S. Afr. p. 130 (1892) ; Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 383 ;
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 193 (1896); Rendall, Ibis, 1896, p. 176; Aleu-
ander, Ibis, 1900, p. 455.
Rostratula capensis, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 683 (1896); Woodward
Bros., Natal B. p. 189 (1899); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 265; Oates,
Cat. B. Eggs ii, p. 68 (1902).
Rostratula bengalensis, Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 237 (1900).
“Golden Snipe ” of some authors.
Description. Adult Male.—Crown and mantle dark ashy-grey,
slightly vermiculated with darker; a median line of buff along the
crown bordered by a shade of blackish; wing-coverts bronzy-yellow,
with incomplete black-edged spots of paler yellow; the scapulars
and inner secondaries ashy, mottled with transverse spots of bronzy-
green, bordered by white and a longitudinal line of buffy-yellow ;
wing quills pale ashy-grey, with conspicuous spots of buff and a
certain amount of black along the outer webs of the primaries;
inner primaries and secondaries barred and spotted with black and
white; rump, upper tail-coverts and tail ashy, finely barred with
black and spotted with buff; round the eye and extending back over
the ear-coverts a circle of white, below which is a darker band;
chin whitish, becoming ashy-brown on the sides of the face and
neck and ending in an ill-defined cross band of black across the
upper breast; rest of the lower surfaca white, except for a mottled
black patch on either side of the lower breast.
Tris dark brown ; bill purplish-brown ; legs and feet dull slaty-
blue.
Length about 9:75; wing 4°8; tail 1:4; culmen 1-65; tarsus
1:55.
The female differs from the male, and is, on the whole, more
richly coloured ; the back and scapulars are of a rich bronzy-brown
with a metallic green gloss and a few transverse bars greenish-
black ; parapteral plumes, usually concealed by the scapulars pure
white ; a longitudinal streak of buff along the inside of the scapulars ;
wing-coverts bronzy metallic green, tranversely barred with blue-
green; wing-quills and tail ag in the male; lores, neck all round,
and fore neck rich chestnut, paling on the chin and throat, bordered
below by a broad collar of black across the upper breast; in other
respects resembling the male. —
Iris brown ; bill brown at the base, reddish-brown towards the
tip; legs olive-green.
Length (in flesh) 9°5; wing 5:5; culmen 1:9; tarsus 1-7,
420 CHARADRIIDE ROSTRATULA
The young birds are like the male; the young female has, how-
the white parapteral plumes not developed in the other sex.
Distribution.—The Painted Snipe is found throughout Africa,
south of the Sahara, including the island of Madagascar; its range
extends further through Egypt and Southern Asia, including India,
to China and Japan, the Phillippines, Borneo and Java. It appears
to be a resident throughout its range.
In South Africa, although nowhere very abundant, it is widely
spread over all the colonies and territories, as shown in the follow-
ing list of the recorded localities: Cape Colony—Cape division,
November, February (S. A. Mus.), Port Elizabeth, scarce (Brown),
East London, rare (Rickard), King William’s Town, rare (Trevelyan),
Oudtshoorn, February (Victorin), Orange River, near Upington,
January (Bradshaw), Aliwal North (Wood), Lady Grey, breeding
January (Lawrence); Natal—Umlazi River mouth (Ayres), Maritz-
burg (Fitzsimmons), Newcastle district, July to November (Reid) ;
Transvaal — Potchefstroom (Barratt and Ayres), near Barberton
(Rendall) ; Bechuanaland—-Selenia Pan, December (Ayres), Soshong,
January (Holub), Nocana, July (Fleck); Rhodesia—Shangani River,
November (Ayres), Tamafopha (Holub), near Salisbury rare (Mar-
shall); German South-west Africa — Otjimbinque, November,
Swakop and Ondonga, December (Andersson), Omaruru, November
(Eriksson) ; Zambesi, December (Alexander).
Habits—As shown by its rounded wings and short secondaries
the Painted Snipe is essentially a bird of limited migratory powers.
In fact, it seems formed merely to move about comparatively
short distances in search of damp ground. It is a shy and skulking
bird, usually hiding in reeds and thick vegetation on the borders of
swamps and vleis, resembling in this respect a Water Rail rather
than a Snipe ; its flight is low and heavy, and is usually for a short
distance only, when it alights again; it feeds towards dusk coming
out on the mud-flats in search of insects, and its flesh is very
palatable.
The most interesting thing about the Painted Snipe, however,
is the relation of the sexes, which appear to be reversed from what
ordinarily holds good among birds; the adult female is larger and
more brilliantly coloured than the male, while the young female
resembles him. The female has a croaking, guttural note, while
that of the male is shriller, this being due to the construction of the
trachea, or.windpipe, which in the female is convoluted and modified,
while that of the male is straight and simple (see Wood Mason, |. c.).
GAVIE 421
Moreover, it is believed that the male undertakes the duty of incu-
bation, though I have not met with any definite statement in regard
to this matter, so far as South African birds are concerned.
Layard found this bird breeding in marshy ground close to Cape
Town, and describes the eggs as like those of the Ethiopian Snipe
but with yellower ground and with more defined, darker markings
all of one shade. Andersson found it breeding near Ondonga, in
Damaraland ; he states that it makes no nest, but that the eggs,
three or four in number are laid near water. Oates gives the
dimensions as 1:5 to 1:29 x 1:05 x 0°89.
Mr. Lawrence informs me that this Snipe breeds in Lady Grey, in
the north-east of the Colony in January, making no nest, but deposit-
ing its eggs, four to five in number, among stones or on gravel.
There are no eggs of this species in the South African Museum,
nor does the bird, so far as I am aware, still breed close to Cape
Town.
Order XVII. GAVIA.
The members of this order, which includes the Gulls, Terns,
Skimmers and Skuas, are undoubtedly closcly allied to the Limicole,
from which indeed they can hardly be separated, so far as anatomical
characters are concerned.
They are all birds of moderate size with moderate-sized bills
and long wings bearing eleven primaries, the first being minute ;
the rectrices are twelve in number and the feet have the three front
toes webbed, generally completely ; a small hind toe not connected
with the others and jointed at a higher level than the others, is
generally present.
The skull is schizognathous and schizorhinal; there are no
basipterygoid processes ; cervical vertebre fifteen in number; the
fifth cubital remex absent and the’ contour feathers with an after-
shaft ; oil gland tufted ; two carotids; cca present, but very small
in some families.
. There is a good deal of disagreement among authors as to the
classification of this order ; perhaps the simplest and most satisfac-
tory solution is to divide it into four families, containing the Gulls,
Terns, Skimmers and Skuas respectively, though the distinctions
between the first two are not of such importance as those between
the others.
LARIDE LARUS
Key of the Genera.
«Al. Bill without a horny cere.
a. Bill long, straight and rather slender, both
mandibles approximately equal.
a'. Tail short and nearly square; webs between
the toes emarginate ............cccececeeesseeeees Hydrochelidon, p. 429,
b'. Tail distinctly forked, outer feathers more
or less elongate and pointed; toes fully
Webbed -cajasncevaivsruutecihimeumentandorceassenters Sterna, p. 488.
Tail graduated, the outer pair of tail-feathers
distinctly shorter than the next pair.
a’, Bill strong and decurved ; fourth pair of
co,
rectrices the longest........ aici pada aaientgyeeae slnous, p. 445.
6°. Bill slender and long; third pair of rec-
trices the longest ..........cceeeeeecesesaeeeees Micranous, p. 446.
ec’. Bill stout at the base, culmen straight or
upeurved; second pair of rectrices the
LONGESG cctieicccstisssctisavinedadvsdeaesmendia norisies Gygis, p. 447.
b. Bill with both mandibles much compressed,
the lower exceeding the upper in length ...... Rhynchops, p. 448.
c. Bill stout, not exceeding the head in length;
upper mandible somewhat longer than the
lower, tip hooked and bent down over that of
Gh} LOW, iis.csceiocceaunsedsudacsesdar vide dncneiae debine Larus, p. 422.
B. Bill with a horny cere overhanging and partially
concealing the nostrils 0.0.0.0... eeeeeeeeceeeee anes Stercorarius, p. 451.
Family I. LARIDAL.
Sternum with two notches on each side posteriorly; femoro-
caudal, accessory femorocaudal, accessory semitendinosus and
ambiens muscles all present ; ceca small and rudimentary.
The external characteristics are given in the description of the
single genus Larus represented in our fauna.
Genus I. LARUS.
Type.
Larus, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 224 (1766)....... L. marinus.
Bill stout and hooked, the upper mandible slightly longer than
the lower one and bent down over its tip; bill shorter than the head
and about three times as long as deep; no cere at the base of the
bill; nostrils linear ovals about half way down the bill; wings
LARIDZ LARUS 493
strong but not so long as in Sterna, reaching to about the end of the
tail; first primary the longest; tail square or nearly so; lower
third of the tibia bare like the tarsus, the latter strong and usually
longer than the middle toe and claw with transverse scutes in
front; front toes fully webbed, hind toe small and rudimentary.
Fic. 131,—Right foot of Larus hartlaubi, from inside. x 1
This is a large genus containing, according to Saunders, some
forty-four species of Gulls, spread over the greater part of the
world, except the Central Pacific. South Africa, however, is not
well off for Gulls, possessing representatives of only three species.
Key of the Species.
A. Largest, wing about 17; back slaty-black,
head whites. io: ceicsumerarmessnsecemes deena Gone L. dominicanus, p. 423.
B. Intermediate, wing about 13; back lavender-
grey ; a lavender-grey hood in the breeding
YCSS! oveaet sicuacabick dag: Sadnescnasrbinameuiaratwaneen L. cirrhocephalus, p. 427.
C. Smaller, wing about 11; back lavender-grey ;
head always white 0.00.0... cieceeeeereeeees LD, hartlaubi, p. 425.
754. Larus dominicanus. Southern Black-backed Gull.
Larus dominicanus, Licht., Verz. Doubl. p. 82 (1828); Layard, B. S.
Afr. p. 367 (1867); Buller, B. New Zeal. p. 270, pl. 28, fig. 1 (1873) ;
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8S. Afr. p. 697 (1884); Swinburne P. R.
Phys. Soc. Edin. ix, p. 200 (1886); Fleck, Jowrn. Ornith. 1894, p.
379; Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 245 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i,
494 LARID LARUS
p. 165 (1896); Reichenow, Voy. Afr. i, p. 41 (1900); Vanhéffen
Journ. Ornith. 1901, p. 309 ; Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, i, p. 212 (1901).
Dominicanus vetula, Bruch. Journ. Ornith. 1858, p. 100:
Larus sp. Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Hand. ii, no. 10, p. 57 (1858).
Larus vetula, Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 857 (1872);
Shelley, Ibis, 1875 p. 86.
Description. Adult Male.—Head and neck all round, rump, tail
and underparts throughout white; mantle and wings slaty-black ;
primary quills black, the first with a white subterminal marking
and tip, the others, secondaries and scapulars with white tips
only; in very old birds the subterminal white marking fuses with
the white tip of the first primary, and there is a subterminal
marking on the second quill.
Tris greyish with a narrow red rim of skin round the eyeball;
bill yellow with an orange-red patch at the tip of the lower
mandible ; legs bluish yellow.
Length about 24:0; wing 17:0; tail 6°75; culmen 2°6; tarsus
2-7. The female resembles the male but usually has a somewhat
smaller bill.
Young birds are white thickly mottled with brown above and
below, the brown mottling tending to form bars on the upper and
under tail-coverts; the wing and tail-quills are nearly uniform
brown: iris dark hazel; bill dark brown; legs brown. Later on
the mantle becomes slaty, the rump and tail-coverts white and the
streaks of brown disappear from the head and underparts, but the
tail and wing-quills remain a uniform brown for some time; probably
the adult plumage is not attained till at least the third year.
Distribution.—The Southern Black-backed Gull is spread over
the seas and islands of the great Southern Ocean including the
coasts of temperate South America, South Africa and New Zealand.
Along our coasts it has been recorded from Walvisch Bay to Durban”
and is common everywhere. It is exceedingly abundant in Table
Bay and False Bays, where it can be seen at all times of the year.
T have not heard of its occurrence north of Durban, where it appears
to be less common than on the coasts of the Colony.
Habits.—The Southern Black-backed Gull only differs from its
northern relative, the Black-backed Gull of the British seas, in its
slightly smaller size and darker coloration. It is very common in
Table Bay where it picks up a good living from the garbage thrown
overboard from the numerous ships lying at anchor there; it is an
undiscriminating and voracious feeder, congregating round the dead
LARID& LARUS 425
bodies of Whales or Seals and also picking up worms, insects and
shell fish from the beach; it is said to carry off the eggs of other
sea birds such as Gannets and Penguins to distant rocks, where it
devours them at leisure.
This Gull has a loud and melancholy call heard generally in
early morning when flying round; during the day time it can
frequently be seen standing motionless on the sandy beach for
hours at a time.
The Southern Black-backed Gull breeds on the islands off the
north-western and southern coasts. Its nest is formed on the
sandy beach as a rule and contains from two to three eggs; these
vary considerably in colour and markings but are usually pale green
with a more or less pronounced tinge of brown moderately spotted
and blotched with very dark brown and with underlying spots of
pale purplish-brown ; they measure on an average 2°70 x 2:0.
There are eggs in the South African Museum taken by myself on
Dyer'’s Island off the coast of the Caledon district, on December 3,
but the birds mostly breed in November.
755. Larus hartlaubi. Hartlaub’s Gull.
Gavia hartlaubi, Bruch. Journ. Ornith. 1853, p. 102.
Larus poiocephalus, (nec Swains.) Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 868 (1867).
Larus hartlaubi, Saunders, P. Z. S. 1874, p. 293, 1878, p. 188, fig. 5;
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 698 (1884); Swinburne, P. RB.
Phys. Soc. Edin, ix, p. 200 (1886); Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 240
(1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 165 (1896); W. L. Sclater, Ibis, 1896,
p. 521; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 45 (1900); Oates, Cat. B. Hggs, i,
p- 211, pl. xvii, fig. 2 (1901).
Description. Adult Female.—-Head and neck all round, whole
of the underparts and tail white; mantle and wings lavender grey ;
first two primaries black with the usual subterminal white marking,
the third to fifth with the basal halves white, seventh uniform grey
fringed with smoky on the inner web, under wing-coverts uniform
smoke grey.
Tris white to light brown ; eyelids red; bill and feet red.
Length 15; wing 10-75; tail 4:0; culmen 1:25; tarsus 1-70.
Young birds have no ‘subterminal white markings on the outer
primaries; all the primaries except the first are distinctly tipped
with white and the mantle and wings are mottled with brown;
4296 LARIDE LARUS
the seventh primary is barred with black or has a black spot on the
outer web.
Tn breeding dress this species has a faint narrow ring of lavender
round the neck but the head remains white.
Distribution.—Hartlaub’s Gull is very common in Table Bay and
along the west coast of the colony, extending as far north as Angra
Pequefiain German South-west Africa. Though it has notbeen noticed
by any observer elsewhere along the south coast of the Colony (Mr.
J. G. Brown tells me he has never seen it in Algoa Bay) there is a
specimen from Natal obtained by Feilden in the British Museum
and it is also stated to be found on the “ Madagascar Coasts.” This
species has been constantly confused with the Grey-headed Gull
Fic. 135.—Head of Larus hartlaubt. x 33
and it is therefore difficult to make an authoritative statement on
the subject, but my impression is that the present species is not
found much further east than Cape Agulhas. The South African
Museum contains examples from Table Bay obtained in February,
June, August and December and from Saldanha Bay dated Sep-
tember, October; all these have pure white heads; another example
from Table Bay not dated, and a specimen obtained at Port Nolloth
in September for the British Museum by Mr. Grant, have a distinct
lavender ring around the neck; this I take to be the breeding dress
of the species.
Habits—Hartlaub’s Gull breeds on some of the islands in
Saldanha and St. Helena Bays on the west coast of the Colony in
very large numbers. The eggs are very variable, passing from
greenish stone to buff with markings of purplish or yellowish-brown
LARIDS LARUS 427
and pale purple somewhat evenly and densely distributed over the
whole surface. They measure about 2:19 x 1:42 according to
Oates.
756. Larus cirrhocephalus. Grey-headed Gull.
Larus cirrhocephalus, Vicill. N. Dict. d’Hist. Nat. xxi, p. 502 (1818) ;
Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 198 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 165
(1896) ; Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 442; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 44
(1900).
Larus poiocephalus, Sains. B. W. Afr. ii, p. 245, pl. 29 (1837) ;
Gurney, Ibis, 1860, p. 221; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 368 (1867) [in
part] ; Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 379.
Larus pheocephalus, Saunders, P. Z. S. 1874, p. 292, 1878, p. 204 ;
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 698 (1884).
Cirrhocephalus poiocephalus, Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral.
p. 858 (1872).
Larus poliocephalus, Holub & Pelzein, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 332 (1882).
Description. Adult Male in breeding dress.—Head all round,
sides of the face and throat lavender-grey, darkest at its junction
with the pure white neck, where there is a marked line of dis-
tinction between the two colours; mantle and wings like the
head but a little darker; two or three outer primaries black with
white subterminal marks; third to fifth with a good deal of white
on their basal halves, sixth and others with a considerable quantity
of grey, which replaces the white, and gradually takes up the whole
_ feather, seventh with a subterminal black bar throughout life ; tail-
coverts, tail and the whole of the lower surface white, a delicate
roseate tint, which rapidly fades after death, pervading the whole of
the lower surface.
Iris yellowish-white ; bill and legs crimson to lake-red.
Length about 16; wing 18; tail 5-0; culmen 18; tarsus 2:0.
The female is slightly smaller ; the adult in non-breeding dress
has the head white all round for a short time at least; the young
bird has a white head with darker circular patches, the mantle and
wings are somewhat mottled with ashy-brown ; the primaries are as
in the adult, but the first two or three have no white subterminal
marks; bill yellowish, blackish at the tip; legs deep brown.
Distribution.—The Grey-headed Gull is found over a consider-
able portion of South America from Brazil to the Argentine, and
across to the coast of Peru. In Africa the same bird ranges from
498 STERNIDE
Senegambia to Cape Colony, and is found also on nearly all the
great lakes of the interior, including the Victoria and Albert
Edward Nyanzas, Tanganyika, Shirwa and Naivascha.
In South Africa the Grey-headed Gull has hitherto been met
with only on inland waters except at Walvisch Bay and on the
east coast from Durban northwards. It does not appear to occur
in Table Bay or along the west or south coasts of the Colony.
The following are recorded localities : Cape Colony—Zoetendals
Vlei in Bredasdorp, November (Layard), Colesberg (Arnot); Natal
—Durban harbour, December (Bt. Mus. and Ayres), Umfolosi
River mouth in Zululand (Watson); Transvaal—Lake Chrissie in
Ermelo district, January (Albany Mus.); German South-west
Africa—Lake Ngami, May, common (Chapman), Walvisch Bay,
October, rare (Andersson) ; Rhodesia—Zambesi above Victoria Falls
(W. L. Sclater); Portuguese Hast Africa—Senna, July, Delagoa
Bay and Inhambane (Alexander).
Habits.—The Grey-headed Gull appears to be a more inland
species than Hartlaub’s or the Southern Black-backed Gulls; it
does not, so far as Iam aware, occur in Table Bay or along the
coast of the Colony, though occasionally found inland. Ayres
states that it can frequently be seen in Durban Harbour, where it
often alights on stakes in the water. Layard, who obtained exam-
ples of this species with full grey hoods in Zoetandals Vlei in
November, found broken eggs which he believed to belong to this
species, floating on the water; these were greenish-brown profusely
spotted with purple and brown, and measure about 2:1 x 1:5.
Neumann found a breeding colony of this Gull on a little island in
Victoria Nyanza; he states that the eggs, generally two or three in
number, were laid among the vegetation without any nest, and that
in June, when he made his visit, there were few freshly- laid eggs
and a good many already hatched.
Family II. STERNIDA.
Bill straight, somewhat slender and without cere; the two
mandibles of approximately equal length ; tail generally long and
distinctly forked; legs small; ceca rudimentary ; all five Garrodian
thigh muscles present (except Gygis).
STERNIDE, HYDROCHELIDON 429
Genus I. HYDROCHELIDON.
Type.
Hydrochelidon, Boie, Isis, 1822, p. 563 ............... alee H. nigra.
€
Bill nearly straight and somewhat compressed, about as long as
the head, culmen slightly curved, both mandibles equal; wings long
and pointed, extending far beyond the tail, the first primary the
longest; tail short, less than half the length of the wing, but very
Fig. 136.—Tail of Hydrochelidon hybrida. x }
slightly forked; legs feeble, webs much indented, so that the toes
appear to be only half webbed ; lower surface of the body always
black or dark grey in the breeding plumage.
This is a genus of marsh-haunting Terns spread over the greater
part of the world; only four species are generally recognised, two of
which are migrants to South Africa from the northern Hemisphere.
Key of the Species.
Al. Upper tail-coverts and tail white.
a. Underparts, including the axillaries, black H. leucoptera, p. 431.
6. Underparts, including the axillaries, white H. lewcoptera hieme, p. 481.
B. Upper tail-coverts and tail grey like the
back
a, Underparts dark slate, axillaries white... H. hybrida, p. 480.
b: Underparts white ........cccceecseseeeeeseeee H. hybrida hieme, p. 430.
C. Upper tail-coverts white, tail grey............ HI. leucoptera, juv. p. 431,
430 STERNIDE HYDROCHELIDON
757. Hydrochelidon hybrida. Whiskered Tern.
Sterna hybrida, Pallas, Zoogr. Rosso-Asiat. ii, p. 338 (1811).
Pelodes hybrida, Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 362 (1872).
Hydrochelidon hybrida, Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 315, pls. 588-9 (1877) ;
Sharpe, ed. Layards B.S. Afr. p. 699 (1884); Symonds, Ibis, 1887,
p. 885 ; Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 10 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i.
p- 162 (1896) ; Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 72 (1900); Haagner, Ibis,
1902, p. 574.
Hydrochelidon leucopareia, Holub & Pelz. Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 882 (1882).
Description. Adult Male in breeding plumage. — Forehead,
crown and nape black; sides of the face from the gape below the
eye to the nape white; rest of the upper plumage slaty-grey,
darkest on the primary quills ; outer primaries with the inner webs
white to a considerable extent; outer web of the outer tail-feathers
also white; beneath the chin is white gradually darkening to black
on the abdomen and flanks; vent, under tail-coverts and under
wing-coverts white.
Fie. 137.—Left foot of Hydrochelidon hybrida, from above. x }
Tris brown ; bill blood-red; feet vermillion ; webs much indented
but not quite so strongly as in H. leucoptera.
Length about 10-0; wing 9-5; tail 3-25; culmen 1:2; tarsus ‘95.
The sexes are alike; in non-breeding plumage the forehead is
white, the crown and nape mottled and streaked with black, the
STERNID HYDROCHELIDON 431
underparts white throughout, and the bill and legs reddish-brown.
Young birds are like the adults in non-breeding plumage, but the
feathers of the back and secondaries are edged with brown. ;
Distribution.—The Whiskered Tern breeds in southern and
central Europe and Asia from Spain to China; during the northern
winter it migrates southwards to Australia and east and southern
Africa.
Though seldom noted it appears to be widely spread over South
Africa, as the following list of recorded localities shows: Cape
Colony—Berg River (Layard), Port Elizabeth, occasionally (J. G.
Brown), Vaal river near Douglas, March (Miss Orpenin 8. A. Mus.) ;
Orange River Colony—Kroonstad in December (Symonds), Vrede-
fort Road (B. Hamilton) ; Natal—Newcastle (Bt. Mus.) ; Trans-
vaal—near Johannesburg (Haaguer) ; Bechuanaland—Lake Ngami
(Andersson); Rhodesia—Pandamatenka, December (Bradshaw) ;
German South-west Africa—Ondonga, February to April (Anders-
son), Oquamba in Ovampoland (Eriksson).
Habits.—The Whiskered Tern frequents lakes and marshes,
where it can be seen skimming over the surface of the water in
search of insects, which form its chief food. It has not been
noticed breeding in South Africa, though the example obtained by
Mr. Layard on the Berg River, and another near Kroonstad by
Mr. Symonds are both in breeding plumage. In northern latitudes
this Tern breeds in colonies amongst rushes or on floating water-
plants in large marshy lakes. The eggs, usually three in number,
are pale olive or greenish, doubly spotted with purplish-grey and
brown and measure about 1:51 x 1:09.
758. Hydrochelidon leucoptera. IWhite-winyed Black Tern.
Sterna leucoptera, Meisner & Schinz, Vig. Schweiz, p. 264 (1815) ;
Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 267; Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 891.
Sterna fissipes, Ayres, Ibis, 1871, p. 267.
Sterna nigra (nec Linn.) Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral, p. 863
(1872).
Hydrochelidon leucoptera, Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 821, pls. 590-1
(1875); Ayres, Ibis, 1878, p. 411; Sharpe, ed. Layard's B.S. Afr.
p. 700 (1884); Symonds, Ibis, 1887, p. 885; Saunders, Cat. B. M.
xxv, p. 6 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 162 (1896) ; Alerander, Ibis,
1900, p. 442; Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 71 (1900).
432 STERNID HYDROCHELIDON
Description. Adult im breeding plumage.—Head all” round,
back and rump, underparts as far as the vent, flanks, axillaries
and under wing-coverts black; coverts along the carpal joint white,
becoming slaty on the other coverts and quills; the four outer
primaries sooty-black on the outer webs, with a white streak down
the middle of the inner web, shafts white; upper and under tail-
coverts, vent and tail white; bill livid-red; feet orange-red ; web
between the toes strongly indented.
Length about 8:5; wing 7°75 ; tail 2-5; culmen -95; tarsus ‘75.
The sexes are alike ; in non-breeding plumage the crown of the
head and nape are white mottled with black, while the underparts
and axillaries are pure white; bill black. Young birds ave some-
what similar to the adults in non-breeding plumage, but the upper
tail-coverts are always white, though the tail itself is grey.
Distribution—The White-winged Black Tern is found, through-
out the northern summer, in Central and Southern Europe and
Central Asia as far as China; during the northern winter it migrates
southwards to Australia, New Zealand and Africa.
In Africa it has chiefly been met with in the east and south,
having been recorded from most of the larger lakes such as Albert
Edward and Tanganyika. Beyond an example in the British
Museum stated to have been obtained by Mr. Layard, I know
of no other notice of its occurrence in the Colony proper, but it
appears to become more abundant further north.
The following are the recorded localities: Orange River Colony
—Kvoonstad, December (Symonds); Transvaal—-Potchefstroom,
June, July and November (Ayres); Bechuanaland (8. A. Mus.);
German South-west Africa—Omanbonde (Andersson in Bt. Mus.) ;
Portuguese East Africa—Chicowa September and Zumbo, Novem-
ber on the Zambesi (Alexander).
Habits.—This ‘Tern is generally seen in considerable flocks
hawking for insects, on which it chiefly subsists, over marshes and
lagoons and even on temporary rain pools; its flight is somewhat
slow, uncertain and heavy. Andersson states that it feeds on frogs’
spawn and snails as well as insects. Alexander saw large flocks
passing down the Zambesi presumably on migration during the
months of November, December and January. They were in
winter dress. It is not probable that this bird will be found breed-
ing in South Africa.
STERNIDE STERNA 433
Genus II. STERNA.
Type.
Sterna, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 227 (1766) ... 8. hirundo.
Bill long, pointed, and somewhat compressed, both mandibles of
equal length; nostrils elongated ovals in the basal half of the bill;
wings very long and pointed, first primary the longest; tail more or
less forked, the outer feathers elongated, attenuated and pointed
sometimes to a very considerable extent; tarsus short, less than
the middle toe and claws; toes fully webbed.
Fic. 138,—Tail of Sterna vittata. x 2
Saunders recognises thirty-three species of this genus, twelve of
which may be considered South African, while the Caspian Tern
makes another addition to both numbers if it is, as here, included
in the same genus. The Terns are of world wide distribution and
are found both at sea and also on inland waters; though apparently
well adapted to do so, they are seldom seen swimming.
Key of the Species.
A. Tail very short, less than one third of the wing ;
of large size, wing over 14; nape feathers not
narrowed and pointed .....cscsscssseeeeseresereeneeees S. caspia, p. 484.
28 VOL. IV.
434 STERNIDE STERNA
B. Tail longer, at least half the length of the wing.
a. Of large size, wing over 14:0; forehead white
(in breeding dress); a crest of elongate
feathers on the nape ........ccccscsessesnsessseeseees S. bergit, p. 436.
b. Of intermediate size, wing between 8 and 18
inches,
«'. A nape crest; legs black, mantle grey.
a’, Bill black, yellowish at the tip..........0 S. cantiaca, p. 487.
B?.. Bill YOUOWS cusses dese aveen apne avec sedauntaduaveres S. media, p. 488.
b'. No nape crest, legs red to livid, mantle
grey.
a*, Inner web of primaries edged with white
to the tips of the feathers..........ccccssceues 8. dougalli, p. 489.
b?, Inner web of primaries edged with white,
not extending to the tip of the feathers.
a*, Outer web of streamers very slightly
GVOY socdsnstsaueata cared eo pasdadeeesedve sh ovanene 8. vittata, p. 489,
6%. Outer web of streamers distinctly grey.
a‘, Dark band on the inner web along
the shaft of the primaries broader,
oceupying about half the web ......... S. fluviatilis, p. 440.
b4. Dark band on the inner web along
the shaft of the primaries narrower,
occupying only about a quarter the
width of the Web.........ccccsseeeeseesenee S. macrura, p. 442.
cl. No nape crest, legs blackish, mantle sooty
Dl aChe esc siscncuusancacesa nes dustinn cuenensasidueseseakecs S. fuliginosa, p. 444.
c. Of small size; wing less than 8°0.
a', Forehead black to the base of the bill; bill
WBE ies scscrtenciesntecsredaerieassansndsaioaswstuaaas S. balenarum, p. 442.
b'. Forehead white.
a’, Only the two outer primaries darker than
the imner ONES............cceaveecseseveesstorens S. minuta, p. 448.
b?, The three outer primaries darker and con-
trasting with the inner one .........cceeeeee S. saundersi, p, 444.
759. Sterna caspia. Caspian Tern.
Sterna caspia, Pall., Nov. Comm. Petrop. xiv, i. p. 582, pl. 22, fig. 2
(1770); Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 887; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 369 (1867) ;
Finsch & Hartlaub, Vog. Ost-Afr. p. 826 (1870); Gurney, in Ander-
sson’s B. Damaral. p. 359 (1872); Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 289, pl.
584 (1877); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 708 (1884); Fleck,
Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 879; Shelley, B. Afr. i. p. 168 (1896);
Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i. p. 56 (1900).
Hydroprogne caspia, Sawnders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 82 (1896).
STERNIDE STERNA 435
Description. Male in breeding plumage.—Forehead, crown and
nape black, rest of the upper surface pale french grey, palest on the
rump; primaries at first grey but soon becoming darker and slaty,
especially on the inner webs; the white streaks on the inner webs
not marked ; below pure white.
Tris reddish-brown ; bill vermilion-red, sometimes horny towards
the tip; feet black.
Length about 22:0; wing 16-0; tail 6-0; depth of the fork 1:20;
culmen 3:0; tarsus 1:70.
The female is very similar, but slightly smaller and with a
weaker and less brightly coloured bill; in non-breeding plumage the
forehead, crown and nape are streaked with white and black, the
bill is orange red with a horn-coloured tip. A young bird is like
the adult in non-breeding plumage but the orbital patch is darker,
and there is a good deal of brownish mottling on the back and
wings.
Distribution.—The Caspian Tern is found almost all over the
world with the exception of Central and South America and the
Islands of the Pacific; it is generally distributed along the coast of
Africa and Madagascar and has been noticed on the Nile as high
as Khartoum. It is not uncommon on the South African coasts
and has been recorded from Walvisch Bay by Andersson and Fleck,
from St. Helena Bay, where it was found breeding, by Mr. Kotze,
from Table Bay by Layard, from Algoa Bay by Rickard, and where
Mr. Brown tells me it is fairly common, and from the mouth of the
Zambesi by Kirk; I recently obtained a fine male specimen from
Dyer’s Island off the coast of the Caledon district, where I was told
it bred.
Habiis.—This, the largest of all the Terns, is as a rule found
singly or in pairs on the south coast, though sometimes it affects
large rivers and inland waters; it lives almost exclusively on fish
and usually flies with its beak turned downwards at right angles to
its body ; it has a loud harsh note ‘‘ Krake kra”’ to which it gives
vent especially when its breeding grounds are disturbed.
Andersson states that when on the wing it usually pursues a
steady flight, and at a distance bears considerable resemblance to
a Gull; it utters at intervals, especially when fishing, harsh and
discordant notes; where not previously disturbed it is not particu-
larly shy or difficult to approach; but when once it knows a gun it
becomes exceedingly cunning. This Tern usually deposits its eggs
on low sandy islands or shores of the sea making little or no nest.
436 STERNIDE STERNA
Kirk found it breeding along with S. bergii on a low sandy island
at the mouth of the Zambesi in January, while Mr. Kotze sent
Mr, Layard an egg taken on an island in St. Helena Bay on the
west coast of the Colony. This egg, which is still preserved in the
Museum, is a moderate oval and rather rough in texture; it is very
pale salmon doubly spotted and blotched with very dark purple and
faint grey; it measures 2°5 x 1-72
760. Sterna bergii. Swift Tern.
Sterna bergii, Licht., Verz. Dowbl. p. 80 (1823); Layard, B. 8. Afr. p.
370 (1867); Finsch & Hartlaub, Vog. Ost-Afr. p. 828 (1870) ;
Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 360 (1872); Butler, Feilden
and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 428; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p.
704 (1884) ; Sawnders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 89 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr.
i, p. 163 (1896); Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 57 (1900).
Sterna velox, Cretzschm. in Riipp. Atlas, p. 21, pl. 18 (1826); Gurney,
Ibis, 1860, p. 221 |Durban Harbour]; Kirk, Ibis, 1864, p. 337
Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 262.
Sterna galericulata, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 871 (1867); Gurney, Ibis,
1868, p. 262.
Description. Adult in breeding pluwmage.—A broad white band
across the forehead; crown and nape black, the nape feathers
elongated forming a crest; rest of the upper surface pale pearly
grey, paler on the tail; primaries with the usual white band along
the inner edge of the inner web; below, including the sides of
the face and neck white throughout.
Tris dark brown; bill chrome yellow, often tinged with green
towards the bases of the mandibles; legs black, soles mottled with
yellow. Length about 19:0; wing 15-0; tail 70; depth of the
fork 3:0; culmen 2:4; tarsus 1-1.
The sexes are alike; the adult in non-breeding plumage has
the crown chiefly white with black mottling, the nape feathers
black, but often with white tips and spots.
The young bird has the whole of the head, including the
forehead, mottled with white and brown, the mantle is brown,
the feathers mostly edged with white; the primaries are dark ashy-
brown, the tail-feathers the same, tipped with white; under parts
white, sometimes a few streaks of brown on the throat and neck.
Distribution.—The Swift Tern is found along the coasts of the
mainland and on the islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans,
STERNIDE STERNA 437
as far as the Hawaian Islands and Australia, though not reaching
New Zealand. Its range extends round the southern extremity
of Africa into the Atlantic as far north as Walvisch Bay.
On the South African coasts it is a fairly common bird, though
not often observed. The following are recorded localities: Walvisch
Bay, November (Andersson), Table Bay, common (Layard), False
Bay, October (S. A. Mus.), Port Alfred, July (Albany Museum),
East London in summer (Wood), Durban Harbour (Ayres and
Butler).
Habits.—This fine Tern is fairly common in Table Bay, where
it can be seen through most of the year in small flocks; it feeds
chiefly on fish, and can be observed hovering over the water with
beak bent vertically downwards on the watch for them; its flight
is high and quick, and it has a loud ery.
Mr. Layard states that it breeds on the islands on the west
coast, and that it lays two eggs of a rich cream colour, dotted,
blotched and streaked with very dark-brown and purple, and
measuring 2:48 x 1:58.
Sir John Kirk found this Tern nesting along with the Caspian
Tern on some sandy islands at the mouth of the Zambesi. The
nests were in a slight hollow in the sand close to the water’s edge.
761. Sterna cantiaca. Sandwich Tern,
Sterna cantiaca, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 606 (1788); Layard, B. S. Afr.
p: 870 (1867) ; Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 361 (1872) ;
Shelley, Ibis, 1875, p. 87; Dresser, B. Hur. viii. p. 201, pl. 586 (1877) ;
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 702 (1884); Saunders, Cat. B.
M., xxv, p. 75 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 163 (1896); Reichenow,
Vog. Afr. i, p. 62 (1900).
Description. Adult in non-breeding plumage.—Forehead and
crown white, slightly spotted and streaked with black, which
becomes predominant on the nape and round the eyes; feathers
of the nape elongated and pointed, forming a crest; upper surface
pale pearly-grey, becoming paler round the hind neck and on the
tail; outer primaries dark, almost black, with a white band along
the inner edge of the inner web, not reaching the tips of the
feathers; outer tail-feathers white not much elongated ; below
white throughout.
Iris dark brown, bill black tipped with yellow, legs black.
438 STERNIDE STERNA
Length about 16:0; wing 11:5; tail 5-75; depth of the fork 2:25;
culmen 2°15; tarsus 1:05.
The sexes are alike: in the breeding plumage the forehead and
crown are black and the nape-crest more marked, while the lower
surface has an evanescent pink tinge somewhat less pronounced
than in 8. dougalli.
In the young bird the forehead is ash-brown, the crown dull-
white, thickly streaked with brownish-black, the upper parts
mottled and variegated with black and white and the bill horn
coloured.
Distribution.—The Sandwich Tern is found along the eastern
coasts of the Atlantic from the Orkneys to Cape Colony and Natal,
including the Mediterranean, Black and Caspian Seas. On the
west side of the Atlantic it ranges only from New England to the
Carribean Sea, crossing to the Pacific in Guatemala. It is also
found in the Red and Arabian Seas.
On the South African coasts it is far from uncommon, but is
only a migrant from the winter of the northern hemisphere, and,
as a rule, in non-breeding plumage. The following are recorded
localities: Walvisch Bay October (Andersson), Table Bay, February
(Shelley), December, March and May (8. A. Mus.), Algoa Bay
(Brown), Port Alfred, December, (Albany Mus.); Natal—Durban,
January (Bt. Mus.).
Habits.—Little has been recorded about the Sandwich Tern
in South African waters. Andersson found it common at Walvisch
Bay, where he states it often associates, in large flocks with other
Terns. It has a short, harsh cry, generally heard when fishing.
Hitherto it has not been known to breed within our limits, and
as most of the examples met with are in non-breeding plumage,
it seems probable that it is only here as a migrant from the
northern hemisphere.
762. Sterna media, Smaller Crested Tern.
Sterna media, Horsfield, Tr. Linn. Soe. xiii, p. 198 (1820) ; Saunders,
Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 86 (1896) ; Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 60 (1900).
Description. Adult.—Resembling S. cantiaca but with a darker
grey mantle, and rump and tail of much the same colour.
Bill waxy yellow, tarsi and toes black, soles pale yellow.
Length 17:0; wing 12:0: tail 6°75; depth of fork 3-0; culmen
2°4; tarsus 1:0.
STERNIDA STERNA 439
The young birds and adults in non-breeding plumage go through
corresponding series of changes to those of S. cantiana.
Distribution —This Tern is found throughout the Mediterranean
and Red Seas and the coasts of the Indian Ocean from Durban
to Australia. It appears to be fairly common on the east coast
of Africa and Madagascar, but the only definite record of its
occurrence within our limits is an example now in the British
Museum obtained at Durban by Gordge.
763. Sterna dougalli. Roseate Tern.
Sterna dougalli, Montagu, Orn. Dict. Suppl. (1818); Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 702 (1884) ; Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 70
(1896); Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 63 (1900).
Description. Adult—Forehead, head and nape black, neck
white, rest of the upper surface pale lavender-grey, primaries a
little darker, especially the first; inner webs with white inner
borders which extend to the tips of the feathers; tail becoming
rather paler, especially the long streamers; below white with a
beautiful pink tinge which is very evanescent.
Tris dull brown; bill black, red at the base; feet coral-red ;
claws black.
Length 14:0; wing 89; tail, central feathers 1:70; lateral
‘feathers 250; culmen 1:40; tarsus 80.
. In winter the forehead is spotted with white, the underparts
have no pink tinge and the bill is black.
Distribution.—The Roseate Tern is found .along the eastern
coasts of the Atlantic and extends through the Indian Ocean as
far as New Caledonia, breeding there and on the Andamans. On
the west side of the Atlantic it occurs from Massachusetts to the
Caribbean Sea.
The evidence of its occurrence in South African waters rests
only on the presence of examples in the British Museum from the
‘‘ Cape of Good Hope” and from “ Algoa Bay.”
764. Sterna vittata. Kerguelen Tern.
Sterna vittata, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 609 (1788); Saunders, Cat. B. M.
xxv, p. 51 (1896) ; Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 65 (1900).
Description. Adult Male.—Forehead, lores, crown and nape
deep black; a band of white from the gape below the eye to the
nape ; upper surface pale grey ; shafts of the primaries white ; tail
440 STERNIDE STERNA
nearly white, outer webs of the outer feathers very pale grey, so
that there is little contrast in shade between the two webs; below
grey. Bill and feet cherry-red.
Length about 16; wing 10:5; tail 7°5 to 8:0; depth of fork 4-5
to 5:0; culmen 1°45; tarsus -7.
In the non-breeding dress the forehead and crown are mottled-
grey and black. Young birds are white below and have the outer
webs of the tail-feathers greyer; the bill and feet vary from dull
livid-red to blackish.
Fic. 139.—Head of Sterna vittata in breeding dress. x }}
Distribution. —This Tern is found throughout the southern
portion of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, from the neighbourhood
of Ascension and Tristan da Cunha to Kerguelen and St. Paul ;
there are examples of this species in the South African Museum,
recently identified by Mr. Howard Saunders, obtained in Table Bay
in August, near Dassen Island in June, in False Bay in July, and
in Saldanha Bay in September; all are in non-breeding plumage.
Probably this bird is common enough about the coast of South
Africa, but has been hitherto confounded with S. fluviatilis and
S. macrura, both of which it closely resembles.
765. Sterna fluviatilis. Common Tern.
Sterna hirundo, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 227 (1766) |in part];
Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 64 (1900).
Sterna fluviatilis, Nawm. Ists, 1819, pp. 1847-8; Gurney, Ibis, 1868,
p. 263; Sharpe and Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 263, pl. 580 (1872);
Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 361 (1872); Saunders,
P. Z. S. 1876, p. 649; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 701 (1884) ;
STERNIDE STERNA Add
Swinburne, Proc. R. Phys. Soc. Edin. ix, p. 200 (1886); Saunders,
Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 54 (1896).
Sterna dougalli (nec Mont.) Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 369 (1867).
Description. Adult Male—TForehead, crown, nape and upper
lores black; rest of the upper surface pearly-grey, outer primary
with a black outer web, a white shaft, outer half (about ‘25 to 30
in. wide) of the inner web dark ashy, inner half white, the white
disappearing some distance from the tip; inner primaries more
silvery, with white wedge-shaped marks on the inner webs and dark
grey inner margins; rump and tail whitish; the outer webs of the
tail-feathers, especially in the case of the streamers darker grey ;
below including the cheeks white, slightly tinged with pale grey
on the breast and abdomen.
Tris dark brown ; bill coral-red ; legs coral-red.
Length about 13:0; wing 10:5; tail 6:0; depth of fork 3-0;
culmen 1:35; tarsus ‘75; middle toe without claw ‘65.
The sexes are alike; in non-breeding plumage the forehead and
crown are white, more or less mottled with black, the nape retains
more black ; the colours of the bill and feet are duller.
Distribution—_The Common Tern is found along the coasts and
about the inland waters of Europe and temperate Asia and the
eastern half of temperate North America; it migrates south to
India, Africa and Brazil during the northern winter.
In South Africa the Common Tern has been hitherto met with
only along the coast from Walvisch Bay to East London.
The following are recorded localities: Walvisch Bay, October,
November (Andersson), Table Bay, all the year round (Layard),
Port Elizabeth, common (Brown), East London (Rickard).
Habits.—The Common Tern is fairly abundant about the shores
of Table and False Bays, and though generally considered to visit
Africa during the northern winter, is, according to Layard, to be
found here all the year round. There are, in the South African
Museum, examples apparently referable to this species, in non-
breeding plumage, obtained in June and July in Table and False
Bays when one would have expected all the birds to be breeding
in the northern hemisphere, while one procured by Mr. Layard in
full breeding plumage has no date attached. However this may be,
this species has not been hitherto detected breeding here in South
Africa, and until more observations are recorded it is difficult to give
a satisfactory account of this bird’s movements.
442 STERNIDE STERNA
766. Sterna macrura. Arctic Tern.
Sterna birundo, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 227 (1766) [in part]
Sharpe and Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 255, pl. 579 (1872).
Sterna macrura, Nawm. Ists, 1819, p. 1847; Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 262;
Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 650; Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool.
1882, p. 428; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr., p. TO1 (1884);
Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 62 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr.i, p. 163
(1896); Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 63 (1900); Shortridge, Ibis, 1904,
p. 203.
Sterna brachypus, Swainson, B. W. Afr. ii, p. 252 (1887) ; Layard,
B. 8. Afr. p. 871 (1867).
Description. Adult.—Closely resembling S. fluviatilis, but
easily distinguished by the narrowness of the dark bands on the
inner webs of the outer primary; these are only about -12 to ‘15
inch wide instead of ‘25 to 30; as a rule, too, the tarsus is shorter,
not exceeding the middle toe without claw, while the reverse is the
case with S. fluviatilis.
Bill blood-red ; legs coral-red.
Length about 13:0; wing 10:0; tail 70; depth of fork 4:0;
tarsus -65; middle toe without claw -65.
Distribution.The Arctic Tern has a more northerly range than
the Common Tern; it breeds in the circumpolar regions of both the
Old and New World down to about 50° N. in Europe and Asia, and
42° N.in America. During the nortbern winter it is found about
the coasts of South America and South Africa, and even further
south in the Southern Ocean.
As the following list of South African localities shows, this Tern
is by no means confined to the coast, or, indeed, to the mouths of
rivers: Cape Colony—Table Bay, August, and Tulbagh, breeding
dress (Layard), Graaf Reinet, breeding dress, Heidelberg, October,
non-breeding, Kentani Transkei, June, non-breeding, Port St. John’s,
June, non-breeding (S. A. Museum); Natal—Newcastle, November
(Giffard).
767. Sterna balenarum. Damara Tern.
Sternula balenarum, Strickland, Contr. Orn. 1852, p. 160; Gurney, in
Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 368 (1872).
Sterna balenarum, Saunders, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 664; Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 705 (1884); Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 111
(1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 163 (1896); Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i,
p. 68 (1900).
STERNIDE STERNA 443
Description. Adult in breeding plwmage.—Forehead, lore:, crown
and nape black, rest of the upper parts pale lavender-grey, outer
webs and outer halves of inner webs of the three outer primaries
dark grey, shafts and inner halves of the inner webs white;
below white, slightly washed with pearly on the breast.
Tris dark brown ; bill black; legs and feet yellowish.
Length about 8:5; wing 6°70; tail 2°60; depth of fork 1:0;
culmen 1:1; tarsus ‘55.
In non-breeding plumage the black of the head is mottled and
flecked with white. The young bird has the wing-coverts slightly
darker and the lower mandible horn-colour.
Distribution—The Damara Tern is found along the south-west
coasts of Africa from Loango to Table Bay; it was first obtained by
Andersson at Walvisch Bay, where it breeds; Layard and sub-
sequent collectors have met with it on Robben Island off Table
Bay in the months of March and November, in the former case
in non-breeding, in the latter in breeding plumage. It has not
been definitely recorded from the southern coasts of the Colony,
or from elsewhere along the South African coast-line.
Habits—Andersson states that at Walvisch Bay, where it is
very abundant, this little Tern flies in pairs or small flocks, uttering
harsh and rapid cries. It feeds on small fishes and crustacea, in
search of which it explores the creeks and shallows left by the
receding tide. It is swift of flight and rapid of movement. Anders-
son found this bird breeding at Walvisch Bay, the eggs being
deposited in a small hole scooped in the sand.
768. Sterna minuta. Little Tern.
Sterna minuta, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 228 (1766); Dresser, B.
Eur. viii, p. 279, pl. 582 (1876); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr.
p. 705 (1884); Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 116 (1896); Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 163 (1896); Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 66 (1900).
Description. Adult Female in breeding plumage.—Forehead as
far as the eye white, lores, crown and nape black, rest of the upper
surface a pearly-grey, becoming whiter on the rump and tail, the
outer feathers of which are quite white; the shafts of the outer two
primaries blackish, the webs generally also dusky ; below white
throughout.
Bill yellow tipped with black ; legs orange-yellow.
444 STERNIDE STERNA
Length about 9:0; wing 6:5; tail 2:75; depth of fork “75;
culmen 1:2; tarsus ‘68.
The male has asa rule a longer tail; in non-breeding plumage
there is more white on the forehead and the streamers are shorter,
Distribution—The Little Tern is found breeding throughout
Europe south of 60° N. latitude eastwards as far as Northern India ;
in winter it travels southwards to North, West, and perbaps South
Africa. A single example in the British Museum from “ Cape seas”
presented by Sir A. Smith, constitutes the only record of its occur-
rence within our limits.
769. Sterna saundersi. Saunders’ Tern.
Sterna minuta (nec Linn.), Schlegel, Mus. P.-Bas Sterne, p. 22 (1868)
[in part, from Natal].
Sterna saundersi, Hwme, Str. Feathers, v, p. 824-6 (1877) ; Saunders,
Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 120 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 163 (1896) ;
Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 67 (1900).
Description.—Closely resembling S. minuta, distinguished by its
paler mantle, greyer rump and tail, the blackness of the webs of the
three outer primaries on both sides of the black shafts and the very
straight bill.
Bill dusky-yellow, usually black at the tip; legs brownish-
yellow.
Length 9:0; wing 6:6; tail 3:0; depth of fork 1:1; culmen 1:3;
tarsus ‘6.
Distribution.—Saunders’ Tern, which is little more than a sub-
species of the Little Tern, is found along the shores of the Indian
Ocean from Burma to the Red Sea and down the coast of Africa to
Natal, Madagascar, the Seychelles and Macarene Islands.
There are examples of this species from Durban in the Leyden
Museum obtained many years ago by M. Jules Verreaux and in
the British Museum obtained by Shelley in March.
770. Sterna fuliginosa. Sooty Tern.
Sterna fuliginosa, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i. p. 605 (1788); Dresser, B. Eur.
viii. p. 807, pl. 587 (1877); Sawnders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 106 (1896) ;
Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 58 (1900).
“ Wide-awake ” of Ascension.
STERNIDZ ANOUS 445
Description. Adult.—-A broad white frontal band extending to
the upper corner of the eye but not beyond; crown, nape and loreal
stripe from in front of the eye to the gape black, rest of the upper
surface dark brown; outer web of the outer tail-feathers white
contrasting with the inner web; beneath, including the lower half
of the sides of the face, white, tinged with greyish on the abdomen
and under tail-coverts.
Bill and feet black with a reddish tinge. Length 17; wing
115; tail 7:0; depth of fork 4; culmen 1°5; tarsus ‘9. In the
non-breeding dress the lores and crown are flecked with white.
Distribution.—The Sooty Tern is found throughout the tropical
and subtropical seas wherever suitable islands and reefs exist; it
occasionally wanders as far north as Maine in North America and
even to England. In African seas this Tera is met with on Fer-
nando Po, Ascension and St. Helena on the Atlantic side and on
Zanzibar, Mafia and other islands in the Indian Ocean, so that
although never yet definitely recorded from within our limits it is
probable that it will be met with at some future time. This is the
Tern which breeds in such large numbers on the island of Ascension.
The places (three in number), where this takes place are known to
the inhabitants as ‘‘ Wideawake Fairs’? and the bird as the Wide-
awake bird; here there are congregated thousands of Sooty Terns
all engaged in the duty of incubating their single egg; these are
white or faintly tinged with reddish and thickly or sparsely spotted
and blotched with reddish-purple with underlying fainter spots of
pale lilac. The eggs are somewhat rough in texture and measure
about 2:05 x 1:5. Good accounts of the ‘‘ Wideawake fairs ’’ will
be found in the Jdis (1868 p. 286 and 1879 p. 277) by Captain
Sperling and Dr. Penrose. There are eggs in the South African
Museum from Latham Island, 40 miles south of Zanzibar, as well as
from Ascension presented by Captain A. C. Gurney, R.N.
Genus IIT. ANOUS.
Type.
Anous, Stephens, Genl. Zool. xiii, pt. 1 p. 139 (1825)... A. stolidus.
Bill long and strong and not much compressed, downcurved
towards the tip; both mandibles equal; nostril an elongated slit
in a groove, rather nearer the centre of the bill than in Sterna ;
wings as in Sterna; tail long, more than half the length of the
446 STERNIDE MICRANOUS
wing, the outer feathers considerably shorter than the central ones,
the fourth pair from the outside the longest; tarsus short, clearly
less than the middle toe and claw.
The Noddies, two species of which are recognised by Saunders,
are found throughout the tropical and semitropical seas of the whole
world. As arule they are met with in the open sea or near oceanic
islands; they seldom resort to the coasts of the continents.
771. Anous stolidus. Noddy.
Sterna stolida, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 227 (1766).
Anous stolidus, Gould, B. Austr. vii. pl. 84 (1848) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s
B.S. Afr. p. 706 (1884); Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 186 (1896) ;
Shelley, B. Afr. p. 164 (1896); Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 74 (1900).
Description. Adult.—Forehead and crown lavender grey becom-
ing slightly darker on the neck; lores and round the eye almost
black ; upper parts dark brown, the primaries and tail a good deal
darker ; below dark brown with a leaden tinge on the throat, paler
on the under wing-coverts.
Eyes, beak and legs blackish; webs which extend to the tips
of the toes, ochraceous. Length about 15:0; wing 10-5; tail 6-4;
culmen 1:80; tarsus 1:0. The sexes are alike; the young have less
lead colour on the throat and a dark line along the upper wing
coverts.
Distribution.—The Noddy, so called by sailors from its tameness,
and therefore supposed stupidity, is found throughout the tropical
and subtropical seas of almost all the world. It breeds on the
rocky islets off St. Helena and Ascension and on Inaccessible Island
near Tristan da Cunha in the Atlantic, also on Sandy Island near
Madagascar whence its eggs were obtained by Mr. Layard in 1856
during his voyage on H.M.S. “Castor.” There are two examples
from ‘‘ Cape Seas’ in the British Museum.
Genus IV. MICRANOUS.
Type.
Micranous, Saunders, Bull. B. O. C. iv, no. 28, p.
LD (1895) scossverrossseneveravecveiemaveyees ree ete M. tenuirostris.
Bill long and slender, the distance from the angle of gonys to
the tip of the bill longer than that to the gape; the third pair of
rectrices from the outside the longest; in other respects resembling
Anous.
STERNIDA GYGIs 447
This genus was formed for the reception of three Noddies,
distributed over tropical and subtropical seas. One of these will
not improbably be found in South African waters.
772. Micranous leucocapillus. Lesser Noddy.
Anous leucocapillus, Gould, P. Z. 8. 1845, p. 103; zd. B. Austr. vii, pl.
36 (1848); Retchenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 75 (1900).
Micranous leucocapillus, Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 145 (1896).
Description, Adult.—Forehead and crown greyish white, rest
of the plumage very dark brown becoming quite black in a ring
round the eye.
Tris brown; bill black; legs brown. Length about 14:0; wing
8-8; tail 4:0; culmen 1:80; tarsus -90. The sexes are alike; the
immature birds have the forehead, crown and lores white and the
neck and nape sooty black.
Distribution.—The Lesser Noddy has much the same range as
the Common Noddy, being found throughout the tropical and sub-
tropical seas of the world. It breeds on Ascension and Inaccessible
Island near Tristan da Cunha and will probably be found to occur
off the South African Coasts.
Genus V. GYGIS.
Type.
Gygis, Wagler, Isis, 1832, p. 12238... ceeeeseee neers G. candida.
Bill stout at the base and pointed, culmen straight or even
slightly upcurved ; tail forked but the outer pair of feathers con-
siderably shorter than the next or third pair which are the longest ;
tarsus very short, about half the length of the middle toe and claw ;
web between the toes strongly incised, leaving the distal joint quite
free.
Two species of this genus have been described—the one widely
spread over intertropical seas, the other confined to the Marquesas
Islands of the Pacific. The former probably occurs in South
African waters.
448 RHYNCHOPIDA RHYNCHOPS
773. Gygis candida. White Noddy.
Sterna candida, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 607 (1788).
Gygis candida, Gould, B. Australia vii, pl. 30 (1848); Saunders, Cat.
B, M. xxv, p. 149 (1896); Reichenow, Vig. Afr. i, p. 73 (1900).
“White Bird” at St. Helena.
Description. Adult.—Throughout above and below white, except
for an inconspicuous ring of black round the eye; the shafts of the
primaries and rectrices more or less tinged with brown.
Tris blue; bill black; feet black; webs yellow, and incised to
the first joint of the toes.
Length about 12:5; wing 10:0; tail 3-70; tarsus -60; culmen
1:55. The sexes appear to be alike in plumage: possibly the rectrices
are longer in the male. In young birds the shafts of the rectrices
are rather darker.
Distribution.—The White Noddy is found about the tropical and
subtropical islands of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. It
is well known at St. Helena and Ascension where it breeds, and is
also found about Madagascar and the Mascarene Islands in the
Indian Ocean. My. Layard met with it on Sandy Island north-
east of Madagascar in 1856 (see Cape Monthly Magazine iii. 1858,
p. 289).
Family II]. RHYNCHOPIDA.
This family contains only one genus and is at once distinguished
by its remarkably compressed and flattened bill in which the lower
mandible considerably exceeds the upper one in length. Of the
Garrodian thigh muscles the ambiens is absent; the caca are
rudimentary.
Genus I. RHYNCHOPS.
Type.
Rhynchops, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 228 (1766)... RB. nigra.
Bill very much compressed, especially the lower mandible,
which is like the blade of a paper knife, and is considerably longer
than the upper one; both are truncated at the tips, and the lower
one is marked with oblique ridges; nostrils irregular ovals near the
base of the bill in a slight depression; wing very long, reaching
RHYNCHOPIDE RHYNCHOPS 449
far beyond the tail, the first primary the longest; tail comparatively
short and slightly forked; feet small, tarsus a good deal longer
than the middle toe and claw; web between the inner and middle
toe deeply incised.
These curious birds with their very remarkably shaped bills are
found about the rivers of temperate and tropical America, Africa
and southern Asia. Out of five species only one occurs in Africa
and is here described.
774. Rhynchops flavirostris. African Skimmer.
Rhynchops flavirostris, Vieill. N. Dict. d’Hist. Nat. iii, p. 383 (1816) ;
Livingstone, Missionary Travels, p. 252 (1857); Kirk, Ibis, 1864,
p. 887; Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 365 (1872); Shelley,
B. Egypt, p. 302, pl. 14 (1872); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr.
p- 706 (1884); Holub § Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 833 (1882) ;
Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 158 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 164
(1896); Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 76 (1900); Alexander, Ibis, 1900,
p. 442.
“ §cissor-billed Tern” of some authors.
Description. Adult Male in breeding plumage.—Forehead white ;
crown, nape and rest of the upper parts deep umber-brown,
primaries darker brown; secondaries and tail-feathers edged with
whitish ; below including the sides of the face and neck white
throughout ; under wing-coverts smoky-brown.
te QUE HAN
ar
Fic. 140.—Head of Rhynchops flavirostris. x }
Tris brown, bill vermilion to deep orange on the upper, paler
on the lower mandible ; tarsi and toes vermilion.
Length about 14:0; wing 12°5; tail4-0; tarsus ‘92; culmen 1°7 ;
lower mandible 2-4.
29 VOL. IV.
450 RHYNCHOPID RHYNCHOPS
The female is slightly smaller; a young bird has the forehead
slightly streaked with grey and the bill yellowish on its basal, black
on its distal half; in the nestling the bill resembles that of a tern,
and is without any of the curious features of the adult.
Distribution—The African Skimmer is found throughout the
greater part of Africa, where there are suitable rivers, from Senegal
to Damaraland on the west side, and from Egypt to the Zambesi
on the east. ;
Within our limits this bird has not been met with south of the
Orange River, though recently the South African Museum received
an example from the Reit River, a tributary of the Vaal in the
Kimberley District; other localities are: Potchefstroom, January
(Stenning in 8. A. Mus.); Ondonga and Lake Ngami (Andersson)
and the Zambesi River (Livingstone, Kirk, Holub and Alexander).
Habits.—The very curious flattened, paper-knife-like bill of this
bird at once attracts the attention of the observer, and so far no
satisfactory explanation of the use of this remarkable modification
has been suggested. The Skimmer is found chiefly about larger
rivers, where it passes up and down with fairly powerful flight,
spending most of the time so close to the surface of the water that
the tip of the projecting lower mandible is immersed, and it thus
ploughs up the water with its bill, leaving a trail behind it.
Usually flocks of from ten to twenty birds are to be seen
together in this way in the early morning or late afternoon, or even
on moonlight nights, while during the middle of the day they
usually rest on the sandbanks. ‘There is a certain amount of doubt
as to what constitutes their food, but Blanford states that he has
taken fish from the stomach of the Indian species, which is closely
allied to our African one; generally, however, a yellowish oily fluid
is alone found, and it has been suggested that the food of the
Skimmer consists entirely of fresh water alge taken from the
surface of the water.
Alexander found this bird breeding in September on a sandbank
on the Zambesi near Chicowa; the nest, which contained three
much incubated eggs, was a deep, capacious hole scratched in the
sand ; the eggs were stone-coloured, blotched and spotted all over
with light umber-brown and underlying markings of purplish-brown.
Alexander adds that the flight is steady, the wing-beats being very
marked, and the bird skimming the water the whole time; the note
is a loud, harsh ‘kip,’ constantly repeated. A nearly similar
account of the nesting and other habits of the bird is given by
STERCORARIIDE STERCORARIUS 451
Livingstone, on p. 252 of his ‘‘ Missionary Travels,” as observed
by him on the Upper Zambesi near Libonta.
Family IV. STERCORARIIDA.
Sternum with one notch on both sides posteriorily ; of the five
Garrodian thigh-muscles the accessory femorocaudal alone is absent ;
czeca long and well developed.
Only one genus is here recognised, in the description of which
will be found the more prominent external characters.
Genus I. STERCORARIUS.
Type.
Stercorarius, Brisson, Orn. vi, p. 202 (1760) ......... 8. crepidatus.
Bill stout and broad, shaped somewhat like that of a Gull, with
a terminal hook covering the tip of the lower mandible; the basal
two-thirds covered with a horny cere which overlaps the nostrils,
so that the opening is reduced to a small, rounded or slit-like
aperture at the front end of the cere; wings long and strong, the
first primary the longest; tail long and round, but the two middle
feathers prolonged beyond the others, sometimes to a very con-
siderable extent; tarsus stout with transverse scutes in front and
rounded scales laterally and posteriorly; anterior toes very fully
webbed, posterior toe small and stumpy; claws curved, sharp and
strong.
Some seven species of Skua are generally recognised, four of
these are Arctic or north temperate, three Antarctic or south
temperate; two of the northern forms and one of the southern
visit our shores.
Key of the Species.
A. Large; wing over 16:0; central tail-feathers
not projecting more than ‘Sinch ............ S. antarcticus, p. 452.
B. Intermediate; wing 14:0 to 16:0; central tail-
feathers broad, rounded at the ends, and
projecting about 4:0 inches ................00s S. pomatorhinus, p. 455.
C. Smaller ; wing under 14:0; central tail-feathers
pointed and tapering ........cceecsseeessseerreees S. crepidatus, p. 458.
452 STERCORARIIDE STERCORARIUS
775. Stercorarius antarcticus.. Southern Skua.
Lestris antarctica, Lesson, Traité, p. 616 (1881); Fleck, Journ. Ornith.
1894, p. 379.
Lestris catarrhactes (nec Linn.) Layard, Ibis, 1867, p. 459.
Stercorarius catarrhactes, Layard, B. 8S. Afr. p. 866 (1867) ; id. Ibis,
1869, p. 77.
Stercorarius antarcticus, Sawnders, P. Z. S. 1876, p. 821; Sharpe and
Eaton, Phil. Trans. vol. 168, p. 109, pl. vii, fig. 1 (1879); 2d. ed.
Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 696 (1884); Swinburne, P. R. Phys. Soc.
Edin. ix, p. 200 (1886) ; Green, Ocean Bds. p. 87 (1887); Shelley, B.
Afr. i, p. 165 (1896); Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 88 (1900).
Megalestris antarctica, Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 319 (1896).
“ Cape Hawk” or “Sea Hen” of sailors, “Cape Egmont Hen” of the
Falkland Islanders.
Fic. 141.--Head of Stercorarius antarcticus. x }
Description. Adult Female.—General colour above and below
brown, paler round the neck and of a more earthy shade below;
neck, mantle and scapulars with paler and more rufous shaft
markings to the feathers; primaries with the shafts and basal
halves white, forming a conspicuous band when the bird is flying.
Tris light brown; bill and legs black.
Length (in flesh) 23:5; wing 16:25; tail 6:5; culmen 1:5;
tarsus 2:95; middle toe and claw 3:10.
The sexes are alike; the young birds have a tinge of rufous
on the lower surface.
Distribution.—The Southern Skua ranges over the southern
portion of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans from the Falkland
Islands to New Zealand, extending northwards to Norfolk Island
and to Madagascar. It is known to breed on the Falklands,
STERCORARIIDE STERCORARIUS 453
Tristan da Cunha, Gough Island, the Crozets and Kerguelen.
Further south in the Antarctic pack ice and on the Antarctic
continent it is replaced by another closely allied species (S.
maccormicki).
The Southern Skua visits the South African coasts during the
southern winter. It has been recorded from the following places:
Walvisch Bay, July (Fleck), Table Bay, April (Layard), False
Bay, July and August (Turbyne in South African Mus.), Algoa
Bay (Swinburne).
Habits.—The Southern Skua is a most rapacious and blood-
thirsty bird; it is at once the Hawk and the Vulture of the
Southern Seas. On Kerguelen it chases and kills the Blue Petrels
and nearly all other birds, watching for them to emerge from their
nest-burrows in the evening, and again on their return from fishing
in the early morning; it also robs the Gulls and Gannets of the
fishes they have caught, nor does it despise carrion, such as dead
Seals and Whales, or, in fact, any garbage of an edible nature ;
the stomachs of some examples recently obtained for the South
African Museum contained the remains of fish and “bully beef.”
They are very bold and fearless, and will fly in the face of intruders
in defence of their nest and young. The voice is a croak some-
thing like that of a Crow.
The Southern Skua is not known to breed nearer than the
Crozet Islands, whence Mr. Layard received eggs obtained by
Captain Armson. A good account of its habits in Kerguelen is
given by Mr. Hall (Ibis, 1900, p. 8).
776. Stercorarius crepidatus. Richardson's Skua.
Larus crepidatus, Banks, in Cook’s Voy., Hawkesworth’s ed. ii, p. 15
(1778).
Lestris spinicauda, Hardy, Rev. Mag. Zool. 1854, p. 657.
Stercorarius spinicauda, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 866 (1867).
Stercorarius parasiticus, (nec Linn.) Gurney, in Andersson's B.
Damaral. p. 857 (1872).
Stercorarius crepidatus, Dresser, B. Bur. viii, p. 471, pls. 611, 612, fig.
2 (1876); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 695 (1884); Green,
Ocean Bds. p. 84 (1887); Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 327 (18986) ;
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 165 (1896) ; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 89 (1900).
Description. Adult in non-breeding plumage.—In the sooty form
the plumage is brown throughout, darkest on the mantle, wings and
454 STERCORARIIDE STERCORARIUS
tail; acuminate feathers of the neck streaked with golden-straw
colour ; outer primaries with white shafts. In the white-breasted
form there is more or less white on the hind neck, chin, breast
and abdomen.
Bill brownish-horn, darker in front of the cere, legs black.
Length about 18-0; wing 11:5; tail 4:5, to end of central tail
feathers up to 8-0; culmen 1:3; tarsus 1:85; middle toe and claw
1:70.
Young birds are brown above, often mottled and streaked ;
upper tail-coverts barred with dark brown, white and rufous; the
under surface white barred with brown.
Distribution. — Richardson’s Skua has a circumpolar range,
during the northern summer breeding as far south as Scotland.
During the northern winter it migrates southwards to Rio de
Janeiro and the Cape, along the Atlantic seaboards, to the Persian
Gulf in the Indian Ocean, and to New Zealand waters and Cali-
fornia in the Pacific. —
Within our limits this bird has been noticed in Walvisch Bay
by Andersson, who states that it is not at all uncommon during
certain seasons of the year; it is found in Table Bay during the
summer (October to March), and Mr. J. G. Brown informs me that
he has shot a specimen in Algoa Bay.
Habits.—Richardson’s Skua is remarkable for presenting, irres-
pective of sex, two very distinct phases of plumage, one sooty-
brown throughout, the other dark above and white below. Birds
of both phases pair with one another indiscriminately where they
meet, and the young are sometimes intermediate. Mr. Saunders
seems to think that the darker birds are more southerly in their
range, but there are examples of both varieties in the South
African Museum obtained in Table Bay.
This bird is almost parasitic in its mode of life; it seldom fishes
itself, but constantly chases the lesser Gulls and Terns and com-
pels them to disgorge their prey. So active is the Skua that it
usually manages to catch the fish as it falls from the bill of the
Gull before it reaches the surface of the water.
My. Andersson states that this Skua chiefly frequents the
shallows and lagoons along the coast; it is not known to breed
in South Africa, and probably will not be found to do so. In
Scotland its nest is found inland in a hollow in heather or moor-
land grass. Two eggs are laid of a greenish-brown colour blotched
with dark brown.
TUBINARES 455
777. Stercorarius pomatorhinus. Pomatorhine Skua.
Lestris pomarina, Temm. Man. d’Orn. p. 514 (1815).
Stercorarius pomarinus, Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 357
(1872) ; Retchenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 88 (1900).
Stercorarius pomatorhinus, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 695
(1884); Swinburne, P. R. Phys. Soc. Edin. ix, p. 200 (1886);
Saunders, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 322 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 165
(1896).
Description. Adult. — Resembling S. crepidatus but larger ;
the central tail-feathers are broad, rounded at the end, project
about four inches in the adult and are twisted vertically; the
acuminate feathers of the neck are white edged with warm straw
yellow.
‘Bill horn brown ; legs reddish-black.
Length 21:0; wing 14:25; tail about 5:25; with central rectrices
up to 9:25; culmen 1:7; tarsus 2:1; middle toe and claw 2:0.
Distribution.—This is an Arctic bird, breeding chiefly in the
Arctic regions of both the Old and New Worlds north of 70°;
during the northern winter it ranges southwards to North Australia,
Peru and South-west Africa.
Within our limits it has been procured in Walvisch Bay by
Andersson; one of the two examples obtained by him is now
in the British Museum. Mr. 8. Swinburne states that he once
observed, but did not obtain, a Pomatorhine Skua in 32° §. lat.
16° E. long. about 100 miles off the west coast of the Colony.
Order XVIII. TUBINARES.
The members of this Order can be at once distinguished from
all other birds by their nostrils, which open in the form of tubes,
either conjoined on the culmen or separate on the sides of the
mandibles; in addition to this the three anterior toes are always
completely webbed and the hallux when present is small, consisting
of only one phalanx; an aftershaft is present and the rectrices vary
in number from twelve to sixteen.
The skull is schizognathous and holorhinal; the fifth cubital
remex is absent; the oil gland is tufted; there are two carotids and
the Garrodian thigh-muscles vary in the different families but the
femoro-caudal and semitendinosus are always present.
456 TUBINARES
As with the other Orders so with this there is a good deal of
disagreement among authors as to the system of classification most
suitable to express the inter-relations of the members of the group.
Garrod and Forbes laid great stress on the distinctness of the
Long-legged Petrels assigned to the genus Oceanites and its allies
from all the other members of the Order, and I think that on the
whole it is best to follow these authors, recognising only two families
and assigning subfamily rank only to the Stormy Petrels, Puffins,
Diving Petrels and Albatroses.
Key of the Genera.
A. Nostrils opening more or less forwardly on the
top of the culmen, side by side or with a single
opening.
a. Tarsus covered in front by a single plate.
a, Phalanges of toes normal, claws rounded
BN POUT css. vonesmnecd cwhsameesiiabacee wars ayy Oceanttes, p. 458.
b'. Phalanges of toes broad and flat; claws
flattened and spade-like .........ccccceeseseeees Fregetta, p. 461.
bd, Tarsus with transverse scutellations in front... Garrodia, p. 460.
c. Tarsus covered in front with small hexagonal
plates.
a, Small birds, wing under 6:0; plumage sooty.
a, Tail square or slightly rounded ............ Procellaria, p. 464.
bo. Tail distinctly forked ...............cceceeeeeeee Oceanodroma, p. 467.
o'. Larger birds, wing always exceeding 6:0.
a, Sides of the palate smooth without
lamelle.
a’, Tarsus compressed, with a sharp edge
anteriorly.
a‘, Tail with twelve feathers.
a’, Nasal tube short and low about
one-fourth of the length of the
bill; the openings directed for-
wards and upwards... Puffinus, p. 468.
b°, Nasal tube higher, the openings
directed forwards and inwards ... Priofinus, p. 472.
bo’. Tail with fourteen feathers; nasal
tube longer, about one-third of the
length of the bi occas Priocella, p. 478.
6%. Tarsus not compressed, rounded in
front.
a‘, Bill large, its length from the tip to
the base measured straight far ex-
ceeding its distance from the eye;
its colour chiefly yellow ............0.. Majaqueus, p. 474.
OCEANITIDA
»d'. Bill shorter, its length from the tip
to the base measured straight, about
equal to its distance from the eye;
its colour black 2.0.0.0... eee
b*. Sides of the palate with a series of
lamella more or less developed.
a, Birds of large size; wing about 20-0;
sixteen tail-feathers; nasal tube long
about half the length of the bill .........
3, Birds of intermediate size; wing about
10-0; fourteen tail-feathers; nasal tube
shorter, about one third of the length
Of the bib ci siescocewadnss tearecssageuewsninnins ce
e. Birds of small size; wing about 80;
twelve tail-feathers; nasal tube very
short about one-fourth of the length
Of tHE: bill gi cscous shin naugamnienaaen mae
B. Nostrils opening upwards, side by side on the
top of the bill; no hind toe... eee
C. Nostrils each enclosed in a separate long sheath
and opening on either side of the bill between
the culminicorn and the latericorn.
a. Tail short and rounded; no trace of a hind toe;
lower mandible without longitudinal sulcus.
a'. Base of the culminicorn wide, meeting the
latericorn behind the nostrils ...........00.....
u'. Base of the culminicorn narrowed pos-
teriorly, separated from the latericorn
behind the nostrils by membrane ............
b. Tail long and wedge-shaped; hind toe repre-
sented by a rudimentary claw; a longitudinal
groove along the lower mandible ...............
457
Gistrelata, p. 477.
Ossifraga, p. 482.
Daption, p. 485.
Prion, p. 487.
Pelicanoides, p. 498.
Diomedea, p. 494.
Thalassogeron,p.501.
Phebetria, p. 505.
Family I. OCEANITIDA.
Secondaries never more than ten in number; leg bones longer
than the wing-bones; tarsi very long covered in front by a single
shield or by transverse scutes; claws more or less flattened; no
ceca; no basipterygoid processes; semitendinosus with an acces-
sory head; ambiens, when present, not passing over the knee.
458 OCEANITIDE OCEANITES
Genus I. OCEANITES.
Type.
Oceanites, Keys. € Blasius, Wirb. Hur. ii, pp. xcuii,
13T, 238: (1840). oscccgicenens wtadneiem veemmeen O. oceanicus.
Bill slender, compressed and slightly hooked; nostrils opening
externally by a single rounded aperture on the culmen about half
way down the bill; wings very long and pointed, the second
primary the longest; only ten-secondaries; tail of twelve feathers
nearly square, the outer ones only slightly surpassing the middle
ones; tarsus very long about one-and-a-half times the length of
the middle toe, covered in front by a single long smooth shield ;
middle and outer toes nearly equal in length; the basal phalanx of
the middle toe normal and about equal to the others in length;
hind toe rudimentary; webs yellow; claws rounded and pointed ;
size small and plumage sooty.
The sternum is slightly excavated behind, there are no ceca to
the intestine and the ambiens muscle is present.
Two species only of this genus are generally recognised, the
‘widely spread Wilson’s Petrel here described, and a second rarer
species confined to the west coast of South America,
OCEANITID OCEANITES 459
778. Oceanites oceanicus. Welson’s Petrel.
Procellaria oceanica, Kuhl, Beitr. p. 186 (1820); Gurney, in Anders-
son’s B. Damaral. p. 351 (1872).
Procellaria wilsoni, Bp., Journ. Acad. Phil. iii, p. 231, pl. 9 (1823).
Thalassidroma wilsoni, Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. ii, no. 10, p. 57
(1858); Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 859 (1867).
Oceanites oceanicus, Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 505 pl. 614 (1878);
Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. 8. Afr. p. 763 (1884); Swinburne, Proc. R.
Phys. Soc. Edin. ix, p. 197 (1886); Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 3858
(1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 166 (1896); Reichenow, Vig. Afr.
i, p. 85 (1900).
Description. Adult.—General colour sooty brown, darkest on
the wings and tail, paler below; bases of the lateral tail feathers,
and the upper and under tail-coverts white, the latter slightly tipped
with brown on the inner webs; greater wing coverts pale sometimes
edged with whitish.
Ivis dark brown; bill and legs black; inner portion of the web
between the toes bright yellow. Length 7:5; wing 5-5; tail 2-6;
culmen ‘55; tarsus 1:35; middle toe ‘9. Sexes alike, the nestling
covered with uniform greyish black down.
This Petrel can be at once distinguished by its yellow webs,
its very long tarsi without any indication of scutes or shields in
front, and square tail.
- Distribution. —Wilson’s Petrel has a very extended range; it is
found throughout the Southern Ocean, whence it wanders north-
wards in the Atlantic as far as Labrador and the British coasts, in
the Indian Ocean it appears on the Mekran coast of Beluchistan
and around the Australian seas and New Caledonia.
It is occasionally met with about the South African coast.
Andersson states that it is not uncommon about Walvisch Bay;
Layard obtained examples in Table Bay in April 1865 some of
which are still preserved in the South African Museum; Mr. J. G.
os
460 OCEANITIDE GARRODIA
Brown states that it is rare in Algoa Bay and Mr. Rickard has seen
it off Hast London.
Habits.—Like its congeners, Wilson’s Petrel flits over the waves
and often follows ships to pick up odds and ends flung overboard ;
when caught they generally disgorge a mass of oily matter, which
rapidly congeals. Andersson states that this Petrel is very tame,
and will come close up to the fishermen, when they are cleaning
their fish on the beach, to secure scraps.
Wilson’s Petrel is not known to breed in the northern Hemis-
phere. Its nesting habits were first described by the Rev. A.
H. Haton (Phil. Trans., vol. 168, p. 132, 1879), who visited
Kerguelen Island as naturalist to the ‘‘ Transit of Venus’’ Expedition,
in 1874-5, and Mr. R. Hall (dis, 1900, p. 19), has supplemented
Mr. Haton’s account with additional information.
Wilson’s Petrel breeds among the crevices of the cliffs or under
large boulders and stones in Kerguelen in February. The nest
is made of Azorella stalks, and one egg, white with a few pink
spots, oval in shape, and measuring 1:3 x ‘9 is laid; both sexes
seem to incubate, changing places in very early morning, and in the
gloaming, and going straight out to sea on leaving the nest, so that
the birds are very seldom seen. ;
Wilson’s Petrel also seems to breed on the Antarctic Continent,
though the members of the Southern Cross Expedition did not
bring back any eggs with them.
Genus II. GARRODIA.
Type.
Garrodia, Forbes, Proc. Zool. Soc., 1881, p. 786 ......... G. nereis.
Resembling Oceanites in most respects, but at once externally
distinguished by the transverse scutellations of the tarsus, which
is also somewhat longer proportionately to the middle toe; the
claws are somewhat more flattened than in Oceanites but not nearly
so much as in Fregetta. The ambiens muscle is present and the
sternum is entire posteriorly.
Only the one species here described is referred to this genus.
OCEANITIDE FREGETTA 461
779. Garrodia nereis. Garrod’s Petrel.
Thallassidroma nereis, Gould, P. Z. 8. 1840, p. 178; id. Bds. Austr.
vii, pl. 64 (1845).
Garrodia nereis, Forbes, P.Z.S., 1881, p. 735; Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv,
p. 361 (1896).
Description. Adult.—General colour above slaty-black, darkest
on the head, and becoming lighter on the rump and upper tail-
coverts, which are silvery-grey ; tail-feathers also silvery-grey
broadly tipped with black; median wing-coverts ashy-grey, these,
as well as some feathers of the back and upper tail-coverts very
narrowly edged with white on the tips; below from the breast
to the under tail-coverts, including the inner under wing-coverts,
white; flanks streaked with grey. Bill and legs black.
Length 7:25; wing 5:25; tail 25; culmen ‘52; tarsus 1:24;
middle toe ‘9. This Petrel can be recognised by its strongly
scutellated tarsus and by its white underparts.
Distribution-—This little Petrel was first discovered by Gould
in Bass Straits between Australia and Tasmania; it appears to be
spread over the greater part of the Southern Ocean, as examples
have been met with in the Australian and New Zealand seas, as
well as near the Falkland Islands and Kerguelen. It was found
breeding on the latter island by Dr. Kidder, the naturalist of the
United States Transit of Venus Expedition of 1874-5 (Bull. U.S.
Nat. Mus., No. 3, p. 16), and eggs have also been obtained on
Chatham Island to the east of New Zealand by Mr. H. O. Forbes.
There is an example, unfortunately without a recorded history,
in the collections of the South African Museum. As it was
probably obtained in the Cape seas, and at any rate the bird will
doubtless be found within our limits, I have included it here
in this work.
Genus III. FREGETTA.
Type.
Fregetta, Bp. Compt. Rend., xli. p.1118 (1856)... F. melanogaster.
Bill compressed and rather strongly hooked; nostrils opening
by a single rounded aperture at the end of a somewhat upturned
tube lying on the culmen; no trace of a septum externally ; wings
long and pointed, the second primary the longest, the secondaries
only ten in number; tail of twelve feathers, square or deeply
462 OCEANITIDE FREGETTA
forked ; tarsus very long, exceeding the tibia and middle toe
considerably, covered in front by a single smooth plate; phalanges
flattened, especially the basal one of the middle toe, which is equal
to or longer than the distal ones and claw; outer and middle digits
subequal; claws flattened, spade-like and pointed; hind toe very
minute ; sternum entire, no ambiens muscle.
Four species, found throughout the Oceans of the southern
Hemisphere, though wandering north of the equator from time
to time, make up this genus; two of these inhabit the Cape seas.
Fic. 144.—Left foot of Fregetta grallaria. x +
Key of the Species.
A. Abdomen white with a central line of black .. F’. melanogaster, p. 462.
B, Abdomen wholly white. 0.0... F. grallaria, p. 468.
780. Fregetta melanogaster. Black-bellied Petrel.
Thalassidroma melanogaster, Gould, Ann. Mag. N. H. xiii, p. 367
(1844) ; id. B. Austr. vii, pl. 62 (1847); Layard, Ibis, 1863, p. 249, 1867,
p- 459; id. B.S. Afr. p. 858 (1867); Sperling, Ibis, 1868, p. 292, 1872,
pp. 75, 76.
Thalassidroma tropica, Gould, Ann. Mag. N. H. xiii, p- 366 (1844).
Oceanitis tropica, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 764 (1884).
OCEANITID FREGETTA 463
Oceanites melanogaster, Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 166 (1896).
Cymodroma melanogaster, Salvin, Cut. B. M. xxv, p. 864 (1896).
Fregetta melanogaster, Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 36 (1900).
Description. Adult.—General colour sooty-black, darkest on the
head and primaries, the coverts somewhat paler ; upper tail-coverts,
flanks and sides of the abdomen and bases of the under tail-coverts
and rectrices white; middle of the abdomen sooty. Iris dark
brown ; bill and legs, including the webs, black.
Length 8:25; wing 6:10; tail 2:75; culmen ‘60; tarsus 1:5;
middle toe ‘95. The curious flattened phalanges and claws at once
distinguish this Petrel.
Distribution.—The Black-bellied Petrel ranges over the Southern
Ocean, wandering northwards to the Tropic of Cancer in the
Atlantic and to the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean ; it is
specially abundant in the southern part of the Indian Ocean and
in the seas of Australia and New Zealand.
Gould, who described this species, states that he met with
it first off Cape Agulhas, when on his way to Australia, and it has
been recorded by several naturalists from the seas in the neighbour-
hood of the Cape since. Lord Lindsay (now the Earl of Crawford)
obtained examples in 36° §., lat. 40° HE. long., and in 32° S. lat.,
52° EH. long., and the Southern Cross Expedition in 42° 8. lat.,
20° H. long.
Like other Petrels it breeds on the Islands of the Southern
Ocean ; there are eggs in the British Museum from Kerguelen and
the Falklands, while Mr. Layard’s correspondent, Captain Armson,
brought him eggs from the Crozet Islands.
781. Fregetta grallaria. IWhite-bellied Petrel.
Procellaria grallaria, Vieill. N. Dict. d’ Hist. Nat. xxv, p. 418 (1817).
_Thalassidroma leucogaster, Gould, B. Aus. vii, pl. 63 (1847); Layard,
B.S. Afr. p. 358 (1867).
Oceanitis leucogaster, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 764 (1884) ;
Swinburne, P. R. Phys. Soc. Edin. ix, p. 197 (1886).
Cymodroma grallaria, Salvin, Cat. B. .M xxv, p. 866 (1896) ; Parkin,
Ibis, 1900, p. 675.
Oceanites grallarius, Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 166 (1896).
Description. Adult.—General colour sooty-black, rather greyer
on the back, darkest on the tail and primaries; upper tail-coverts,
concealed bases of the feathers of the chin, lower breast, abdomen,
464 PROCELLARIIDE PROCELLARIA
inner under wing-coverts and under tail-coverts white ; the longer
under tail-coverts, which reach nearly to the tip of the rectrices, are
broadly tipped with sooty; the bases of the lateral tail-feathers are
white.
Iris brown ; bill and legs black.
Length 7:75; wing 6:5; tail 3-0; culmen ‘60; tarsus 1-650;
middle toe ‘96.
Distribution.—This Petrel, which has sometimes been considered
to be the Black-bellied in another phase of plumage, is also found
throughout the Southern Ocean and the Australian seas; in the
Atlantic it wanders as far north as Florida and Cape Verd.
There is an example in the South African Museum, alluded
to by Layard, which was obtained by Lieutenant Beardslee of the
United States Navy, about 300 miles west of Cape Town in May,
1867, and Mr. Parkins came across this bird with many others
on December 2nd in 39° S. lat., 8° HE. long. (about 700 miles from
Cape Town) when sailing to Australia in the clipper ship ‘‘ Sobraon.”
Its breeding place and eggs appear to be unknown.
Family II. PROCELLARIID.
Secondaries never less than thirteen in number; leg bones
shorter than the wing bones; tarsi comparatively short; covered
in front with hexagonal scutes; claws sharp and compressed ;
cxca present; basipterygoid present or absent; no accessory head
to the semi-tendinosus; ambiens always present (except in
Pelecanoides) and passing over the knee.
Subfamily I. PROCELLARIIN.
Nostrils united externally above the culmen; margin of the
sternum even; no basipterygoid processess; ambiens muscle
present ; cca present (except in Halocyptena) ; second primary the
longest.
Genus I. PROCELLARIA.
Type.
Procellaria, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 212 (1766) P. pelagica.
Bill slender, compressed and hooked; nostrils united externally
into a single tube on the top of it; wings long and pointed,
secondaries at least thirteen in number; tail square, or slightly
PROCELLARIIDE PROCELLARIA 465
rounded, consisting of twelve feathers; tarsus slightly longer than
the middle toe and claw and about half the length of the femur,
covered in front by hexagonal scutes; claws sharp and compressed ;
two cca on the intestine; plumage sooty-black.
This genus contains only two species, the well-known Stormy
Petrel, found throughout the greater part of the Atlantic, and a
second species apparently confined to the neighbourhood of the
Galapagos Islands in the Pacific.
Fic. 145.—Left foot of Procellaria pelagica. 4. +
782. Procellaria pelagica. Storm Petrel.
Procellaria pelagica, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 212 (1766) ; Gurney,
in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 851 (1872); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.
S. Afr. p. 765 (1884) ; Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 348 (1896); Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 166 (1896).
Thalassidroma oceanica (nec Kuhl), Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 859 (1867).
Thalassidroma pelagica, Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 497, pl. 618, fig. 2
(1874).
Hydrobates pelagicus, Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 84 (1900).
“ Mother Carey’s Chicken” of Sailors.
Description. Adult.—General colour sooty-black, a little paler
on the under surface; upper tail-coverts white tipped with black ;
under tail-coverts and tail-feathers with concealed white bases, but
the shafts black throughout; a small patch of whitish on the under
wing-coverts ; bill and legs black.
Length about 7:5; wing 4:5; tail 2:0; culmen 0:5; tarsus 0°88 ;
middle toe 0°71.
The sexes are alike, and the young resembles the adult but is
of a paler brown.
30 VOL. Iv.
466 PROCELLARIIDZ PROCELDARIA
Distribution —The Storm Petrel is found throughout the Atlantic
Ocean from the western coasts of the British Islands southwards to
the Cape Seas. It is also not uncommon in the Mediterranean.
According to Heuglin it occurs in the Indian Ocean, near the
Straits of Babelmandeb in September and October during the north-
east monsoon.
Within our limits Andersson nctes it from Walvisch Bay, while
it occasionally comes into Table Bay, as is evidenced by the speci-
men still in the South African Museum, procured by Mr. Layard
in May, 1865, but erroneously identified by him. In addition, the
Museum possesses an example from False Bay, obtained in January,
and a third recently brought to the Museum in the month of
September, 1900. Mr. J. G. Brown tells me he has seen the
Storm Petrel in Algoa Bay, but it is rare there. It is not known
to breed anywhere within our limits.
Habits.—The Storm Petrel frequents the open sea at a consider-
able distance from the land; it is, however, liable to be driven to
the coast by storms, and has been met with very far inland after
violent gales; it flies with considerable ease and swiftness just
above the surface of the water, so that it sometimes appears to be
paddling along on the top of the waves. Itis from this habit of
‘walking on the water” that it is supposed to have obtained its
name of Petrel, after the Apostle St. Peter.
The food of these birds consists of small crustacea, mollusca
and fishes, and they frequently follow in the wake of a ship
in hopes of picking up fatty matter among the garbage thrown
out of the galley. From a slow-moving sailing vessel they can be
easily caught, by trailing out over the stern long threads slightly
weighted at one end; but by sailors such a proceeding is regarded
as extremely unlucky and is often highly resented. It is not true,
however, that they connect the Storm Petrel necessarily with bad
weather.
The Storm Petrel breeds in holes or cracks in the ground,
usually in small islands; sometimes a slight nest is made, some-
times the single white egg, often faintly spotted with reddish dots,
is laid on the bare ground. During the time of incubation the
Petrels are nocturnal in their habits and are seldom seen during
the daytime.
PROCELLARIIDZ OCEANODROMA 467
Genus II. OCEANODROMA.
Type.
Oceanodroma, Reichenb., Av. Syst. Nat. p. Ixxxvii.
(1849) 2. aati asives ninasien tiaace seuss neeamed eased oon aietaseeds O. furcata.
Resembling Procellaria, but with a slightly shorter tarsus, which
is equal to, or even shorter than the middle toe and claw, and with
a markedly forked tail.
The members of this genus are chiefly confined to the sea of the
northern hemisphere ; a single example of one species only has been
met with in South African Seas.
783. Oceanodroma leucorrhoa. Leach's Forked-tail Petrel.
Procellaria leucorrhoa, Vieill., N. Dict. Hist, Nat. xxv, p. 422 (1817)
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 166 (1896).
Thalassodroma leucorrhoa, Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 497, pl. 613, fig. 2
1874).
Ps ae leucorrhoa, Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 348 (1896) ; Retche-
now, Vog. Afr. i, p. 83 (1900).
Description. Adult—General colour sooty-black, with a leaden
tinge on the head and throat; the wings and tail darker, the
extreme bases of the rectrices white; lower upper tail-coverts
white with brown shafts and narrow margins; below sooty- brown
throughout. Bill and feet black.
Length about 8:8; wing 6:10; tail 3:20; culmen 0°70; tarsus
1:0; middle toe 0-98.
Sexes alike; young covered with sooty down. This bird can be
at once distinguished from the Stormy Petrel by its forked tail and
longer middle toe.
Distribution.—Though apparently rather rarer than the Storm
Petrel, Leach’s Petrel has a wider distribution, being found through-
out the North Atlantic from Virginia and Greenland to Western
Europe, and the North Pacific from California to Japan. There
is an example in the British Museum from South Africa, obtained
by Sir A. Smith many years ago. This is the only South African
record, so far as I am aware.
Subfamily II. PUFFININZA.
Nostrils united externally, or nearly so, above the culmen;
margin of the sternum uneven; basipterygoid processes present ;
ambiens muscle and cca present; first primary the longest, or not
shorter than the second,
468 PROCELLARIIDZ PUFFINUS
Genus I. PUFFINUS.
Type.
Puffinus, Brisson, Orn. vi, p. 181 (1760) ...... eee ceee cere P. kuhii.
Bill compressed and slender, about as long as the head, strongly
hooked, both mandibles being turned down at the tips; nostril tube
short, about a quarter the length of the bill; openings separated
by a well-marked septum and directed forwards and upwards; wings
long and pointed, first primary the longest ; tail of twelve feathers,
graduated and rounded ; tarsus somewhat slender, the anterior edge
sharp in front, covered with small hexagonal plates, and shorter than
the middle or outer toe, which are nearly equal; hind claw distinct
but very small.
This is a large genus containing some twenty-five species of
birds, generally known as Shearwaters; they must not be con-
fused with the bird known as the Puffin in England, which is allied
to the Auks, a group not represented in South Africa. The Shear-
waters are generally distributed throughout the seas of the whole
world. Although four species are here included as having been
found about the South African Coast, none of them are at all
common or have been met with more than once or twice.
Key of the Species.
A. Below white.
a. Larger; wing 12°5 and upwards.
a, Colours of the sides of the neck distinctly
defined, flanks spotted, middle of the abdomen
USK xrecaasinnvanrtealintcwtensnnanenodenciaensscmocomntie P. gravis, p. 468.
b'. Sides of the neck mottled; flanks and middle
of the abdomen white...... ......ccececeeeseeeeeeeees _ BP. kuhli, p. 469.
b. Smaller; wing 9:0 or under; primaries white
below on the inner edge of the inner web ......... P. assimilis, p. 470.
B. Plumage generally sooty; wing about 12:0; bill
MENG. sscatcsits saexirmssar a amegupiaeapsedanaumuninteamante toca P. griseus, p. 471.
784. Puffinus gravis. Great Shearwater.
Procellaria gravis, O'Reilly, Voy. to Greenl. p. 140, pl. 12, fig. 1 (1818),
Procellaria major, Faber, Prodr. Isl. Orn. p. 56 (1822).
Puffinus major, Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 350 (1872);
Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 527, pl. 616 (1877); Swinburne, P. R. Phys.
Soc. Edin. ix, p. 196 (1886).
Puffinis gravis, Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 878 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr.
p- 166 (1896); Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 29 (1900).
PROCELLARIID PUFFINUS 469
Description. Adult—Above brown, darkest on the head, paler
on the neck, most of the feathers of the body edged with paler,
primaries and rectrices darker brown, the former white towards the
base, the longer upper tail-coverts with white tips; below white
flecked with sooty on the middle of the abdomen and under tail-
coverts and spotted on the flanks with the same colour; under
wing-coverts streaked with brown.
Bill dark horn ; tarsi and toes yellow, darker outwardly.
Length 21:0; wing 12:0; tail 4°50; tarsus 2°20; culmen 2:25.
Disiribution—The Great Shearwater is found throughout the
Atlantic from Greenland southwards to the Falkland Islands and
the Cape seas. Andersson states that itis common in the Cape seas,
especially north of the Orange River, but there does not appear to
have been an example in his collections. Swinburne has noticed it
from 40° 8. lat. to the Cape and beyond 45° S. lat.
There is a specimen in the South African Museum from Inacces-
sible Island, one of the Tristan group, and there are two in the
British Museum from the ‘‘ Cape of Good Hope.”
Habits.—Shearwaters are found generally within no great dis-
tance from the land, though seldom resorting thereto except in the
breeding season; they fly well without apparent effort, though at
times they flap their primaries ; when alighting this species strikes
the water with great violence, hence the vernacular name, and then
dives, pursuing its prey under water with considerable rapidity
and often tearing the bait from the fishermen’s hooks; their food
consists chiefly of cuttle-fish, though any animal substance is
greedily swallowed. Nothing is known of their nidification, but as
they appear to be in ‘the Northern Hemisphere only from about
May to October, they probably resort to some of the islands in the
Southern Ocean for this purpose.
785. Puffinus kuhli. Medzterranean Shearwater.
Procellaria kuhli, Bote, Isis, 1835, p. 257.
Puffinus kuhli, Pelzeln, Novara Reise, Vogel, p. 142 (1865); Dresser,
B. Eur. viii, p. 518, pl. 615 (1877); Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 875
(1896) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 166 (1896).
Description. Adult.—Above brown, darker on the head, the
feathers of the back with paler edges; the longer upper tail-coverts
whitish or mottled; wings and tail darker brown than the back ;
470 PROCELLARIIDE PUFFINUS
below white; the cheeks and sides of the neck grey,.mottled with
white; under tail-coverts white, mottled at the edges; axillaries
and under wing-coverts white; the edge of the wing dark brown.
Bill yellow, tip yellowish-horn; tarsi and toes yellow, darker
outwardly.
Length about 18:5; wing 13-0; tail 4:75; culmen 2°10; tarsus
1:86; middle toe 2:2.
Distribution.—The Mediterranean Shearwater is common in the
sea from which it takes its name; it is also found throughout the
Atlantic from the coasts of Massachusetts and the Canaries and
Madeira southwards, and extends into the Southern Ocean as far
as Kerguelen at any rate, where examples were obtained by the
“Transit of Venus” Expedition.
This Shearwater breeds on various small islands in the Mediter-
ranean and also in the Salvages Isles and the Canaries.
The Novara Expedition obtained two examples of this bird in
September, 1857, at sea, to the west of the Cape of Good Hope in
36° S. lat., 5° E. long., and 35° 8. lat., 7° E. long. respectively.
This is the only definite occurrence of the species in South African
waters which I have found recorded.
786. Puffinus assimilis. Gowld’s Little Shearwater.
Puftinis assimilis, Gould, P. Z. S. 1837, p. 156; id. Bds. Australia, vii,
pl. 59 (1848); Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 384 (1896); Shelley, Bas.
Afr. i, p. 167 (1896).
Description. Adult.—General colour above slaty-black ; the
bluish tinge most marked on the back of the neck ; below, including
the lower half of the face and sides of the neck white throughout ;
a patch of slaty-blue on either side of the breast; under wing-
coverts and the inner half of the inner web of the primaries below
white.
Bill, basal half blue, distal half and nasal tubes black; legs
blackish ; the webs between the toes yellowish.
Length about 11:0; wing 7:0; tail 3-0; culmen 1:1; tarsus 1:4;
middle toe 1:6.
Sexes alike.
Distribution—This Shearwater was first described by Gould
from specimens obtained on the coast of New South Wales. It is
found throughout the Australian and New Zealand seas, extending
PROCELLARIIDH PUFFINUS 471
to the Fijis, Phoenix Island and St. Ambrose in the Pacific, and to
the Salvages and Madeira in the Atlantic.
It nests on the Fiji, Kermadec and St. Ambrose Islands in the
Pacific and on the Desertas near Madeira, the Great Salvages
between Madeira and the Canaries, the Cape Verd Islands and
Gough Island in the Atlantic.
In the South African Museum there is a single mounted
specimen obtained by Mr. Layard during his voyage in H.M.S.
‘Castor’ in the South Atlantic. This is the only record, so far as
Iam aware, of its occurrence within our limits.
787. Puffinus griseus. Sooty Shearwater.
Procellaria grisea, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 564 (1788).
? Puffinus cinereus, Smith, IUustr. Zool. 8. Afr. Aves, pl. 56 (1840).
Puffinus griseus, Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 523, pl. 616; Swinburne,
P. R. Phys. Soc. Edin. ix, p. 197 (1886); Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv,
p. 386 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 167 (1896); Reichenow, Vég.
Afr. i, p. 29 (1900).
Description. Adult.—General colour sooty-brown, darker on the
head, lower back, wings and tail; feathers of the back indistinctly
edged with paler; greater coverts and under surface greyer and
paler; under wing-coverts greyish-white with darker shafts.
Bill horn; feet dark hazel.
Length about 18:0; wing 12:0; tail, central feathers 3-5, lateral
feathers 2:7; bill 2-1; tarsus 2:4; middle toe 2:6.
Sexes alike.
Distribution—The Sooty Shearwater has a very wide range,’
being found throughout the seas of both Hemispheres from the
Faroe Islands of the North Atlantic and the Kurile Isles of the
North Pacific, southwards to the Straits of Magellan and the New
Zealand seas.
Its breeding haunts appear to be confined to the Southern
Hemisphere, where it has been observed nesting in the Chatham
Islands by Mr. Travers, and on other islands off the New Zealand
coast. Owing to the idea for many years prevalent that this bird
was either a dark form or a young bird of the Greater Shearwater,
a certain amount of confusion has arisen in regard to it. There
is, however, an example in the British Museum from South Africa,
and it seems probable that the bird figured by Smith, on plate 56
of his work, is referable to the present species,
472 PROCELLARIIDE PRIOFINUS
Genus II. PRIOFINUS.
Type.
Priofinus, Hombr. & Jacq. Compt. Rend. xviii, p. 355
(CUBA see cap nities alae eonenaananny shame caneanen 33 P. cinereus.
This genus closely resembles Pufiinus, differing only in the shape
of the nasal tubes ; these are somewhat higher and slightly swollen
at the orifices, and open forwards and slightly inwards but not
upwards, so that from above they are hardly visible.
One species only is assigned to this genus; it is found through-
out the Southern Ocean.
788. Priofinus cinereus. Great Grey Petrel.
Procellaria cinerea, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 563 (1788); Sperling, Ibis,
1868, p. 293; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 25 (1900).
Procellaria hesitata (nec Kuhl), Gould, B. Austr. vii, pl. 47 (1848);
Hutton, Ibis, 1869, p. 352.
Adamastor cinereus, Sawnders, P. Z. S. 1880, p. 164; Green, Ocean
Birds, p. 27 (1887).
Priofinus cinereus, Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 390 (1896); Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 167 (1896); Sharpe, Southern Cross Exped. p. 142
(1902).
Fic. 146.—Head of Priofinus cinereus. x %
Description. Adult.—Above French grey, darker on the head,
wings and tail; feathers of the back and rump with dark brown
shaft-marks; below white; the sides of the face and neck pale grey ;
PROCELLARIIDE PRIOCELLA 473
some feathers on the flanks, under wing coverts and some of the
under tail-coverts grey.
Iris dark brown ; bill greenish-yellow, the nostrils and culmen
black, mandible greenish-horn, the lines of division black ; tarsi and
toes bluish-brown, the outer toe darker, the webs with a yellow
tinge.
Length (in flesh) 18:0; wing 12:75; tail 4:25; tarsus 2-20;
middle toe 2°40; culmen 2:05.
Distribution.—The Great Grey Petrel is found throughout the
Southern Ocean and is generally distributed between the 30th
and 55th parallels of South latitude. It was found breeding
on Round Island near Mauritius many years ago by Mr. Layard,
and is stated to nest on Kerguelen by Captain Hutton (Ibis, 1865,
p- 286) but it has not been noticed since by the Transit of Venus
Expedition or by Mr. Hall.
This Petrel is not uncommon in the Cape Seas; Captain Hutton
obtained it in April, 1866, in 36° S. lat., 2° E. long., and in 35° S.
lat., 15° EK. long.; Lord Lindsay on September 21, in 35° §. lat.,
9° I. long., and the Southern Cross Expedition in 42° S. lat., 20° E.
long., while there is an example in the South African Museum,
a female obtained in September, 1903, by Captain Turbyne of the
8.8. “ Pieter Faure,” about forty miles west of Cape Point.
Genus III. PRIOCELLA.
Type.
Priocella, Hombr. &€ Jacq. Compt. Rend. xviii,
Pi SOF (B44) a, ese cccdoets yop visi see w a dee’ sas seve . P. glacialoides.
This genus is closely allied to Puffinus, but the nasal tube is
longer, about one-third of the length of the bill and opens for-
wardly ; there are fourteen tail-feathers instead of twelve.
Only one species, found throughout the Southern Ocean, is
assigned to this genus.
789. Priocella glacialoides. Silver-grey Petrel.
Procellaria glacialoides, Smith, Ill. Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pl. 51 (1840);
Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 361 (1867).
Thalasseca tenuirostris (nec Temim.), Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr.
p. 767 (1884).
Priocella glacialoides, Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 893 (1896); Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 167 (1896) ; Parkin, Ibis, 1900, p. 675; Reichenow, Vog.
Afr. i, p. 27 (1900); Vunhéffen, Journ, Ornith. 1901, p. 310.
474 PROCELLARIIDE MAJAQUEUS
Description. Adult.—Above pale grey, paler on the head and
back of the neck; quills greyish-black outwardly ; a dark spot
in front of the eye; forehead, cheeks and entire under surface
white; flanks washed with pale grey; under wing-coverts and
axillaries pure white ; tail pale grey.
Iris brown; bill yellow, the tip, middle of the culmen, nasal
covers and base of maxilla black; legs pale flesh colour, the outer
toe darker.
Length about 18:0; wing 12-6; tail with fourteen feathers, 5:1;
culmen 2:1; tarsus 1:8; middle toe 2-4. Sexes alike.
Distribution.—This Petrel is another of those, the headquarters
of which are in the Great Southern Ocean. In the Pacific, however,
it wanders up the coast of America as far north as Washington
Territory, and in the Atlantic as far as St. Helena, while to the
southward it reaches the Antarctic pack ice. Kerguelen Island
is said to be a breeding place, but no properly authenticated eggs
appear to have been hitherto obtained.
Sir Andrew Smith, who first discriminated this Petrel, stated
that it frequented the African coast, and frequently entered the
bays for the purpose of obtaining food. This observation has hardly
been confirmed by later authorities, as Layard never obtained a
specimen, nor is there one in the South African Museum. It has
been recently identified at sea by Mr. Parkin in 39° 8. lat., 8° E. long.,
in December, while Professor Vanhoffen met with it in November
between Cape Town and the Bouvet Islands during the voyage
of the 8.8 “ Valdivia’ of the German Deep-Sea Expedition.
Genus IV. MAJAQUEUS.
Type.
Majaqueus, Reichenb. Natirl. Syst. Voy. p. iv,
(1852) 7. se Wasacdansuec mass cay meemumumenasee acest asin M. equinoctialis.
Bill stout and strong, the hook occupying at least balf its length,
chiefly yellow in colour; lower mandible with a groove dividing
it plainly into an upper and lower piece; nasal tube broad and
short, about a quarter of the length of the culmen, opening appear-
ing almost single as the broad septum is well within it, openings
directed forwards and inwards ; wings moderate, first and second
primaries subequal; tail of twelve feathers somewhat graduated ;
tarsus considerably shorter than the middle and outer toes, more
PROCELLARIDE MAJAQUEUS 475
or less rounded in front; hind toe small, claw sharp; plumage
sooty-black.
The species of this genus, two in number, are confined to the
Southern Ocean.
790. Majaqueus equinoctialis. Cape Hen.
Procellaria quinoctialis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 218 (1766); Grill, K.
Vet. Akad. Handl. ii, no. 10, p. 59 (1858); Layard, Ibis, 1862, p. 97,
1863, p. 249, 1867, p. 459; id. B. S. Afr. p. 860 (1867); Reichenow,
Vog. Afr. i, p. 24 (1900); Vanhdtfen, Jowrn. Ornith. 1901, p. 807.
Procellaria conspicillata, Gould, B. Austr. vii, pl. 46 (1848).
Majaqueus equinoctialis, Swinburne, Proc. R. Phys. Soc. Edin. ix, p.
198 (1886); Sharpe, ed. Layard s B.S. Afr. p. 766 (1884); Salvin,
Cat. B. AM. xxv, p. 395 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 167 (1896) ;
Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 203.
“ Black Haglet,” “ Black Night Hawk,” “ Stinkpot,” and “ Stinker,”
of Sealers and Whalers.
Fic. 147.—-Head of Alajaqueus equinoctialis. x 3
Description. Adult.—General colour throughout sooty-black,
slightly paler and browner below, in the middle of the back, and
on the wing-coverts ; a patch of white on the chin reaching usually
to below the eye; basal halves of the shafts of the primaries white.
Tris hazel; bill greenish-horn, the tip of the mandible, the
membrane dividing the various portions of the sheath of the bill
and the flat space on the culmen in front of the nostrils black ;
legs and feet black, sometimes with a pinkish or yellowish tinge
on the webs.
476 PROCELLARIIDE MAJAQUEUS
Length (in the flesh) 21:5; wing 14:50; tail 5-25; culmen 1:69 ;
tarsus 2°5; middle toe 3-0. Nestlings are covered with slaty-grey
down and the chin patch is not assumed till later.
The amount of white on the throat and cheeks varies consider-
ably with different individuals, even from the same localities; as a
rule it is most developed in Australian examples, where a band
of white extends right across the forehead. These have been
considered to represent a distinct species.
Distribution.—The Cape Hen is found throughout the Southern
Ocean, including the coasts of South Africa, Tasmania, New
Zealand and Chili. It is one of the commonest birds in Table Bay,
and has been found northwards as far as Great Fish Bay, near
the southern border of Angola, in about 17° §. lat., where it was
met with by Professor Vanhoffen, the naturalist of the German
Deep-Sea Expedition. In the other direction Mr. Brown tells me
it is not uncommon in Algoa Bay, while Myr. Swinburne has
frequently observed it in the roadsteads of East London and
' Durban. North of this it was noticed by Peters on the Mozambique
coast, according to Finsch and Hartlaub.
Habits.—One of the commonest birds about the South African
coasts, though not, as a rule, seen except at sea, the Cape Hen can
be always at once recognised by the white patch on its chin. It
is resident on our coasts throughout the greater part of the year,
though the majority of the birds leave our shores in December and
January for breeding purposes.
The flight is very Albatros-like and a pair may be watched for
some time sweeping to and fro across the wake of a vessel without
any appreciable movement of the wings, which appear to keep
perfectly horizontal until the turn is made, when the one tip is
depressed and points straight downwards and the other points
straight up to the sky. Occasionally they settle on the water to
pick up refuse thrown from the ship, and when rising flap their
wings slightly in order to get under way again. The natural food
consists of cuttle fish, the beaks of which are frequently to be found
in their stomachs, and fishes. Hall states that they also eat kelp
or seaweed, as he found traces of this in their stomachs. Like other
Petrels the Cape Hen has a very strong odour of a somewhat
musky character.
Kerguelen and the Crozet Islands are the best known breeding
haunts of this Petrel. Kidder, Moseley, Haton and Hall have
all given accounts of its nidification. A long burrow, from two
PROCELLARIID CSTRELATA 477
to three yards in length, is made in the hillside, generally in a very
damp spot, often with a small cascade running over the entrance.
The tunnel ends in a larger chamber in the centre of which is a nest
built up like an inverted saucer with a depression at the top, the
floor of the chamber being frequently covered with water. Here,
usually in January, a single egg is laid; this is oval, almost equally
pointed at each end, white and smooth, but not glistening, and
measures about 3-2 x 2:1. Both male and female appear to take
part in incubation, the male during the day, the female at night.
When dug out of the nest the bird utters a prolonged and high
pitched cry, and often inflicts a nasty wound with its beak.
There are eggs of this bird in the South African Museum from
the Crozet Islands, obtained many years ago from Captain Armson.
Genus V. CESTRELATA. *
Type.
Astrelata, Bp. Consp. Av. ii, p. 188 (1856) ........... di. hasitata.
Bill rather shorter than the head but very strongly hooked, the
unguis forming more than half the bill, which is generally black
throughout ; nasal tube very short, less than a quarter the length
of the culmen; opening as in Majaqueus, directed forwards and
inwards; wing moderate, first and second primaries subequal ; tail of
twelve feathers slightly graduated; tarsus much shorter than the
middle toe and claw, covered with hexagonal scales ; hind toe small.
This is a large genus, containing some thirty species found
principally in the tropical and temperate portions of the Oceans of
the Southern Hemisphere but occasionally wandering north of the
Line as far as the British Isles and Japan. Four species have been
met with in Cape Seas and it is quite probable that others may
occasionally occur there.
Key of the Species.
A. Plumage sooty black throughout ...............5 E. macroptera, p.478.
B. Below more or less white.
* «. Head except the region round the eye white... 1. lessont, p. 479.
b. Crown more or less dark.
a’. Forehead, throat and neck dark like the
DOCK sas secinedieececasvemcainndeis apteduaaneneasiiengesbee CG. incerta, p. 480.
b!. Forehead, throat and neck more or less
WHATS) sioriass goonies ganiptaduuaisenagicyeaemdtaanecnse G. mollis, p. 481.
478 PROCELLARIIDE CSTRELATA
791. Qstrelata macroptera. Long-winged Petrel.
Procellaria fuliginosa, (nec Gmel.) Kuhl, Bettr. p. 142 (1820).
Procellaria macroptera, Smith, Ill. Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pl. 52 (1840) ;
Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 860 (1867); id. Ibis, 1867, p. 460; Butler,
Feilden and Reid, Zool, 1882, p. 428.
Procellaria atlantica, Gould, Ann. Mag. N. H. xiii, p. 362 (1844); Grill,
K. Vet. Akad. Handi. ii, no. 10, p. 59 (1858).
Aistrelata) macroptera, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 766 (1884) ;
Swinburne, P. R. Phys. Soc. Edin. ix, p. 198 (1886); Salvin, Cat.
B. M. xxv, p. 899 (1896) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 167 (1896) ; Reichenow
Vog. Afr. i, p. 26 (1900); Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 204.
“Cape Parson ” of Sailors in allusion to its dusky plumage.
Description. Adulii—General colour above and below sooty
black, darkest on the back and wings; a little paler on the crown
and below; most of the feathers both above and below with paler
and in some cases white concealed bases.
Tris grey-black ; bill and legs black.
Length (in flesh) 16-25; wing 12-0; tail 4:5; culmen 1:6; tarsus
1:7; middle toe 2:0.
Distribution.—This Petrel is found throughout the Southern
Ocean between about the 30th and 50th parallels. It is met with
on the coasts of Southern Africa and of New Zealand, but I have
not been able to find a reference to its occurrence on the South
American Coast or in the Southern Pacific.
The Long-winged Petrel is not uncommon in the seas around
Cape Colony. Victorin met with it in 33°. lat. 17° H. long. not
far from Table Bay, and Swinburne states that he saw a pair off
Duiker Point about twelve miles south of Cape Town. Mr. Brown
tells me be has met with only one example; this was a wounded
bird and was found ina garden in Port Elizabeth. Further east at
Port St. John’s, Mr. Shortridge states they are sometimes blown
ashore after a heavy gale and two specimens obtained in June in
this manner are now preserved in the South African Museum in
addition to a third shot forty miles west of Cape Point in August
by Capt. Turbyne, of the Government. Steain Trawler, ‘ Pieter
Faure.” Capt. Reid observed this Petrel in the Durban roadstead
in December.
Habits.—Little has been noticed of special interest about the
habits of the Long-winged Petrel. Capt. Hutton likened it when
on the wing to a huge Swift, while Smith remarked that it was
a rare bird in the Cape seas and generally flew low near the surface
PROCELLARIIDE CESTRELATA 479
of the water. It breeds on the Crozet Islands, whence eggs were
brought by Capt. Armson to Mr. Layard; one of these is still
preserved in the South African Museum. It is very like that of
the Cape Hen but smaller and somewhat more rounded, measuring
27 x 19; the colour is white and the texture smooth but not
very glossy.
Mr. R. Hall (Zbis, 1900, p. 24) met with this bird in considerable
numbers on Kerguelen but he did not find any eggs or nests,
although the birds appear to occupy burrows on the higher ground
about the beach. He states that they are preyed on considerably
by the Skuas and suffer a good deal of persecution. He found nine
dead birds lying on the beach.
792. C£strelata lessoni. Lesson's Petrel.
Procellaria lessoni, Garnot, Ann. Sct. Nat. vii, p. 54 (1826); Hutton,
Ibis, 1867, p. 188.
Cistrelata lessoni, Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 401 (1896); Shelley, B.
Afr. i, p. 167 (1896) ; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 26 (1900).
“ White Night Hawk” or “ Mutton Bird,” of Kerguelen whalers.
Description. Adult.—Upper surface grey, darker on the rump
and becoming gradually whiter on the crown which is nearly pure
white ; feathers of the back edged with paler; nape and sides of the
neck transversely mottled pale grey and white; wings and wing-
coverts nearly black; upper tail-coverts and central tail-feathers
pale grey, lateral ones nearly white; forehead and entire under
surface pure white, region in front of and below the eye black;
under wing-coverts dark grey, each feather edged with white; quills
grey below, white on the concealed portions of the base.
Iris black; bill black; tarsi yellow; distal portion of the toes
and webs and the outer toe dark, the rest yellow.
Length about 18:0; wing 12:2; tail 5-0; bill 1-9; tarsus 18;
middle toe 2°4.
Distribution. Lesson’s Petrel is found throughout the Southern
Ocean, including the coasts of New Zealand, Australia and South
Africa. There is an example in the British Museum presented by
Sir G. Grey from 36° S. lat., 10° E. long., which is not very far
from the Cape, while Hutton noted an example in 36° S. lat.,
9° E. long. a good many years ago when on a voyage to New
Zealand. There is no specimen of it in the South African Museum.
480 PROCELLARIID CESTRELATA
Habits.—Lesson’s Petrel can be easily recognised when it is
seen by its white head which forms a strong contrast to its dark
wings ; it is a bird of very powerful flight, in this respect far exceed-
ing any of its congeners according to Gould. Jt feeds chiefly on
cuttle-fishes, the little horny beaks of which are almost always
found in its stomach.
As is the case with so many other Petrels, it returns to Kerguelen
to nest, where its eggs have been found by the Transit of Venus
and Challenger Expeditions, and more recently by Mr. Hall. The
single egg is white and measures about 2°85 x 2:0; itis laid ina
rounded chamber at the end of a short burrow, about the size of
that of a rabbit. This, unlike that of the Cape Hen, is always on
dry ground and may be placed at any elevation from the shore level
to 300 feet. The old birds are very savage when molested and utter
a very loud, shrill cry, both then and at other times.
793. CQstrelata incerta, Schlegel’s Petrel.
Procellaria incerta, Schleg. Mus. P. B. vi, Procell. p. 9 (1863).
Cstrelata incerta, Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 405 (1896); Shelley, B.
Afr. i, p. 167 (1896); Retchenow, Vog Afr. i, p. 26 (1900); Parkin,
Ibis, 1900, p. 675.
Description. Adult.—Above brown, darker on the rump, paler
on the back of the neck, the feathers of the back and the wing-
coverts edged with a paler shade; sides of the neck and _ breast
pale greyish brown, the middle of the throat nearly white; flanks,
under tail-coverts, axillaries and quills dark brown.
Bill black ; tarsus and proximal balf of the toes and webs yellow,
remainder of the latter blackish.
Length about 17:5; wing 12:5; tail 55; bill 2:0; tarsus 1:7;
middle toe 2°4.
Distribution.—This rare Petrel has only been found in the South
Atlantic, near the South African coast. There are three examples
in the British Museum, all from Cape seas, obtained in 36° S. lat.
10° EB. long., in August, in 39° §. lat. 9° E. long., in September, and
in 39° §. lat. 8° E. long. in December. This species is not repre-
sented in the South African Museum.
PROCELLARIIDE CESTRELATA 481
794. (istrelata mollis. Soft-plumaged Petrel.
Procellaria mollis, Gould, Ann. Mag. N. H. xiii, p. 868 (1844) ; id, B.
Austr. vii, pl. 50 (1848).
Asstrelata mollis, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.S. Afr. p.766 (1884); Salvin,
Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 406 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 167 (1896);
Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 27 (1900); Parkin, Ibis, 1900, p. 675;
Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 204.
Description. Adult.— General colour above slaty-grey, rather
darker on the head and wings which are almost black; tail like the
back, the lateral feathers slightly freckled with white; forehead and
lores mottled with white; a black patch in front of and below the
eye; sides of the neck and cheeks freckled grey and white; below
white throughout with a band of slaty-grey, sometimes not quite
complete across the chest; under wing-coverts and under surface
of the wing-quills very dark brown; under tail-coverts very long,
reaching the end of the tail-feathers.
Fic. 148.—Head of @strelata mollis. x 1}
Iris and bill black; tarsus and proximal portion of the toes flesh-
coloured, distal portion and webs black.
Length (in flesh) 14:0; wing 10-0; tail 4-5; culmen 14; tarsus
1:3; middle toe 1:56.
Distribution.—The Soft-plumaged Petrel is found throughout the
Southern Ocean down to about the 50th parallel; in the Atlantic it
crosses the line and is found as far north as Madeira.
This Petrel is not uncommon in the Cape seas, especially off
the south-eastern coast of Cape Colony. In the South African
Museum there is an old mounted example obtained by Mr. Layard
in 31° S. lat. 26° H. long., off the coast of Pondoland, as well as a
pair recently obtained, in June, 1902, at Port St. John’s, by Mr,
31 VOL. IV.
482 PROCELLARIIDE OSSIFRAGA
Shortridge, who states that these birds occasionally collect there
on the sea shore in flocks after rough weather. Other examples
from Cape seas are recorded by Layard, Hutton, Parkin and the
Southern Cross Expedition.
Habits.—This Petrel is a bird of rapid and graceful flight and is
usually seen in small companies. It is seldom met with near the
coast except after very rough weather. The only definitely recorded
breeding place is in New Caledonia, where Mr. Layard found it
nesting near the summit of Mount Mou.
Genus VI. OSSIFRAGA.
Type.
Ossifraga, Hombr. & Jacg., Compt. Rend. xviii, p. 356
(GEE) © ck sy aster ite au a nel Meh lai ld eo etd O. gigantea.
Bill stout and strong about as long as the head; a few lamelle
along the sides of the palate, the tip of the lower mandible slightly
upturned, forming an angle at the gonys; nasal tube long and
strong about half the length of the bill with a single opening
forwardly directed, the septum not reaching the aperture; space
between the rami of the lower jaw feathered in the centre but
leaving a bare space on either side; wing comparatively short, not
reaching the tail tip, secondaries usually twenty-nine in number ;
tail very short, slightly rounded and consisting of sixteen feathers;
tarsus short, about equal to the two basal joints of the middle toe,
claw of hind toe well-developed; size very large; plumage sooty
brown or black.
This genus, containing only a single species, is found through-
out the Southern Ocean.
795. Ossifraga gigantea. Giant Petrel.
Procellaria gigantea, Gmel., Syst. Nat. i, p. 563 (1788) ; Gowld, B. Austr.
vii, pl. 45 (1848); Layard, Ibis, 1862, p. 97, 1867, p. 458; zd. B.S.
Afr. p. 860 (1867); Sperling, Ibis, 1868, p. 293; Swinburne, P. R.
Phys. Soc. Edin. ix, p. 197 (1886). ;
Ossifraga gigantea, Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 854 (1872) ;
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8S. Afr. p. 765 (1884); Green, Ocean Birds,
p- 25, pl. v. (1887) ; Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 422 (1896) ; Shelley, B.
Afr.i, p. 168 (1896) ; Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 24 (1900); Vanhdffen,
Journ. Ornith, 1901, p. 809.
“Nelly,” sometimes “Leopard Bird ” of Sailors, “Glutton Bird” of
Sealers,
PROCELLARIIDE OSSIFRAGA 483
Description. Adult male.—Uniform chocolate-brown throughout,
the centres of the feathers rather darker than the edges; below
often a little paler than above.
Tris hazel; bill pale sea green ; legs brownish-black.
Length 36:0 (a female measured in the flesh 33:0); wing 20-0;
tail 6°5; culmen 5:0; tarsus 3:5; middle toe 5:0.
The sexes are alike, the young birds paler than the adults; the
size of the bill varies a good deal; in two examples in the South
African Museum the culmen only measures 3'75,:as against the
more usual 5:0.
Fic. 149.—Head of Ossifraga gigantea. x 3
White and nearly white individuals are not uncommon. The
nestling is covered with long grey down, when fledged they are
dark brown mottled with white.
Distribution.—Throughout the Great Southern Ocean from about
the Tropic of Capricorn to the Ice Barrier and the Antarctic Con-
tinent, where it was seen in considerable numbers by the members
of the Southern Cross Expedition, the Giant Petrel appears to be
everywhere abundant. Like other Petrels it resorts to oceanic
Islands to nest and rear its young; among others the Falklands,
South Georgia, Tristan da Cunha and Gough Island in the Atlantic,
Prince Edward and the.Crozet Islands, and Kerguelen in the Indian
Ocean, may be mentioned as breeding places.
The Giant Petrel is found about the South African coasts during
the greater part of the year; it is common enough in Table Bay,
and has been obtained on the western coast as far north as Mossa-
medes in 15°S. lat.
484 PROCELLARIIDE OSSIFRAGA
Mr. Brown informs me that it is not uncommon about Algoa
Bay, and Swinburne has seen it frequently about the roadsteads
at Hast London and Durban. According to Hartlaub it has been
taken as far north as the Island of Bourbon.
There is a good series of examples in the South African Museum,
all from Table Bay or near by, obtained in the months of May and
August.
Habits —The Giant Petrel, though inferior in‘size to the Wan-
dering Albatros, is a large bird measuring about eight feet across
from tip to tip of the wings: neither is it so powerful in flight as
the Albatros; it frequently follows a ship to pick up scraps of
offal, and is often to be seen about Table Bay and other South
African roadsteads looking out for food, but it never, so far as I[
know, voluntarily comes to the beach or land in South Africa. The
Giant Petrel preys principally on scraps and carrion, but it also
seems to attack and devour other smaller birds, such as the Prions.
The stomach of one recently brought to the Museum in the flesh
contained the beaks of what was undoubtedly a species of this
genus.
Sperling specially remarks on the “diabolical croak” of this bird
often heard at sea during the night. It is not asa rule so easily
caught with a hook and line, as the Albatros.
As already stated the Giant Petrel breeds on the Islands of the
Southern Ocean; Kidder (Bull. U. 8. Nat. Mus. No. 3), and Hall
(Ibis, 1900, p. 25), have perhaps given the best accounts of the
nesting habits as observed by themi'on Kerguelen. A single egg
is laid in the open (not in a burrow), among the tufts of Azorella
plants, of which a rough nest is made; there are usually a number
of nests together, forming a rookery, which is placed at a con-
siderable elevation some way from the beach. When approached
or frightened they vomit a disgusting mass of oily: fluid and
undigested food from their stomach, projecting it for a distance of
several feet. They do not take to flight on land, but make at’ once
for the water on foot and start flying from thence. As soon as a
seal is killed, the ‘‘ Glutton-birds,” as the sealers call them, rapidly
assemble and gorge themselves on the blubber and flesh. They
have a peculiar musky and very disagreeable odour which clings
to them for some time.
Two eggs in the South African Museum, brought to Mr. Layard
by Capt. Armson, are very nearly true ovals, rather rough and
granulated in texture and white in colour without any trace of
gloss ; they measure 4:10 x 2°75.
PROCELLARIIDA DAPTION 485
Genus VII. DAPTION.
Type.
Daption, Steph. in Shaw's Gen. Zool. xiii, p. 239 (1825)...D. capensis.
Bill rather short and weak, less than the length of the head;
unguis less than half the bill, palate with a few lamelle along the
sides ; nasal tube short, about one third of the length of the culmen
with a single anteriorly directed opening, which, however, is divided
within; space between the rami of the lower mandible bare; wings
well developed, the first primary the longest; tail evenly rounded,
of fourteen feathers; tarsus slender, covered with hexagonal scales,
shorter than the middle toe; claw of hind toe small.
The well known Cape Pigeon is the only species of this genus;
it is found throughout the Southern Ocean.
796. Daption capensis. Cape Pigeon.
Procellaria capensis, Linn. Syst. Nat. i. p. 213 (1766); Grill, K. Vet.
Akad. Handl. ii, no. 10, p. 58 (1858); Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 361
(1867) ; Sperling, Ibis, 1872, p. 76.
Daption capensis, Gould, B. Austr. vii, pl. 53 (1847); Layard, Ibis,
1862, p. 97; Gurney, in Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 353 (1872) ;
Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. 8. Afr. p. 767 (1884); Swinburne, Proc.
R. Phys. Soc. Edin, ix, p. 198 (1886); Green, Ocean Birds, p. 32
(1887); Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 428 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i,
p. 168 (1896); Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 28 (1900); Chun, Aus der
Tiefen Weltm. p. 185, with figure (1900).
Description. Adult.—¥orehead, crown and sides of the face and
neck slaty-black, rest of upper surface white, each feather tipped
with slaty; primaries slaty, white on the concealed bases of both
webs, except the first, which is only white on the inner web,
lesser coverts slaty, others white edged with slate; tail white,
broadly tipped with dusky black ; below white, a few of the feathers
on the chin and of the under tail-coverts tipped with slaty; inner
under wing-coverts white, those towards the edge -of the wing
slaty ; axillaries white, tipped with slate.
Tris dark brown; bill black, legs brownish black.
Length (in flesh) 14:0; wing 10-5; tail 4:0; culmen 1:3; tarsus
1:8; middle toe 1-95.
The nestlings in down are greyish above and greyish white below
and have a black bill, according to Hall.
486 PROCELLARIIDE DAPTION
Distribution.—This, one of the most abundant and well known
of all the Petrels, is spread over the whole of the Southern Ocean,
reaching the Antarctic Ice Pack, where many examples were
recently procured by the ‘Southern Cross” Expedition ; its usual
northerly limit is about the southern Tropic, but it has frequently
been recorded from further north, even as far as the coasts of the
United States and of the British Islands in the Atlantic, and the
Ceylon coast in the Indian Ocean.
Fia. 150.—Daplion capensis.
The Cape Pigeon is one of the commonest of the Petrels found
in the Cape seas. It can be seen in Table Bay especially during the
winter months, from April to November, but during the summer it
departs southwards to breed. It occurs on the west coast up to
the Great Fish Bay, and has been obtained at Mossamedes and
Bengo Bay near St. Paul de Loando in Angola. To the east of
Table Bay the Cape Pigeon is apparently a good deal less plentiful ;
both Rickard and Brown state that it is very rarely seen in Algoa
Bay, and I have not heard of its occurrence off Hast London or
Durban, though Capt. Sperling states that he has traced it up to
PROCELLARIIDE PRION 487
25° S. lat. on the Hast Coast of Africa. Examples in the South
African Museum all from the neighbourhood of Table Bay have
been obtained in the months of September and October.
Habits.—This Petrel can be at once distinguished from all others,
even at a considerable distance, by its mottled back; it can often be
seen following ships, and it swims and dives with great facility ;
it is very tame, and will come close alongside in order to obtain
scraps, especially of a fatty nature, and is very easily secured with
a hook and line or by hanging over the ship’s side light threads in
which it will entangle itself. When placed on the deck of a ship
it cannot rise in the air, but waddles about with outstretched wings
in a rather ridiculous manner, and generally throws up from its
stomach a quantity of reddish oil. Its natural food seems to consist
of fish and cuttle-fish ; bones of the former and beaks of the latter
were among the contents of the stomachs of individuals examined
in the flesh in the South African Museum. :
Although this Petrel is so abundant and well known, it is only
recently that authenticated eggs of it have been obtained. Mr. R.
Hall (Ibis, 1900, p. 28) found four nests among the cliffs of Betsy
Cove in Kerguelen on February 7; they were in small cavities or
grottos about fifty feet above the sea level, and each contained one
young bird partially covered with down ; the nests themselves were
nothing more than hollows among the stones without any lining.
More recently the members of the Scottish Antarctic Expedition
met with this bird breeding in the South Orkneys, and secured
examples of their eggs. (Nature, vol. 71, p. 425, 1905.)
Genus VIII. PRION.
Type
Prion, Lacépéde, Mem. I Inst. iii, p. 513 (1801) ......... P. vittatus.
Bill moderate; about as long as the head, of very varying breadth,
hook small, not half the length of the culmen; sides of the palate
with a series of horny lamellae more or less well developed; tip of
the lower mandible down-curved; nasal tube very short, hardly a
quarter the length of the culmen, the orifices separated by a septum
which extends forwards beyond the external openings; wings
moderate, first primary usually the longest; tail of twelve-feathers ;
tarsus slender, shorter than the middle toe and claw and covered
488 PROCELLARIIDE PRION
with hexagonal scutes; claw of the hind toe minute; size small;
plumage slaty-blue.
This genus, containing the Blue Petrels generally termed
“Whale Birds” by Sailors, ranges over the Southern Ocean. Five
species, all of which have been reported from the Cape seas, are
usually recognised.
Fig. 151.—Bills of (a) Prion desolatus, (b) Prion banksi, (c) Prion vittatus,
rom above. x +
Key of the Species.
A. Outer tail-feathers white, the middle ones tipped
With: White. seg tanescaiay 05 daeeesqeaarinbamencrs action siaaey P. ceruleus, p. 488.
B. Outer tail-feathers grey, central ones tipped with
black.
a. Bill very wide, 0°65 to 0°80 at base, edges of
maxillee CONVEX ........ccceeseeeeeceneeeeeeeesaeeeenes P. vittatus, p. 490.
b. Bill wide, 0°50 to 0°55, edges of maxille convex P. bankst, p. 489.
c. Bill narrow, about 0°40 at base, edges of maxille
BIIMNOSE SHAIGHE soscscviscsavscapaasiindssanacanenesi es P. desolatus, p. 491.
d, Bill narrow, smaller and more compressed, and
head paler than in the other species ............ P. brevirostris, p. 492.
797. Prion caruleus. Blue Petrel.
Procellaria cerulea, Gmel., Syst. Nat. i, p. 560 (1788); Layard, B. S.
Afr. p. 861 (1867).
Procellaria forsteri, Smith, Illwstr. Zool. S. Afr. Aves, pl. 58 (1840).
Halobeena crerulea, Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.S. Afr. p. 768 (1884); Swin-
burne, Proc. R. Phys. Soc. Edin. ix, p. 198 (1886); Salvin, Cat.
B. M. xxv, p. 481 (1896) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 168 (1896).
Prion ceruleus, Reichenow, Vogel Afr. i, p. 31 (1900) ; Vanhéffen, Journ
Ornith. 1901, p. 310.
PROCELLARIIDE PRION 489
Description. Adult.— Above pale ashy-blue, darker on the
crown, nape, lesser wing-coverts, outer webs of the outer primaries
and scapulars, the last tipped with white; feathers of the middle
of the forehead and anterior part of the crown largely tipped with
white ; rest of the forehead and whole of the under surface pure
white ; sides of the breast ashy-blue; under wing-coverts, primaries
beneath, and axillaries white; outer tail-feathers white, the next
two ashy, with the base of the inner web white, the three next ashy
with white tips, widest on the middle feather, a slightly darker
subterminal ashy band. Bill black; edge of the mandible blue;
tarsi and toes blue; webs flesh colour.
Length about 11:0; wing 85; tail 3:6; bill 1:4; tarsus 1:3;
middle toe 1:6.
Distribution.—The Blue Petrel is found throughout the Southern
Ocean, usually between lat. 40° and 60° §., though occasionally
wandering beyond those limits. It appears to be a somewhat rare
bird in the seas immediately surrounding the coasts of South Africa,
though oecasionally driven northwards by gales. An instance of
this occurred to My. Rickard at East London. Professor Van-
héffen identified a considerable number of these birds at sea two
days out from Cape Town towards the Bouvet Islands, in about
40° S. lat., 15° E. long.
Habits.—There is but little of special interest in regard to the
habits of the Blue Petrel. Kidder and Eaton both found it breeding
on Kerguelen ; a single egg is laid at the end of a long and some-
what tortuous burrow placed in the hill-side near the sea. The
birds can be easily traced by the curious dove-like coo, to which
they give vent from their burrows when any one approaches. The
egg is ovoid and dull white in colour, measuring about 2:0 x 15.
798. Prion banksi. Banks’ Blue Petrel.
Pachyptila banksi, Smith, Ill. Zool. 8. Afr. Aves, pl. 55 (1840).
Prion banksi, Gurney, Ibis, 1864, p. 855 [Natal Coast]; Layard, B. S.
Afr. p. 862 (1867) ; id. Ibis, 1867, p. 460; Sperling, Ibis, 1868, p. 293 ;
Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 4384 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 168
(1896) ; Reichenow, Vég. Afr. i, p. 32 (1900); Shortridge, Ibis, 1904,
p. 204.
Prion vittatus, Sharpe, Phil. Trans. vol. 168, p. 185, pl. vii, fig. 7
(1879) ; id. ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 169 (1884).
Description. Adult.—General colour above ashy-blue, darker on
the head, nape, and on a streak below and behind the eye, above
490 PROCELLARIUDE “°°” “pRION
which is a white patch ; angle of the wing, lesser wing-coverts, ends
of the scapulars (except the extreme tips, which are white) and tips
of the tail-feathers, except the outer pair, asby-black to black;
below, including the lores, axillaries and under wing-coverts white
with.a faint wash of blue on the flanks and under tail-coverts.
Iris black, bill black with the unguis yellow; bill moderately
broad, the lamellae along the upper mandible just visible at the
rictus, when the bill is closed ; legs dark blue.
Length (in the flesh) 11:5; wing 7:40; tail 4:0; culmen 1:25;
width of the bill at base 0:50 to 0°55; tarsus 1:25; middle toe 1°35.
Distribution—Banks’ Blue Petrel was first described by Sir A.
Smith from the Cape seas, whence its range extends into the South
Atlantic in the one direction, and the New Zealand and Australian
Coasts in the other; but there is a good deal of uncertainty about
the number and the distinctions between the species of this genus,
so that it is difficult to state their exact range with certainty.
The present species is certainly not uncommon in Cape Seas
and is often driven ashore after great gales, sometimes in consider-
able numbers. One of those mentioned by Layard as having been
found at Green point (a suburb of Cape Town) in April, 1866, is
still in the Museum, and there are several more, recently obtained
in the months of June and September, by Mr. Shortridge, at Port
St. John’s, in Pondoland; Ayres also records this Petrel from the
Natal Coast, where many hundreds were cast ashore in August,
1862, all in a very emaciated state and weak from the want of
food. I have not heard of its occurrence on the West Coast of
Cape Colony, but Kirk met with it on the Hast Coast in the
Mozambique Channel and as far north as the Seychelles.
799. Prion vittatus. Broad-billed Blue Petrel.
Procellaria vittata, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 560 (1788).
Prion vittatus, Gould, B. Austr. vii, pl. 55 (1844); Layard, Ibis, 1862,
p. 97; 1863, p. 249; Sharpe, Phil. Trans. vol. 168, p. 185, pl. 7,
figs. 3-6 (1879) ; Swinburne, P. R. Phys. Soc. Edin. ix, p. 199 (1886) ;
Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 482 (1896); Shelley, Bds. Afr. i, p. 168
(1896) ; Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 81 (1900).
Description. Adult Male—vVery similar to P. banksi in size and
plumage, and only distinguished by its very much broader bill, in
which the lamelle of the under side of the upper mandible can be
seen all along when closed. 2
PROCELLARIIDE PRION 491
Wing 7.75; culmen 1:3; width of bill at base 0°65 to 0:80.
Distribution.—This Petrel, which appears to be very doubtfully
distinct from P..banski, is found throughout the Southern Indian
Ocean and New Zealand seas; it breeds on St. Paul near Kerguelen
and on the Chatham Islands. It has been recorded by Layard and
Swinburne from Cape seas, but even should it be found to be really
separable from P. banski, it is probable that the Blue Petrels seen
by these observers were really referable to the latter species.
800. Prion desolatus. Narrow-billed Blue Petrel.
Procellaria desolata, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 562, (1788).
Procellaria turtur, Kuhl, Beitr. p. 148 (1820) ; Smith, Ill. Zool. 8. Afr.
Aves, pl. 54 (1840); Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 861 (1867).
Prion turtur, Pelz. Novara Reise, Vig. p. 147 (1865).
Pseudoprion turtur, Gurney, in Andcrsson’s B. Damaral. p. 852 (1872).
Prion desolatus, Sharpe, Phil. Trans. vol. 168, p. 187, pl. vii, figs.
8-10 (1879); id. ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 769 (1884); Swinburne,
P. R. Phys. Soc. Edin. ix, p. 199 (1886); Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv,
p. 434 (1896) ; Reschenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 82 (1900).
“Whale Bird” of sailors, a name also applied to the other species of
the genus.
Description. Adult.—Resembling P. banksi, but with a much
narrower bill; the sides of the upper mandible are nearly straight
and not out-curved, and the lamelle underneath are small and not
visible when the bill is closed.
Tris black ; beak and legs pale blue.
Length 11°75; wing 7°25; tail 3°75; culmen 1:2; width of the
bill at the base ‘40; tarsus 1:2; middle toe 1:2.
Distribution.—The Narrow-billed Blue Petrel has much the
same range as the other species of the genus, being found in the
Southern Ocean, chiefly between the 30th and 60th parallels ;
it doubtless often wanders further south and further north, and
was met with at the Antarctic Ice barrier, south of Kerguelen by
the ‘‘ Challenger.’ I have not come across any notice of its
occurrence east. of New Zealand in the South Pacific.
This Petrel is not uncommon in the Cape seas, where it has been
met with by the Novara Expedition and by the Harl of Crawford;
and it is occasionally driven ashore by heavy gales; Andersson has
seen it on the coast of German South-west Africa and in Table Bay,
while the South African Museum has two examples, one obtained
near Cape Town on June 19, 1894, the other picked up dead on
4992 PROCELLARIIDE PRION
Muizenberg beach in False Bay, on April 27, 1897, by Mr. D. E.
Hutchins.
Habits.—Andersson gives some account of this Blue Petrel; he
states that it but rarely settles on the water and that it does not
pick up refuse thrown from a ship, as do many of the other Petrels,
though it will occasionally follow a vessel. It is generally met with
in large flocks and is a powerful flyer, rising and sinking with great
rapidity and skimming the waves like a Swallow. It and its con-
geners are called by sailors “ Whale Birds,” one explanation being
that it accompanies Whales in order to secure the droppings from
their mouths, while others state that the name is given in con-
sequence of a fancied resemblance between the curious lamelle on
the inside of the upper mandible and the whalebone of the Whale.
This species exists in countless numbers about Kerguelen, where
its breeding habits have been observed by Mr. Eaton, Professor
Moseley, and Mr. R. Hall. A single egg is laid at the end of
a rat-hole-like burrow among the Azorella plants, in about Novem-
ber; at first, before the eggs are laid, both birds will usually be
found in the burrow ; later on, while incubation is proceeding, only
one, usually the female by day and the male at night; finally,
when the nestling is hatched, both parents are away all day, only
returning at night-time.
There are eggs in the South African Museum brought from the
Crozet Isles by Captain Armson; they are white, smooth and
almost regular ovals, measuring about 2°0 x 1:5.
801. Prion brevirostris. Fairy Blue Petrel.
Prion ariel, Gould, Ann. Mag. N. H. xiii, p. 366 (1844) [nom. nud.] ;
Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 486 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 168
(1896).
Prion brevirostris, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1855, p. 88, pl. 98; Reiche-
now, Vog. Afr. i, p. 33 (1900).
Description. Adult—Nearly similar in colour to the other
species of the genus, but with the crown and spot below the eye
hardly darker than the back ; the terminal dark band of the tail is
wider ; the bill much narrower and more compressed, though the
unguis is as large as that of the other species; the lamelle along
the sides of the upper mandible are very feebly developed and quite
invisible when the bill is closed.
Distribution —The Fairy Blue Petrel, like others of the genus,
PROCELLARIID PELICANOIDES 493
is found throughout the Southern Ocean, generally between the
35th and 60th parallels; it has been obtained at Madeira perhaps
accidentally. There is no example in the South African Museum,
but the British Museum possesses a specimen from the ‘ Cape of
Good Hope,” presented many years ago by Sir Andrew Smith.
This constitutes the sole South African record, so far as I am aware.
Subfamily III. PELICANOIDINA.
Nostrils distinct; opening upwards in either side of the middle
of the base of the culmen; margin of the sternum even, the sternum
itself considerably longer than wide; no ambiens muscle; no
hallux ; second primary slightly the longest.
Genus I. PELICANOIDES.
Type.
Pelicanoides, Lacépéde, Mem. l Inst. iii, p.513 (1801) P. urinatrix.
Bill short and stumpy, about half the length of the head ; nostrils
opening upwards on either side of the base of the culmen by two
distinct orifices; wings short, the second primary slightly the
longest; tail short and nearly square of twelve feathers; tarsus
short and slightly ridged in front, covered with small hexagonal
scales; no trace of a hind toe.
Three closely allied species of Diving Petrel are assigned to this
genus, which ranges throughout the Southern Ocean; one of them
appears to occur occasionally in the Cape Seas.
802. Pelicanoides exul. Diving Petrel.
Pelicanoides urinatrix (nec Gmel.) Green, Ocean Birds, p. 36 (1887).
Halodroma exul, Cab. ¢ Reich., Journ. Ornith. 1876, p. 328.
Pelicanoides exul, Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv. p. 488 (1896); Shelley, B.
Afr. i, p. 168 (1896).
Description. Adult.—General colour above shining black, most
of the feathers with greyish bases, this colour extending throughout
the inner webs of some of the scapulars ; below white, the sides of
the neck and a band across the chest mottled with grey, due to a
subterminal bar of that colour on most of the feathers; flanks and
494 PROCELLARIIDE DIOMEDEA
under wing-coverts also slightly mottled with grey. Bill black;
feet bluish.
Length about 85; wing 4:7; tail 1:5; culmen 7; tarsus 1:0;
middle toe 1:0.
Distribution.—This Diving Petrel is found throughout the
southern part of the Indian Ocean and is especially abundant at
Kerguelen and the Crozet Islands, whence the South African
Museum possesses examples. A Diving Petrel was observed by
Mr. Green off the Cape of Good Hope when homeward bound from
Australia. This is the only record of its occurrence about the
South African seas.
Habits.—This bird is interesting as an example of special modifi-
cation of the Petrel type. It has lost the power of strong flight
possessed by its relatives, but has acquired a great facility for
diving, during which process it uses its wings to assist in its pro-
gression under water.
It breeds on Kerguelen, laying a single egg at the end of a long
burrow.
Subfamily IV. DIOMEDEINA.
Nostrils lateral, separated by a wide culmen, each in a separate
sheath opening forwards; margin of the sternum uneven, the
sternum short compared with its width; no basipterygoid processes ;
humerus pneumatic; first primary the longest; ambiens muscle
aud ceca present; hind toe absent or very rudimentary.
Genus I. DIOMEDEA.
Type.
Diomedea, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 214 (1766) D. exulans.
Bill stout and strong, longer than the head; formed of four
pieces, the culininicorn along the culmen, the pair of latericorns on
either side and the apicorn at the apex; culminicorn bordering the
latericorn, behind and in front of the nostrils; no longitudinal
groove along the lower mandible; line of the lower edge of the
lower mandible almost straight, the tip not downcurved; nostrils
on either side of the culminicorn between it and the latericorn,
surrounded by a separate bony sheath and opening forwards; wings
very long when outstretched, owing chiefly to the great length of
PROCELLARIIDE DIOMEDEA 495
the arm and forearm, which bears from thirty to forty secondary
quills; tail short and rounded; tarsus shorter than the middle
toe and covered with small hexagonal scales; hind toe absent
externally.
This genus contains the Albatroses, some nine or ten species of
which are usually recognised, distributed throughout the Southern
Ocean and extending far north of the line in the Pacific. Two
species are commonly found in the seas round South Africa.
Key of the Species.
A. Larger, wing about 27:0; upper back white with
narrow transverse zigzag freckling.................. D. exulans, p. 495.
B. Smaller, wing about 20:0; back black ............ D. melanophys, p. 499.
803. Diomedea exulans. Wandering Albatros.
Diomedea exulans, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 214 (1766) ; Gould,
B. Austr. vii, pl. 388 (1844); Hutton, Ibis, 1865, p. 278, 1867, p. 185,
1903, p. 81, figs. 7-10; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 863 (1867) ; Gurney, in
Andersson’s B. Damaral. p. 355 (1872); Moseley, Notes Nat. Chal-
lenger, pp. 184, 171, 180, 183, 254 (1879); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S.
Afr. p. 770 (1884) ; Challenger Reports, Narrative i, pt. 1, p. 204, pl.
xiv [birds on nest] (1885) ; Swinburne, P. R. Phys. Soc. Edin. ix, p. 199
(1886) ; Green, Ocean Bds. p. 4, pl. 1 (1887) ; Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv.
p. 441 (1896); Shelley, B. Afr. i. p. 169 (1896); Reichenow, Vég.
Afr. i, p. 21 (1900).
The “ Cape Sheep,” “ Great Atbatros,” “ Man of War Bird ” and “ Goney”’
are all names which are sometimes applied to this bird.
Description. Adult.—General colour above white, the feathers
on the nape, the back of the neck and upper half of the back with
very narrow zigzag cross bands of black, about three on each
feather, giving a freckled appearance; wings dark brown mottled
with a good deal of white, the quills with concealed white bases, the
secondaries and most of the coverts with white inner webs, the
visible white increasing away from the tips, scapulars and some of
the coverts on the humeral portion of the wing white freckled with
black like the back but more strongly ; tail-coverts white, tail white
with a few slaty spots and mottlings on the edges and tips of the
feathers ; below including the under wing- and tail-coverts white, with
traces of the characteristic freckling on the sides and across the
middle of the chest; exposed portions of the primaries black below
without a white patch.
496 PROCELLARIIDE DIOMEDEA
Iris brown ; bill white with a pinkish tinge becoming yellowish
when dried ; legs white with a bluish tinge.
Length of a very large male 53:0; wing 27-0; length of out-
stretched wing 55; spread of wings from tip to tip when out-
stretched 10 ft. 1in.; tail 9°5; culmen 8:0; tarsus 4:75; middle
toe 6°5.
The largest bird measured by Mr. Green, who had had a good
deal of experience, was 11 ft. 4 in. across the wings. The weight of
an adult male is from 16 to 19 lbs.
A young bird is uniform brown above with the wings darker,
almost black; the face including a narrow band across the forehead,
space round the eyes and throat white, below brown like the back,
Fic. 152.—Head of Diomedea exulans. < 4
paler and slightly freckled on the abdomen ; under wing-coverts and
edge of the wing along the distal end of the radius white. As the
bird grows older the brown feathers are gradually replaced by
freckled ones and the coverts of the wing become parti-coloured.
A series of young birds measured in the flesh were from 39 to
41 in. in length, the wings from 49 to 51 in. and the spread from tip
to tip of the wings across the back from 9 ft. 6 in. to 9 ft. Tin.
The nestling is covered with pure white silky down and has at
the tip of the mandibles according to Layard, a hard white china-
like tumid sheath.
Distribution—The Wandering Albatros is found in the Southern
Atlantic and Pacific Oceans including the seas about New Zealand,
Patagonia and South Africa; its usual range is between the 30th
and 60th parallels but it is no doubt exceptionally found beyond
PROCELLARIID DIOMEDEA 497
these limits, and has ‘even been recorded from time to time in
European and North American waters, though it has never been
met with in the neighbourhood of the Antarctic Ice Pack. The
bird found in the Southern Indian Ocean which nests on the
Prince Edward Islands, the Crozet Islands and Kerguelen has
recently been discriminated by Salvin as a different species under
another name (D. chionoptera).
Fic. 153.—Diomedea exulans,
If the validity of the last-named species is maintained it will
almost certainly be found to occur off the coast of South Africa.
It is distinguished by having the upper back quite white without
any narrow transverse bands and the primaries beneath with a large
white patch on the inner web. All the examples in the South
African Museum are undoubtedly referable to D. exulans ; they are
all from Table Bay or its vicinity and have been obtained in the
months of August and September.
Habits.—This, the largest of all the sea birds and generally
known as ‘The Albatros” without any qualification, is to be found
32 VOL. Iv.
498 PROCELLARIIDS DIOMEDEA
about the Cape seas throughout the winter months till November,
when it leaves our shores for its breeding places in the South
Atlantic. It only oceasionally comes inside Table Bay but is
generally to be seen a few miles out at sea.
The majestic flight of this bird as it sails over the waves with
its narrow pointed wings held almost motionless has always been
a source of wonder and admiration to travellers. An explanation
of this mysterious power of continuous movement without any
apparent motion of the wings or exertion on the bird’s part is
given by Mr. A. C. Baines (Nature, xl., p. 9, 1889). He points
out that the birds usually rise in a slanting direction against the
wind, then make a turn in a large circle during which one wing
points downwards the other upwards and finally make a rapid
descent down the wind. As the velocity of the wind near the
surface of the water is diminished by the friction of the waves, the
bird as it rises against the wind enters currents of gradually
increasing velocity so that the loss of velocity consequent on rising
is partially or perhaps, when the wind is strong, wholly made
good and the bird just gains energy of position which is converted
into energy of motion when descending. Furthermore, there is
no doubt that it is only when the wind is fairly fresh that the
Albatros can continue the sailing flight for any length of time;
when the wind drops they will be observed to begin to flap their
wings much more frequently until, when watched from a steamer,
they are often left behind.
The Alhatroses feed chiefly on cephalopods (squids and octopus)
the horny beaks of which are generally to be found in their
stomachs, they also eat fish and other marine animals as well as
galley refuse thrown out from ships; they do not dash down on
to the surface from above, neither do they dive below, but settle
down gently on to the water and take their time about collecting
their food ; in order to start off again in flight they commence by
running along the surface of the water with outstretched wings
in order to obtain sufficient impetus to carry them up into the air.
The Wandering Albatros breeds on Tristan da Cunha and
Gough Islands in the South Atlantic while the closely allied species
D. chionoptera resorts to the Crozet Isles, Prince Edward Island
and Kerguelen. The nest is a conical elevation about 18 in. high
and 36 in. in diameter, while the bowl at the top measures about
18 in. across and is about 5 in. in depth. It is built up of grass
tufts and moss beaten in with earth. Only one egg is laid and the
| PROCELLARIIDE DIOMEDEA 499
male is generally to be seen seated on the ground close to the
brooding female.
According to Sperling the eggs are laid in January, while
Moseley found many fresh eggs on Marion Island of the Prince
Edward group on December 26; the young ones are not ready to
fly till the following November, and are eaten with considerable
relish by the inhabitants of Tristan. When scared off the nests
the birds seldom fly but waddle off to some distance. Photographs
of the birds on their nests are given in the ‘‘ Challenger’’ Reports
(“ Narrative of the Cruise i.,” pt. 1, p. 294, pl. 14), and by Mr.
Hall (Zbis, 1900, p. 13).
The South African Museum possesses an egg from Tristan and
others from the Crozet Isles, as well as several the history of
which is lost. The Crozet egg, which is probably referable to
D. chionoptera, measures 5:3 x 2:25, the Tristan egg 5:0 x 2:0.
They are almost perfect ovals, white, somewhat rough and pitted,
and have a few small spots of dull rufous at the larger end.
The name Albatros is said to be a corruption of the Spanish
word Alcatraz by which the Pelican is generally known in the
Iberian Peninsula, and which is often vaguely applied to other large
sea birds. ;
804. Diomedea melanophrys. Mollymawk.
Diomedea_melanophrys, Temm., Pl. Col. pl. 456 (1828); Gould, B.
Austr. vii, pl. 43 (1844); Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. ii, no. 10,
p. 57 (1858); Layard, Ibis, 1862, p.97; Hutton, Ibis, 1865, p. 283;
Sperling, Ibis, 1868, p. 295; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 864 (1867);
Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 356 (1872); Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 772 (1884); Swinburne, P. R. Phys. Soc.
Edin. ix, p. 199 (1886); Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 447 (1896);
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 169 (1896); Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 21
(1900) ; Chun, Aus den Tief. Weltm. p. 221, fig. of bird in flight
(1900) ; Vanhéffen, Journ. Ornith. 1901, p. 808; Shortridge, Ibis,
1904, p. 204.
“Black-browed Albatros” of some authors, ‘“ Molly,” ‘“ Mollyhawk,”
or “ Mollymawk,” of sailors.
Description. Adult Male—Head and neck all round, rump
and upper tail coverts and under parts throughout, including the
axillaries and outer under wing coverts, white; a pale slaty streak
through the eye; centre of the back and wings slaty-black, darkest
on the wings, tail slaty like the back with the shafts of the feathers
500 PROCELLARIIDA DIOMEDEA
white. Iris brown} bill pale yellow, becoming rosy pink at the
tip of each mandible; legs and feet pinkish white, the webs pure
white.
Length 32:0; wing 20:5; tail 7:5; culmen 5-0; tarsus 2-9;
middle toe 4:25.
A female, apparently a young bird, resembles the male except
in the colour of the bill, the culminicorn and the apicorns of both
mandibles of which are black while the latericorns are greyish
black; the extreme tips of both mandibles are whitish horn in
colour. In younger birds the crown and back of the neck are
suffused with slaty, and the bill is like that of the one above
described but slightly paler.
Distribution.—This Albatros is found throughout the Southern
Ocean from about the twentieth to the sixtieth parallel of south
latitude. Occasionally it wanders northwards and has been
obtained as far as the Faroe Islands in the Atlantic and Cali-
fornia in the Pacific. It has, however, hitherto not been met
with in the southern Ice Pack. Its chief breeding places are the
Falklands, the Campbell Islands near New Zealand and Kerguelen,
where Mr. Hall has recently found a large rookery.
The Mollymawk is very common in Table and False Bays, and
is found along the West Coast as far north as Walvisch Bay, whence
it is recorded by Andersson. Along the South Coast it is abundant
as far ag Algoa Bay, where Mr. Brown informs me it is common.
Mr. Shortridge states that they are plentiful at sea off Port St.
John’s in Pondoland.
The examples in the South African Museum have all been
obtained in Table Bay, or from not far off during the months of
May, July and August.
Habits —The Mollymawk resembles in most respects the
Wandering Albatros in its habits, but itis more often to be found
near the land in bays and harbours; it is very common in Table
Bay and is often caught with hook and line by the fishermen and
exposed for sale in the fish market; it is eaten chiefly by the
Malays, and its flesh is said to taste like hare; the feathers, too,
are used to stuff pillows and mattresses.
The stomachs of two birds recently examined in the South
African Museum contained the remains of small fishes, the beaks of
cuttle fish and broken up shells of Mollusca; in addition the garbage
thrown out from ships and fishermen’s refuse in harbours is eagerly
devoured. Andersson noticed that this bird occasionally made
PROCELLARIIDE THALASSOGERON 501
short dives after its prey. In November the Mollymawk departs
from our shores for its breeding places inthe Southern Ocean. The
nest, like that of the Wandering Albatros, is a conical elevation
built up of moss and earth, and on Kerguelen at any rate there
are a great many together, forming a rookery at an elevation of from
400 to 500 ft. above the sea. One egg only is laid as a rule, dull
white with a cap of rufous specks and blotches at the larger end;
the average size is 40 x 3:5. There are in the South African
Museum four Albatros eggs from Tristan identified with this
species, but these not improbably would be more rightly assigned
to Thalassogeron culminatus, which was the species found breeding
there by the ‘‘ Challenger” Expedition.
Genus II. THALASSOGERON.
Type.
Thalassogeron, Ridgway, Water Birds N. Amer.
ii, pp. 345, 3857 (1884).......ceecee cece eee eee een es T. culminatus.
Closely allied to Diomedea but with the culminicorn much
narrower behind the nostrils and separated at that point by
membrane from the latericorn.
Five of the smaller Albatroses are assigned to this genus, the
range of which extends throughout the Southern Oceans ; of these,
three have been found near the coast of South Africa.
Key of the Species.
A, Culmen bright yellow contrasting with the
sides of the bill, which are black.
a. Culminicorn rounded posteriorly ; lower
edge of the mandible yellow ..........::000 T. culminatus, p. 501.
b. Culminicorn pointed posteriorly; basal
edge but not the lower edge of the mandible
YELLOW .eccccsereseesecsssccessuenecceeseennsceoonsenes T. chlororhynchus, p. 508.
B. Bill generally pale, no contrast between the
culmen and SideS ........cccseeeecsteeeeesseeeneeeres T. layardt, p. 505.
805. Thalassogeron culminatus. Gould's Yellow-nosed
Mollymawk.
Diomedea culminata, Gould, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1848, p. 107; id. B.
Austr. vii, pl. 41 (1848) ; Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 364 (1867) ; Sharpe,
ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 778 (1884) ; Green, Ocean Bds. p. 12, pl.
ii, fig. 4 (1887) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 169 (1896).
Thalassogeron culminatus, Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 451 (1896) ;
Parkin, Ibis, 1900, p. 675.
502 PROCELLARIIDZ: THALASSOGERON
Description. Adult.—Head and neck all round slaty-grey (perhaps
becoming white in very old specimens) darker in the centre of
the back and blackish brown on the wings; tail like the back with
white shafts to the feathers; in front and above the eye a dark
patch; rump, upper tail-coverts and lower surface from the chest
to the under tail-coverts white, under wing-coverts white, dark
brown towards the edge of the wing. Bull with the culminicorn,
which is rounded behind and separated behind the nostrils from
the latericorn by a black membrane, yellow, front edge of the apicorn
red, lower half of the latericorn of the lower mandible yellow, rest
of the bill blackish horn; legs and feet fleshy grey.
Fic, 154.—-Left foot of Thalassogeron chlororhynchus. x }
Length about 32; wing 18-5; tail 7-0; culmen 5:25; tarsus 3-0;
middle toe 4-1. Young birds are browner and have the head leaden
grey; the bill is black throughout with a little yellow at the tip.
Distribution.—This Mollymawk, distinguished by having both the
upper and lower ridge of the bill yellow, is found throughout the
Southern Ocean, ranging chiefly between the 30th and 50th parallels
of south latitude. It does not appear to have been met with so far
south as the Antarctic Ice Pack, but has been known to wander as
far north as Panama in Central America on the Pacific side.
PROCELLARIIDE THALASSOGERON 503
No observer, so far as I am aware, has described the nesting
habits of this Mollymawk ; the species met with by Prof. Moseley on
Nightingale Island appears to have been T. chlorohynchus, though
identified by him as 7. culminatus.
Layard met with this species ‘off the south coast” when
cruising in H.M.S8. ‘Castor’ many years ago, and two of the
specimens obtained by him are now in the South African Museum.
Mr. Parkin, too, on one single day during a calm on December 2,
1890, when on a voyage to Australia in lat. 39° S., long. 8° E., shot
no less than six examples, so that the species cannot be very rare
in Cape seas.
806. Thalassogeron chlororhynchus. Yellow-nosed Mollymawk.
Diomedea chlororhynchus, Gmel. Syst. Nat. i, p. 568 (1788); Gould,
B. Austr. vii, pl. 42 (1844); Layard, Ibis, 1862, p. 97, 1869, p. 3775.
id. B.S. Afr. p. 364 (1867) ; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 772
(1884); Green, Ocean Bds. p. 12, pl. iii, fig. 5 (1887); Shelley, B.
Afr. i, p. 169 (1896) ; Chun, Aus den Tiefen Weltm. p. 284, with fig.
(1900).
rt apni chlororhynchus, Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 451 (1896) ;
Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 22 (1900).
“ Pretty Bird” of Sealers.
Description. Adult.—Head and neck all round, rump and upper
tail-coverts and below throughout including the under wing-coverts,
pure white; an indistinct grey mark in front of the eye; centre of
the back and wings brown, darkest on the latter, slightly tinged with
slaty on the former; tail ashy with white shaft marks, the outer
tail-feathers paler than the central ones, almost white along the
outside of the shafts; under wing-coverts white except along the
edge of the wing where they are brown.
Iris brown; bill black; the culminicorn which is pointed pos-
teriorly and separated from the latericorn by a black membrane,
yellow, becoming blood-orange at the tip; a little yellow at the edge
of the base and at the tip of the lower mandible but the greater part
of its length black; legs flesh-coloured.
Length about 29°5; wing 18:5; tail 7°75; culmen 5:25; tarsus
3-0; middle toe 3:90.
Distribution.—As with the other Albatroses, the Southern Ocean
from 30° 8. lat. to 50° S. lat. constitutes the general range of this
bird. It has not been met with in the extreme Antarctic regions
but often wanders north of its usual boundary.
504 PROCELLARIIDE THALASSOGERON
The Yellow-nosed Mollymawk is not uncommon in the Cape seas
and was obtained by Layard off the southern coast of the Colony
many years ago. It sometimes comes into the bays and harbours
along the coast though not nearly so frequently as the true Molly-
mawk (D. melanophys). There is an example in the South African
Museum, obtained at Simons Bay, while Rickard has noticed it off
Port Elizabeth and East London. Up the western coast it is
recorded by Schrenck from Angra Pequefia in German South-west
Africa.
Fie. 155.— Bills of (a) Thalassogeron culminatus, and (b) Thalassogeron
chlororhynchus, from above, to show the distinction in the shape of the cul-
minicorn. About 3.
Closely allied to this species is 7. eximius, Verrill [Trans.
Connecticut Acad., ix., p. 440 (1895)], described from Gough Island
in the South Atlantic. It is similar in plumage, but lacks the
transverse bar of yellow at the base of the lower mandible. Should
it prove to be really distinct it will probably be found in the Cape
seas. During the recent voyage of the ‘Scotia’ of the ‘ Scottish
National Antarctic’ Expedition, it was not met with.
Habits.—So far as its habits at sea are concerned the Yellow-
nosed Mollymawk does not differ from other Albatroses. During the
breeding season it resorts to Nightingale Island, one of the Tristan
group, where it was observed by Moseley on October 17. The
PROCELLARIID PH@BETRIA 505
nest is very singularly shaped, being cylindrical with a shallow con-
cavity at the top and a somewhat overhanging edge; the single egg
is held in a sort of pouch whilst the bird is incubating, so that it
is necessary to drive the bird right off the nest before the egg is
dropped ; the nests are scattered about in a Penguin rookery with
which birds the Mollymawks seem to be on very good terms.
There are two eggs in the South African Museum, brought by Capt.
Armson from the Crozet Isles. They are slightly obtuse ovals in
shape and a little pitted and rough in texture; the colour is white
with a ring of reddish-brown freckling round the obtuse end; they
measure 4:10 x 2°75,
This Albatros appears also to breed in the Island of St. Paul in
the Indian Ocean; the naturalists of the ‘‘ Novara” Expedition found
a large number of young birds among the cliffs of that Island when
they visited it in the month of November, but no eggs were taken.
807. Thalassogeron layardi. Layard’s Mollymawk.
Thalassogeron layardi, Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 450 (1896); Reiche-
now, Vog. Afr. i, p. 23 (1900).
Description. Adult—Crown, cheeks, rump, upper tail-coverts and
whole under surface, including the under wing-coverts and axillaries
white ; a greyish-black mark in front of the eye and extending over
it, the edges not sharply defined but passing into pale grey which
spreads over the face ; back, and sides of the neck pale grey, becom-
ing a dark slaty-grey on the wings and tail. Bill greyish horny,
darker at the tip but with no yellow; legs pale yellow (in dried skin).
Length about 39:0; wing 22:0; tail 8-5; culmen 5:4; tarsus 3:5;
middle toe 5:0.
Distribution.—This Mollymawk was described from a single
specimen from the ‘‘ Cape seas’”’ obtained by Mr. Layard and now in
the British Museum. I have lately examined a second example, a
male, obtained by Mr. J. v. O. Marais on August 23, 1899, just
outside the Knysna Heads and now in the Pretoria Museum.
Genus III. PHQBETRIA.
Type.
Phebetria, Reichb., Natiirl. Syst. Vog. p. v. (1852)... P. fuliginosa.
Bill as in Diomedea with the culminicorn and latericorn meeting
behind the nostril tabes; a longitudinal groove along the lower
mandible; tail long and wedge shaped, the outer feathers falling
506 PROCELLARIIDE PH@BETRIA
short of the central ones by about the length of the tarsus; tarsus
considerably shorter than the middle toe; hind toe present but very
minute, represented externally by a rudimentary claw.
Only one species of this genus is recognised by Salvin; but
it is probable that P. cornicoides, Hutton, distinguished by its blue
mandibular stripe, grey back and breast and smaller size, is distinct.
808. Phebetria fuliginosa. Sooty Albatros.
Diomedea fuliginosa, Gael. Syst. Nat. i, p. 568 (1788); Gould, B. Austr.
vii, pl. 44 (1848); Layard, Ibis, 1862, p. 95, 1867, p. 458; id. B.S.
Afr. p. 365 (1867) ; Sperling, Ibis, 1868, p. 295; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s
B.S. Afr. p. 778 (1884); Green, Ocean Bds. p. 14, pl. iii, fig. 6 (1887) ;
Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 169 (1896); Chun, Aus den Tiefen Weltm. pp.
177, 178, 220, with figures (1900).
Pheebetria fuliginosa, Salvin, Cat. B. M. xxv, p. 453 (1896); Reichenow,
Vég. Afr. i, p. 23 (1900).
“ Blue Bird,” “ Piv,” or “ Piew,” and “ Stinkpot ” are all names applied to
this bird by sailors and sealers.
Description. Adult—General colour sooty brown throughout,
a little paler in the middle of the back and below and darker on the
wings and front of the face; a ring of short stumpy white feathers,
broken in front, round the eye; tail long and wedge-shaped with
white shafts to the feathers.
Tris dark brown ; eyelids white; bill black, the lower mandible
with a marked groove along the greater part of its length which is
bright orange; legs and feet dark hazel.
Length about 33:0; wing 20:5; tail central feathers 9:5; lateral
feathers 6:25; culmen 5:0; tarsus 2:80; middle toe 4:10.
Some birds, presumably young ones, have the nape of the neck
white. A nestling is covered with slate-coloured down; the bill is
slaty-black, the iris faint hazel and the pupil blue; the legs are also
bluish.
Distribution.—The range of the Sooty Albatros is. very similar
to that of the others, except that it has been met with on the
margins of the Ice Pack further south. It does not usually wander
north of the thirtieth parallel, but south of this it is fairly abundant
throughout the Southern Ocean. It is known to breed on Ker-
guelen, the Crozet Islands and Tristan.
Though seldom visiting our coast and harbours the Sooty Alba-
tross is not uncommon a short distance away out at sea. There is
PYGOPODES 507
an example in the South African Museum, obtained by Layard
during his voyage in H.M.S. “Castor,” and the Earl of Crawford
and Balearres secured an example in 37° §. lat., 29° EE. long. off
the southern Coast of the Colony.
Habits—The Sooty Albatros can be easily distinguished by its
wedge-shaped tail, and when it is at fairly close quarters, by the
conspicuous white ring round the eye. It appears to be less timid
and more curious in disposition than others of the family and will
hover about the rigging of a ship directly above the deck. Professor
Chun relates that these birds often came so near the bridge of the
“Valdivia” that it was almost possible to catch them with the
hand. Like other Albatroses, their food consists of cuttle fishes and
the surface-living crustacea, as well as of scraps thrown out of the
ship. Professor Chun says they also devour smaller birds.
Eaton (Phil. Trans., vol. 168, p. 148) and Hall (Zbis, 1900,
p. 18) both give some account of its breeding habits in Kerguelen.
The nests are placed in sheltered situations, generally at the foot of
the terraces and cliffs of volcanic rock so plentiful about the island ;
they are built wp in the form of low truncated cones, slightly
hollowed at the top; they seem to be used each successive year,
but are freshly lined with grass and plant stalks.
As is usually the case, only one egg is laid. There are three
examples of it in the South African Museum, obtained by Captain
Armson on the Crozet Islands many years ago. They are very
like those of Thalassogeron chlororhynchus in colour, texture and
size, measuring 4:15 x 2°55.
Order XIX. PYGOPODES.
This is a small Order containing two well-marked families, the
Grebes (Podicipedide), and the Loons or Divers (Colymbide) ; only
the first-named is represented in our fauna.
In this Order the skull is schizognathous and holorhinal, the
nostrils are pervious, and there are no basipterygoid processes ;
the contour feathers have an aftershaft, the oil gland is tufted, the
ceca are well-developed, and the fifth cubital remex is absent; the
accessory semitendinosus is always absent, and the cnemial process
of the tibia is markedly produced forwards.
508 PODICIPEDIDZ: PODICIPES
Family I. PODICIPEDIDA.
Cervical vertebree seventeen to twenty-one in number; only the
left carotid present; of the Garrodian thigh muscles only the acces-
sory femoro-caudal and the semitendinosus present ; twelve primavies ;
no distinguishable rectrices.
The members of this family can be always at once distinguished
from all other birds by their curiously lobed toes and by the absence
of the rectrices.
Genus I. PODICIPES.
Type.
Podiceps, Lath. Suppl. Gen. Syn. p. 294 (1787) ...... P. cristatus.
Bill moderately long, straight and pointed, the culmen slightly
down curved towards the tip; nostrils pervious, at the base of the
upper mandible; wings very short and rounded, the primaries
and secondaries nearly equal; tail rudimentary, consisting of short
Fic, 156.—Foot of Podicipes cristatus. x 2
downy feathers only, no rectrices; tarsus shorter than the middle
toe and claw, compressed to form a ridge anteriorly and posteriorly,
where it is serrated, the sides with rows of transversely elongated
scales; toes flattened, each with a broad lateral lobe or expansion,
coalescing at the base and not contracted at the joints, most deve-
loped on the inner side; claws also flattened and forming part of
PODICIPEDID PODICIPES 509
the lobe; fourth toe the longest; hind toe small and jointed above
the level of the others with a small lateral lobe.
About nineteen species of Grebes form this genus, which is”
spread all over the world; three of these inhabit Africa, while a
fourth is confined to Madagascar; the three former are all found
within our limits.
Key of the Species.
A. Largest, wing over 7:0; a bifid occipital crest on
both sides of the crown and a ruff round the neck
in the breeding plumage .............ccecceceeeneeeeeaeee P. cristatus, p. 509.
B. Size intermediate; wing about 5°5; an occipital
crest right across the crown and a bunch of elon-
gated hair-like plumes behind the eye in the
breeding plumage ............sccccsescsceneeeeeeeeeanneeens P. nigricollis, p.511.
C. Size smallest; wing about 4:10; no crest or ruff... P. capensis, p. 518.
809. Podicipes cristatus. Great Crested Grebe.
Colymbus cristatus, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed.i, p. 222 (1766); Reiche-
now, Voég. Afr. i, p. 16 (1900).
Podiceps cristatus, Pelzeln, Novara Reise, Vig. p. 140 (1865); Layard,
B. S. Afr. p. 873 (1867); Ayres, Ibis, 1869, p. 308 [Transvaal] ;
Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 845 (1872); Dresser, B.
Eur. viii, p. 627, pl. 629 (1879); Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr.
p. 785 (1884); Ayres and Gurney, Ibis, 1885, p. 850; Haagner, Ibis,
-1902, p. 581; Whitehead, Ibis, 1903, p. 288.
Podicipes cristatus, Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 174 (1896); Grant, Cat. B. M.
xxvi, p. 544 (1898).
Lophethyia cristata, Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, i, p. 186 (1901)
Description. Adult Male in breeding dress—General colour
above, including the crown and back of the neck, very dark blackish-
brown ; feathers on each side of the crown elongate, forming a long
double crest; wings like the back, except the inner secondaries and
the lesser wing-coverts, which are white; sides of the face, throat,
neck and under parts pure silvery-white; a very full ruff of out-
standing feathers round the upper neck, the bases of which are
chestnut and the tips black ; sides of the body ashy-black ; axillaries
and under wing-coverts white.
Tris red; bill reddish-horn, lighter at the tip; legs and feet
black.
Length (in flesh) 20:0; wing 75; tail 10; culmen 1:75;
tarsus 2°25.
510 PODICIPEDIDE PODICIPES
The females are slightly smaller and have the crest and ruff less
developed; in the non-breeding dress these ornaments are quite
absent in both sexes. The young birds in down have curious
longitudinal stripes of deep smoky-brown and whitish-brown.
Gurney states that South African birds can be distinguished
from those of Europe by their slightly smaller size and by the
absence of a white supercilliary line above the eye.
A comparison of a South African bird with one in the South
African Museum from North Prussia does not reveal any material
difference in size, but in the case of the European bird, the white of
the face certainly extends very clearly up the eye on either side
and above to form a narrow superciliary streak, while in the South
Fic. 157.- -Head of Podicepes cristatus, x 2
African bird there is a narrow white line from the base of the beak
to the front of the eye but it does not extend above or behind the
eye.
Should these differences prove constant our bird may, perhaps,
be worthy of subspecific distinction.
Distribution —The Crested Grebe is found throughout the whole _
of the Old World from Ireland to Japan and southwards to Cape
Colony, Australia and New Zealand. It does not occur in Mada-
gascar, and has been met with in only one or two localities in
Central and Northern Africa, but in South Africa it appears to be
more widely spread and abundant, and will probably be found
PODICIPEDIDA PODICIPES 511
throughout the country in suitable localities, though not hitherto
recognized from Natal, Rhodesia, or the interior of German South-
west Africa.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony — Cape
division (S. A. Mus.), Simonstown (Novara Exped.), Zoetendals
Vlei, in Bredasdorp, breeding (Layard), Knysna, August, September
(S. A. Mus.), Orange River, near Aliwal North, April (Whitehead) ;
Orange River Colony—Vredefort Road (B. Hamilton), near Mafe-
teng in Basutoland (Murray); Transvaal—Pretoria (Bt. Mus.), near
Johannesburg (Haagner), Potchefstroom, April, September (Ayres).
Habits—The Great Crested Grebe is an inhabitant of lakes,
lagoons and reedy vleis, where it swims and dives with great
facility ; it is generally found in small parties of from three to four
individuals and is very wary; on the least alarm it endeavours to
escape by diving; Andersson often found it asleep on the water,
floating very deep, so that very little of its body showed. Though
awkward on land it is a good flyer, circling round at a considerable
height in the air, and though apparently a resident in South Africa,
showing considerable power of migration elsewhere. It feeds on
small fishes, crustacea and mollusca, while Andersson found chiefly
sea grass in the stomachs of individuals examined by him.
Layard met with the Crested Grebe breeding in considerable
numbers in Zoetendals vlei; the nests, built of flat sedge, were
floating on the water, and the eggs, usually three in number, were
almost invaviably covered over with wet waterweed by the parent
before leaving them; six or eight were found breeding in company.
The eggs are chalky white with a greenish tinge, owing to the green
lining membrane, when first laid, but soon become brown and
discoloured; they are nearly regular ovals and measure about
2-20 x 1:40.
810. Podicipes nigricollis. Hared Grebe.
Podiceps nigricollis, Brehm, Handb. Vég. Deutschi. p. 963 (1881) ;
Ayres and Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 263 ; 1869, p. 803; Gurney, in
Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 346 (1872) ; Dresser, B. Eur. viii, p. 651,
pl. 632 (1878): Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 786 (1884).
Podiceps auritus (nec Linn.) Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 374 (1867).
Podicipes nigricollis, Grant, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 582 (1898).
Colymbus nigricollis, Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 17 (1900).
512 PODICIPEDIDE PODICIPES
Description. Adult in breeding plumage—General colour above
including the throat, neck all round aud upper breast very dark
ashy-black, darkest on the head and nape, where the feathers are
longer and form a crest; behind the eye a bunch of long hair-like
projecting plumes, straw yellow above, more or less chestnut below;
outer primaries ashy-brown, white at their bases, the white increas-
ing towards the inner primaries and the secondaries which are
pure white; sides and flanks chestnut, rest of lower surface pure
white.
Iris crimson with a narrow white ring surrounding the pupil;
bill blackish ; legs blackish, dusky green at the joints.
Length about 12:5; wing 5°5; tail about 1:0; culmen 1:0;
tarsus 15. In non-breeding dress the top of the head, back of the
neck and back are slaty-black, the chin, throat and sides of the
nape white; the ear-coverts and fore neck grey ; below which the
sides, flanks and thighs are tinged with grey throughout.
According to Ayres the young birds are striped brown and black
on the back, white and black on the chin and throat, their bodies
being pure white.
Distribution—The Hared Grebe is found throughout Central
and South Europe, and Asia, from Great Britain to China and
Japan, but does not occur in India or Southern Asia except near
Aden. In the Ethiopian region it has only been met with in
Abyssinia and Angola, and within our limits it is by no means
common.
The foilowing are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Vogel vlei
in Paarl division, breeding (Layard), Cape division and Deelfontein,
January (S. A. Mus.); Transvaal, breeding (Ayres); Bechuanaland
—Tebra country near Lake Ngami, April (Eriksson in S. A.
Mus.); German South-west Africa—Walvisch Bay, November, rare
(Andersson).
Habits. — This Grebe was unknown in South Africa until
the year 1859, when Layard found it nesting in considerable
numbers in a large lake known as Vogel vlei, between Wellington
and Hermon, about fifty miles from Cape Town. Subsequently
Ayres met with it in the Transvaal, probably near Potchefstroom,
though this is not specifically mentioned, where it also breeds in the
shallow lagoons. The nests are usually floating, and constructed of
sedge and rushes, they are about a foot in diameter, and two
or three inches out of the water, and the eggs, which are from three
to five in number, and chalky white when first laid, are generally
PODICIPEDIDE PODICIPES 513
a good deal discoloured by the peaty and dirty water in which they
often lie without apparently any damage accruing to them.
811. Podicipes capensis. Cape Dabchick.
Podiceps capensis, Licht., Nomencl. p. 104 (1854) [nom. nud]; Salva-
dori, Ann. Mus, Civ. Genov. (2) i, p, 252 (1884); Woodward Bros.,
Natal B. p. 218 (1899).
Podiceps minor, (nec Gmel.) Gurney, Ibis, 1862 p. 158 [Natal]; Ayres,
Ibis, 1869, p. 803, 1880, p. 271, 1885, p. 851; Layard, B. 8. Afr. p.
374 (1867); Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p, 847 (1872) ;
Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 214; Oates, Matabeleland, p. 828 (1881) ;
Holub ¢ Pelzeln, Orn. Siid-Afr. p. 831 (1882) ; Butler, Feilden and
Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 426; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 787
(1884) ; Haagner, Ibis, 1902, pp. 575, 581.
Colymbus fluviatalis (nec Tunst.) Fleck, Journ. Ornith. 1894, p. 879.
Tachybaptes capensis, Sharpe, Bull. B. O. C. iv, No. 20, p. iv (1894) ;
id. Ibis, 1895, p. 139.
Podicipes capensis, Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 174 (1896); Sharpe, Ibis,
1897, p. 517 [Zululand], 1904, p. 8 [Deelfontein] ; Grant, Cat. B. M.
xxvii, p. 513, pls. vii, viii (1898); Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 269;
Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 207.
Colymbus capensis, Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 18 (1900).
Description. Adult in breeding plumage——Crown, sides of the
face as far as the hinder edge of the eye, throat, nape, back of neck,
and back of wings, dark slaty-black; primaries ashy-brown, white
at their bases, secondaries white, with an ashy-brown hand along
the outer edge of the outer web, some of the inner secondaries
quite white; ear-coverts, sides and front of the neck rich chestnut ;
under parts white tinged with grey on the lower fore neck, sides,
flanks and abdomen.
Iris brown; bill black, paler at the tip, greenish at the gape;
legs and feet black with greenish tinge at the tarsal joint.
Length (in flesh) 10°5; wing 4:10; tail -75; culmen ‘75; tarsus
1:35.
In non-breeding dress the upper parts from the crown to the
tail are ashy-black, slightly paler than in the breeding dress; the
chestnut of the sides and front of the neck is replaced by very pale
tawny-brown, the chin is white and the under parts are dull white
slightly soiled with brown; the flanks and abdomen are ashy,
Bill, upper mandible black, sides and lower mandible yellowish;
legs greenish black.
33 VoL, IV,
514 PODIOIPEDID/ PODICIPES
A young bird is like the adult in non-breeding plumage, but the
sides of the head and neck are marked with irregular longitudinal
bands of white and brown.
Distribution.—The Cape Dabchick is found throughout Africa,
Madagascar, Persia, India, Ceylon and Burma, replacing in these
countries the Dabchick of Europe to which it is very nearly related.
In South Africa the present species is certainly far the most
abundant and widely spread of the Grebes and has been noticed,
often in considerable numbers throughout its whole extent; it is
a resident.
The following are recorded localities: Cape Colony—Cape,
Beaufort West, Knysna, September, Port St. Johns, October
(S. A. Mus.), Port Elizabeth and Hast London (Rickard), King
William’s Town (Trevelyan), Deelfontein in Richmond division,
November (Seimund); Basutoland — near Mafeteng (Murray) ;
Natal—Durban Harbour, and St. Lucia Bay in Zululand, June
(Woodward), Newcastle district, October, November (Butler) ;
Transvaal — Pretoria (Bt. Mus.), near Johannesburg (Haagner),
Potchefstroom, July, August (Ayres); Bechuanaland—Lake Ngami
(Andersson), Tebra country, March (Eriksson), Tchakani Vlei near
Shoshong, May (Oates) ; Rhodesia—Tamasancha, December (Oates),
near Salisbury, occasionally (Marshall); German South-west Africa
—Kalahari, August, Great Namaqualand, April (Fleck), Otjikoto,
Omanbonde, Walvisch Bay and Ondonga breeding (Andersson).
Habits.—This little Grebe is very common wherever there are
lagoons or vleis suitable to it; it is also found along streams and
rivers where there are quiet pools and reaches. It is an active bird,
usually seen in pairs, and is pugnacious, chasing its companions
about and very frequently diving; its food consists chiefly of water
insects, and Ayres particularly states that he found no fish remains
in the stomachs of individuals examined by him. On land, like
other Grebes, the Dabchick is exceedingly awkward, lying on its
belly like a seal and shuffling along with the help of its feet and
wings.
. Andersson states that he found this little Grebe breeding at
Ondonga in very large numbers. The nest was a mass of weeds
and grasses lying on the water; the eggs were from four to six in
number, and dirty white in colour; they were always found covered
over, often several inches deep, and this was no doubt done before
the parent left the nest. The allied species in Europe carries its
young when hatched on its back, and probably this is also the case
with the present species.
IMPENNES SPHENISCUS 515
Order XX. IMPENNES.
The Penguins which constitute this order have their wings
modified to form paddles; there are no wing quills differentiated
from the other feathers and the limb-bones are flattened and in-
flexible ; the skull is schizognathous and holorhinal, there are
no basipterygoid processes; the three metatarsal bones are short,
and separated from one another by deep grooves, not fused into one
bone, as in all other birds; the feathering is continuous, an after-
shaft is present; oil gland tufted; accessory semitendinosus, alone
of the five Garrodian thigh-muscles absent; young hatched help-
less and covered with down.
The Penguins are confined to the Southern and Antarctic seas,
one species only extending as far north as the Galapagos Islands
which are situated on the Equator in the Pacific.
_ The affinities of this Order are rather obscure; the wing- and
feet-characters are probably due to degradation and not archaic, but
the group is an old one and remains of fossil Penguins have been
found in the Tertiary deposits of New Zealand. All the species may
be grouped in one family, two genera of which have each a single
representative in our Fauna.
Key of the Genera.
A. No crest; tail very short and concealed by the
upper bail-Coverts ac. ssiscsseassasraeinstiodsipeecaneseaeiis Spheniscus, p. 515.
B. A crest edged on either side by a bunch of yellow
superciliary feathers ; tail comparatively long and
HOG CON CEB CM dscns tec acecenisd ona medondeentnas ior weedess Catarrhactes, p. 520.
Genus I. SPHENISCUS.
Type.
Spheniscus, Brisson, Orn. vi, p. 97 (1760) v.eeeeesseeeees 8. demursus.
Bill stout and rather deep, the basal portion roughened and
furrowed with longitudinal ridges; tip of the upper mandible down-
curved and fitting between the abruptly truncated rami of the lower
one; groove dividing the culminicorn from the latericorn incon-
spicuous ; a bare space round and above the eye ; no elongated crest-
feathers; tail short, not reaching the tip of the toes, composed of
18 or 20 feathers almost concealed by the upper tail-coverts; feet
stout and strong, fully webbed. Size moderate.
516 IMPENNES SPHENISCUS
This genus contains four well-marked-species found on the coasts
of South America and South Africa, extending northwards to the
Galapagos in the Pacific and to Rio Grande do Sul in southern
Brazil on the west and to South Angola on the east side of the
Atlantic. One species extends to thé Falkland Islands and South
Georgia; but curiously enough no member of the genus is found on
Tristan da Cunha.
Only the ‘species here described is found along the African
coasts.
Fia. 158.—Head of Spheniscus demursus. x }
812. Spheniscus demersus. Jackass Penguin.
Diomedea demursa, Linn. Syst. Nat. i, p. 214 (1766).
Aptenodytes demursa, Andersson, Ibis, 1866, p. 824.
Spheniscus demursus, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 376 (1867) ; 7d. Ibis, 1869,
p: 460; Gurney, in Andersson's B. Damaral. p. 848 (1872); Moseley,
Notes Naturl. Challenger, p. 155 (1879) ; P. L. Sclater and Salvin,
Report Challenger, Zool. ii. Birds, p. 124, pl. xxvii; Sharpe, ed.
Layard’s B. 8S. Afr. p.789 (1884) ; Swinburne, P. R. Phys. Soc. Edin.
ix, p. 196 (1886); P. L. Sclater, Ibis, 1891, p.476; W. L. Sclater,
Ibis, 1896, p. 519 with photo., 1904, pp. 81-88; Shelley, B. Afr. i,
p. 169 (1896); Grant, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 649 (1898); Woodward
Bros., Natal B. p. 214 (1899); Reichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 14 (1900) ;
Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, i, p. 145 (1901) ; Shortridge, Ibis, 1904, p. 208.
Other references are Van Riebeech’s Journal, September 12th to 15th,
1652, in Leibrandt, Precis of Archives Cape of Good Hope, Part i,
p. 80 (1897); Kolben, Cape of Good Hope, English ed. ii, p. 144
(1781); le Vaillant, Voyage i. pp. 28-9 (1790); Andersson, Okavango
IMPBENNES SPHENISOUS 617
River, p. 349, with plate (1861); Harris, Essays and Photographs,
pp. 197-206, pls. 49, 51, 58, 54, 55 (1901).
‘‘Black-footed Penguin” of some authors,
Description. Adult——General colour above including the centre
of the forehead and crown, the back and tail, the upper surface of
the flippers, the sides of the face and throat and a horseshoe
shaped narrow band across the chest extending to the flanks, black;
below, including a band on either side of the crown from the base of
the bill along the sides of the neck and flanks above the horse-shoe
Fia. 159.—-Spheniscus demaursus, from a photograph taken from life by
Mr. Harris,
shaped marking and a rounded spot on the tail white; flipper chiefly
white below with a very narrow white edging anteriorly and pos-
teriorly. Tail of twenty feathers. ‘i
Tris hazel; bill black with-a transverse bar of grey across both
mandibles; naked skin about the eye grey, at the base of the bill
usually pink, sometimes bluish ; legs black with grey patches.
Length about 24:5; flipper 6°75; culmen 2:5; middle toe and
claw 3:0, The sexes are alike. A young bird is dark above and
518 IMPENNES SPHENISCUS
white below, but shows no trace of the white bands on the sides
of the head or the black horse-shoe shaped band below. Nestlings
are covered with a uniform brown down.
Fic. 160.—Jackass.Penguins on Dyer’s Island, off the coast of the Caledon
division of Cape Colony, from a photograph taken by the author.
Distribution.—The Jackass Penguin is confined to the coasts of
South Africa, extending from Great Fish Bay just north of the
Cunene River in Southern Angola (where it was recently observed
by Prof. Vanhéffen, the naturalist attached to the German Deep-
sea Expedition) to Natal.
IMPENNES SPHENISCUS ; §19
It is most abundant-from the neighbourhood of Ichaboe Island;
near Angra Pequeiia in German South-west Africa, to the Island of
St. Croix in Algoa Bay and resorts to all the islands off the coast,
between these two points, to breed. Eastward of Algoa Bay,
however, it is only occasionally found, generally after severe storms
at sea, which drive it beyond its accustomed limits.
Habits—This Penguin has been known from:the earliest days
at the Cape; only a few months after the founding of the settlement
in 1652 van Riebeeck made an. excursion to Robben Island in Table:
Bay, and brought back 600 birds and a number of eggs to feed his
half-starved settlers with, while Kolben, le Vaillant and all the other
early travellers notice it.
The Penguin is the most thoroughly aquatic of all birds; its
wings are useless for flight and cannot be bent except at the
shoulder joint. They are only used when the bird is diving, when
they are rapidly waved to and fro and act as propelling paddles, the
legs being outstretched behind, parallel to the tail and working like
a rudder.
The Jackass Penguin is very abundant along our coasts but
very seldom, if ever, comes ashore voluntarily on the mainland;
it resorts to the small islands, especially Dassen and Jut Islands,
near Saldanha Bay.
The food consists entirely of fishes caught by diving, and of these
they must consume enormous quantities. When captured they are
almost invariably very fat, with a thick layer of blubber underlying
the skin, and in consequence of this are able to live for a long time,
sometimes for weeks, without feeding. When at sea they swim
very low in the water, and on the least appearance of danger pop
below the surface very quietly and without jump or splash, forming
a great contrast in this respect to the Duikers, which spring up above
the surface to take a ‘‘ header”’ before diving.
When on land the Penguin waddles slowly along in an upright
position with its flippers hanging down parallel to its body on either
side. If hustled at all it will often fall flat on its belly and wriggle
along at a somewhat faster pace with the help of its flippers. Its
voice is a loud bray-like call somewhat resembling that of a donkey ;
hence its name.
A few Penguins can be found breeding on the islands all the year
round, but the greater number of the birds land for this purpose in
May or June. As the eggs are collected and taken away they go on
laying until about August, when they are allowed to sit. On the
520 IMPENNES CATARRHACTES
sandy islands like Dassen, short, wide burrows are usually con-
structed about a foot or 18 inches deep and about 6 inches in
diameter; these are scraped out by the birds themselves with their
hind feet, and are, as often as not, placed under the shelter of a low
bush or tuft of grass. Where the ground is rocky and excavation is
not possible, some niche or corner among the shore-boulders is
selected and the eggs are laid more or less in the open; a few bits
of rag or seaweed or rubbish are sometimes made use of to con-
struct the nest, but it is never a very elaborate structure.
The eggs are usually two in number, though sometimes only one,
and sometimes three are to be found. They are chalky in texture
and are pure white with a faint tinge of bluish, but generally become
a good deal stained and soiled before being hatched. In shape they
are rounded ovals slightly pointed at one end, measuring on an
average 2°65 x 2:0.
The following are the principal islands on which the Penguins
breed, beginning in the north on the west coast—Hollams Bird
Island, Mercury, Ichaboe, Possession and Halifax, off the coast of
German South-west Africa; Marcus, Jutten, Dassen, off the west
coast. of the Colony, north of Table Bay; Dyev’s Isle, off the Caledon
Coast, and St. Croix in Algoa Bay.
From most of the above-mentioned islands the eggs are regu-
larly collected during the early part of the breeding season by the
employés of the Colonial Government, to whom the islands all
belong, and are sent to Cape Town and other large centres, where
they are largely purchased and eaten, chiefly by Malays and other
coloured people. In 1902 469,400 eggs were gathered, of which
more than three quarters, 325,000, came from Dassen Island alone,
these were valued at £1,681. In the year previous the returns were
even greater; 638,000 eggs, valued at £1,969, were obtained.
The Penguin lives very well in captivity, especially if it can
be supplied with living fishes. In the Paris Jardin d’Acclimatation it
has even bred, each pair occupying a wooden dog-kennel and
successfully hatching off a number of young ones.
Genus II. CATARRHACTES.
Type.
Catarrhactes, Briss., Orn. vi, p. 102°(1760) ......... C. chrysocome.
Bill short, small, conical and smooth; the culminicorn separated
from the latericorn by a strongly-marked groove, in which are
situated the slit-like nostrils; a crest of elongate feathers on the
‘IMPENNES OATARRHACTES 521
crown, on either side of which is a bunch of elongated superciliary
golden feathers ; tail relatively long, of fourteen or sixteen feathers.
This genus, containing five species, is found throughout the
islands of the Southern Ocean from Tristan and the Falklands to
New Zealand and Kerguelen. It does not extend very far south,
ranging only between lats. 35° and 60° S.
813. Catarrhactes chrysocome. ock-hopper Penguin.
Aptenodytes chrysocome, Forster, Comment. Gotting. iii, p. 135, pl. i
(1781) ; Layard, Ibis, 1869, p. 378.
Eudyptes chrysocome, P. L. Sclater and Salvin, Report Chall., Zool. ii,
Birds, p. 128, pl. xxx (1880).
Eudyptes chrysolophus (nec Brandt), Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B.S. Afr.
p. 790 (1884).
Catarrhactes chrysocome, Grant, Cat. B. M. xxvi, p. 635 (1898).
Description, Adult (from Inaccessible, in the Tristan growp).—
General colour above, including the sides of the face, chin, throat
and wings slaty, feathers of the crown somewhat elongated and
upstanding, forming a crest, on each side of which are lines of pale
yellow plume-like feathers running from behind the nostrils to above
the eye, the hinder ones considerably elongated, attaining a length
of at least two inches; below, including a patch on the under side
of the wing, and the anterior and posterior edges pure white; tail of
sixteen feathers.
Tris dull rosy-pink; bill dull pink; feet reddish, darker on the
webs.
Length about 25:0; flipper 6:3; tail 3-5 to 4:0; culmen 1:5;
middle toe and claw 2:5.
Young birds are duller in colour, there is no crest, yellow or
black, and the white extends much further up the throat, almost
to the chin.
Distribution The Rock-hopper is found throughout the Great
Southern Ocean, occurring on the coasts of Kerguelen, South
Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand and adjacent Islands, Tierra del
Fuego, Falklands, Tristan group, Gough Island, Prince Edward,
Marion and Crozet Islands.
The rookeries on the four latter islands are the regular resorts
nearest to the South African Coast, which is apparently occasionally
visited by this Penguin. Verreaux informed Mr. Layard that in
§22 ‘MPENNES CATARRHACTES
1828 or 1829 he found a large number of these birds dead on the
rocks near Cape point, while one, captured in Table Bay, was
brought to Mr. Layard himself in 1868.
Mr. Layard’s specimen is no longer in the South African
Museum, and there seems to be some little doubt as to whether it
should be referred to this or to the allied Macaroni Penguin. This
latter species can be at once distinguished by having the yellow
crest springing from the centre of the crown and not from the
sides. It is found on the islands of the Southern Ocean from the
Falklands to Kerguelen, but it has not been met with on the
Tristan group. Figures and good descriptions of the habits of
both these species will be found in the account of the birds obtained
by the “ Challenger ” Expedition.
STRUTHIONIDE STRUTHIO 523
Sub-Class IT. RATITA.
This Sub-class includes a number of flightless birds without any
keel to the sternum; all have small wings and no stiff contour
feathers. Other characters are: skull dromeognathous (ef. vol. iii,
fig. 7, p. 7), holorhinal, and with basipterygoid processes ; coracoid
and scapula fused and forming a wide angle with each other; oil
gland absent ; caeca very long; accessory femoro-caudal, semitendi-
nosus and accessory semitendinosus always present, the first-named
provided with an additional slip.
The existing members of the Sub-class are separated into three
or four Orders and five Families, comprising the Ostriches, Rheas,
Emus, Cassowaries and Kiwis; all of which are confined to the
Neotropical, Ethiopian and Australian regions at the present time,
though fossil remains of some of the groups have been found in
other parts of the world.
Order XXI. STRUTHIONES.
Family I. STRUTHIONIDA.
Only two toes, the third and fourth, present; the terminal
phalanges shortened, provided with nails; no aftershaft to the
feathers; all five Garrodian thigh-muscles present; no clavicles ;
ceca long; rectrices large.
This Family contains only the single genus here described.
Genus I. STRUTHIO.
Type.
Struthio, Linn. Syst. Nat. 12th ed. i, p. 265 (1766) .... S. camelus.
Bill broad and depressed, the culmen flattened and the tip
strong, rounded and overlapping the lower mandible ; nostrils oval,
524 STRUTHIONIDE STRUTHIO
in a membranous groove near the middle of the bill; wings short
and imperfect with long soft plumes; tail moderate, of curved
pendant plume-like feathers; tarsi very long and strong, covered in
front on the lower half with transverse scutes; toes only two in
number, the third and fourth, short and robust, the outer the
shorter ; claws short, broad and flattened.
Four species of Ostriches are now generally recognised, but the
differences are not very marked or clearly defined. In addition to
the Southern Ostrich (S. australis) and the original North African
and Arabian bird (S. camelus), the Somali (S. molybdophanes) and
East African (S. masaicus) Ostriches have recently been recognised
as distinct.
Fic, 161,—Head of Struthio australis, after Wolf,
The males of the North African and Masai Ostriches have
reddish necks, which in the former is very thinly, in the latter
very thickly clothed with woolly down; the males of the Somali
and Southern Ostrich have bluish-grey necks, while the former
is distinguished from the latter by the presence of a horny shield
at the top of the head surrounded by downy hairs. This is entirely
absent in the South African bird.
The eggs of the various species of Ostriches show differences
which seem to be fairly constant. Those of S. camelus are quite
smooth and polished with no pores or pits such as are characteristic
of the other three species. In S. masaicus and S. molybdophanes
the pits or pores are of a deep purple colour, while those of S.
australis ave but slightly darker than the rest of the surface of the
shell.
STRUTHIONIDE STRUTHIO 525
Ostriches are found throughout the greater part of Africa south
of the Atlas Mountains, though absent from the great West African
forest districts, the Congo basin and Nyasaland. They. are also
found in Arabia and Syria, and may still extend as far east as
Persia and Turkestan. Fossil remains. of representatives of the
genus have. been found in the pliocene or late tertiary beds of
the Siwaliks of North India, of Southern Russia and the Island
of Samos. .
814. Struthio australis. Southern Ostrich.
Struthio camelus, (nec Linn.) Grill, K. Vet. Akad. Handl. Stockh. ii,
no. 10, p. 55; Tristram, Ibis, 1860, p. 74; P. L. Sclater, Trans. Zool.
Soc. iv, p. 854 (1862); Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 281 (1867); Finsch ¢
Hartl. Végel Ost-Afr. p. 597 (1870); Shelley, Ibis, 1882, p. 368
[Mashonaland]; Holub ¢ Pelzeln, Orn, Siid-Afr. p. 195 (1882);
Butler, Feilden and Reid, Zool. 1882, p. 339.
Struthio australis, Gurney, Ibis, 1868, p. 253; id. in Andersson's B.
Damaral. p. 251 (1872); Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 891; Gurney, Ibis,
1884, p. 465; Sharpe, ed. Layard’s B. S. Afr. p. 791 (1884) ; Fleck,
Journ, Ormith, 1894, p. 879; Salvadori, Cat. B. M. xxvii, p. 575
(1895) ; Cronwright Schreiner, Zool. 1897, p. 97 with plate; Shelley,
B. Afr. i, p. 196 (1896); Mashall, Ibis, 1900 p. 269; Reichenow,
Vog. Afr. i, p. 12 (1900) ; Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, i, p. 3 (1901).
Other references are :—Kolben, Cape of Good Hope, Engl. ed., ii, p. 146
(1781) ; Sparrman, Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, English 4to
ed., ii, pp. 120-5 (1785) ; Lichtenstein, Travels in 8. Africa, English
ed. i, p. 110, ii, pp. 25-8, 209 (1812-15) ; Burchell, Travels, i, pp. 208,
244, 279 (1822); Gordon Cumming, Five Years of Hunters’ Life,
new ed. i, pp. 75, 113 (1855); Andersson, Lake Nganw, p. 253, pl. vii,
(1856); Hall, Cape Monthly Mag. i, p. 172 (1857); Livingstone,
Missionary Travels, p. 158 (1857); Drummond, Large Game, pp.
407, 427 (1875); Andersson, Notes on Travels, p.59 (1875) ; Mosenthal
and Harting, Ostriches and Ostrich Farming, pp. 9-54 (1877);
Douglas, Ostrich Farming in South Africa (1881); Nicolls and
Eglington, Sportsman in 8. Afr. p. 131 (1892) ; Newton, Dict. Birds,
p. 662 (1894) ; Nolte, Journ. Ornith. 1895, pp. 44-79; Kirby, Haunts
Wild Gameé, p. 559 (1896).
Struis-vogel ” of the Dutch; “Inciniba’’ of the Amaxosa (Stanford) ;
“Intye” of the Zulus (Drummond); “Nche" of the Bechuanas
(Nicolls and Eglington).
‘
Description. Adult male-—Plumage, which only covers the
lower half of the neck and the upper portion of the body, jet
black, except for the primary quills of the wings, which are-white,
and the rectrices, which are white or pale fawn coloured.
526 STRUTHIONIDE STRUTHIO
Iris hazel; bill horn-colour, the edge and base of the upper
mandible reddish, which is more marked in the breeding season ;
skin of the head, neck and legs lead-grey to whitish-grey; row
of large scales on the tarsus red in the breeding season, horny
at other times. No horny shield at the top of the head, and
no marked white band at commencement of the neck feathering.
Height of a large male in the South African Museum 7 feet
10 inches; tarsus 18-0 inches. The female is smaller than the
male and the plumage is a pale brown throughout except the
longer wing-feathers which are dirty white; bare skin of neck and
legs slaty-grey ; bill blackish; tip black. Height about 6 feet ;
tarsus 14:5.
The nestling is pale straw coloured, the crown being more
fulvous, the head and neck variegated with longitudinal black
streaks; the back is covered with coarse flattened bristles, each
tipping a coming feather ; these are white and black intermingled,
giving a variegated appearance to the back. As the bird grows the
coarse bristles drop off and the back becomes covered with softer
down feathers, mingled black and dirty white.
Distribution.—The Southern Ostrich is found throughout the
greater part of South Africa south of the Cunene and Zambesi
Rivers ; north of this line up to about the Rufiji River, in German
East Africa, the Ostrich is not found, while further north again two
or three other species take the place of our southern bird.
The Southern Ostrich was formerly found everywhere through-
out the dryer and more open country of South Africa; in the middle
of the last century, owing to constant hunting for the sake of its
plumes, it had become almost exterminated in Cape Colony, the
Orange Free State, and the more settled parts of the Transvaal.
About 1870, however, Ostrich farming on a large scale was taken
up in Cape Colony, and at the present time wild birds or the
descendants of domesticated birds are to be found in a good many
districts of the Colony, while in Mashonaland, the Eastern Trans-
vaal and in the neighbouring Portuguese border herds of undoubtedly
wild birds still exist. This is also the case in the Kalahari Desert
and Bechuanaland.
History and habits —The Ostrich has naturally been known
from the earliest days of Cape settlement; Kolben’s account of it
is quaint and fairly accurate, though in it he reports the old story
often repeated, that the eggs are hatched by the heat of the sun.
He further states that they are ‘‘so numerous in the Cape countries
527
STRUTHIO
STRUTHIONIDA
£AT
Hu
‘rn Aq ydei8oq0yd
e wold
"4s0U S4I
To Sus TONS UeH—‘ZOT “Ol
528 STRUTHIONIDE STRUTHIO
that a man can hardly walk a quarter of an hour without seeing one
or more.”
It is impossible within a few paragraphs to do anything more
but touch lightly on one or two more important points of the habits
of this interesting bird. The best early account is undoubtedly that
of Lichtenstein, while recently Mr. Cronwright Schreiner has given
very clearly and plainly the results of his observation and experi-
ences as an Ostrich farmer.
In a natural state the Ostrich was usually seen in small parties
of a cock and several hens or young birds; they very often attached
themselves to the large herds of game so abundant on the South
African plains, and appear to have had a special predilection for the
Quagga and Black Wildebeeste. The Ostrich is a great runner, and
will outstrip and exhaust a mounted horse; it has a long raking
stride and does not, as is commonly supposed, aid itself by its wings,
which are kept just on a level with the back and free from the thighs
and are not raised up or spread out. Ostriches can jump over quite
high places and deep ditches, and can also swim very well. The
ery of the Ostrich is a booming or ‘“‘ brooming”’ noise, by many
people compared to the roar of a lion when heard at a considerable
distance. It is confined to the cock bird, and is generally heard at
night. It can only be produced by the bird when standing still.
Besides this both sexes can give an angry hiss and a guttural gurgle
when frightened, while the chicks have a plaintive penetrating
‘* cheep.”
The Ostrich is a delicate feeder, walking vast distances and
plucking a leaf here or a leaf there, but seldom stopping long in one
place, and carefully selecting what it likes. When domesticated
lucerne and other green stuff is specially grown for them, while
in some parts of the country they feed largely on the prickly pear.
Apart from its regular food, the Ostrich bas a way of picking up
and swallowing almost anything small enough to pass down the
neck, such as oranges, small tortoises, chickens, cartridge cases, and
especially copper coins, which have been found solidified together
into considerable masses in the stomachs of individuals which have
lived in captivity in the Zoological Gardens in London.
It has usually been stated and maintained that the Ostrich is
polygamous, the cock mating with several hens, all of whom lay
in a single nest; this is denied by Mr. Cronwright Schreiner, who
maintains that the cock pairs only with a single hen and that one
pair alone are responsible for the nest. He further states that
529
STRUTHIO
STRUTHIONIDA
‘qdeaZojoyd ev Wolg ‘eouezsIp
oy} UL prIq Yooo oy} pus “yno peyoyeq qsnf s88a eq} GHA ToIysQ ue fo yseN—"E9T “OLA
IV.
VOL.
34
580 STRUTHIONIDE STRUTHIO
when, as undoubtedly often happens, other unattached hens, some
six or seven in number, lay eggs in the same nest so that as many
-as sixty or seventy eggs result, very few if any of these are hatched,
and the result is disastrous; while if the single original pair are
undisturbed and the monogamous state continues, there will be a
good yield of chicks. Mr. Cronwright Schreiner, therefore, con-
siders that in the Ostrich monogamy is normal, polygamy abnormal,
the latter being due chiefly to a preponderance of hens brought
about by the more pugnacious nature of the males and by their
being much more liable to accidental death both in a wild and
domesticated state.
The cock and hen bird together construct the nest, which is
merely a slight depression in the soil made by scraping or kicking
out the earth, usually in a somewhat retired spot. The hen then
lays an egg every other day, her full complement being from fifteen
to twenty ; she usually commences to sit before the full complement
is completed, but when the sitting assumes its regular course the
hen sits during the day from about 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., the cock at
night from 4 p.m. to 8 am. This goes on regularly during the
whole incubation-period which lasts from five to six weeks. When
the birds are sitting, the head, neck and tail are laid flat on the
ground and the thighs are covered by the wings, so that it is difficult
to see either the black male at night or the brown hen by day.
The chicks when hatched are perfectly helpless for about twenty-
four hours, after which they begin to run and eat and are carefully
tended by both parents.
The eggs of the Southern Ostrich are spheroidal in shape; the
shell is strong and thick, the surface smooth and glossy as if
polished and the whole is covered with a series of minute pores or
pits. Normal eggs measure about 6:0 x 5:90, but much smaller
ones, about 4°50 x 38°75, are frequently met with, besides various
abnormalities in shape and texture.
The commercial value of Ostriches is derived from their plumes;
these are the longer tail- and wing-feathers, which have been prized
as ornaments from the earliest times. In order to obtain these
the Ostrich has always been the object of pursuit, but it was not
till about the year 1870 that the idea arose of breeding and
domesticating the birds on a large scale. So rapidly did the
industry spread that, whereas in 1865 there were only 80 tame
Ostriches in the Colony, 32,000 were included in the census of 1875,
the greater number of which were to be found in the districts of
STRUTHIONIDE STRUTHIO 531
Riversdale and Oudtshoorn in the south-west of the Colony. Since
then the industry has had many fluctuations, but it has now settled
down, and though the profits and prices are not what they were in
the early days, Ostrich-farming brings a very steady and fair return
when pursued under favorable conditions.
The following table shows the fluctuations in the production
and value of Ostrich -plumes during the last thirty years.
Year. lbs. exported. Value. Average value per lb.
1874 <s 36,829 ee £205,640 ag £5 lls. 7d.
1880 a 163,065 axe £883,632 a £5 9s. 7d.
1885 ny 251,084 a3 £585,278 a £2 Gs. 7d.
1890 a 212,276 o £563,948 2s £2 13s. 2d.
1895 st 353,651 Be £527,782 ie £1 9s. 9d.
1900 v5 412,832 2% £876,801 ey £2 4s, 4d.
1903 see 490,066 oo £945,001 oe £1 19s, 2d.
1904 a 470,381 .. £1,058,988 ack £2 5s. Od.
Au excellent paper on the progress of Ostrich-farming in South
Africa was read by the late Hon. Arthur, Douglas in Section D, at
the meeting of the British Association at Cape Town on August 17th
last year. It will be found in print in the number of ‘ The Ibis ”’
for January, 1906.
INDEX.
Notze.—Synonyms are printed in italics; Vernacular names, both English
and Dutch, and the Latin names used in this work in ordinary type.
Abdimia, 32.
abdimii, Abdimia, 32.
abdimii, Ciconia, 32.
abdinit, Sphenorhynchus, 33.
Actophilus, 337.
adausoni, Excalfactoria, 226.
adspersus, Francolinus, 209.
Agialitis, 361.
zgyptiacus, Alopochen, 128,
agyptiacus, Chenalopex, 128.
egyptius, Nycticorax, 83.
e@quatorialis, Gallinago, 416.
sequinoctialis, Majaqueus, 475.
ethiopica, Ibis, 94.
ethiopicus, Geronticus, 94.
afer, Francolinus, 120.
afra, Chalcopelia, 180.
afra, Otis, 292.
African Crake, 248.
— Dwarf Bittern, 89.
— Jabiru, 43.
— Jacana, 338.
— Open-bill, 41.
— Skimmer, 449.
— Spoon-bill, 105.
africana, Coturnix, 221,
africana, Parra, 338.
africanoides, Carbo, 9.
africanus, Actophilus, 338,
— Francolinus, 201.
africanus, Graculus, 9.
—- Phalacrocorax, 9.
— Phyllopezus, 338.
— Rhinoptilus, 327.
— Sarkidiornis, 119.
afroides, Otis, 294.
alba, Ardea, 65.
alba, Ciconia, 37.
— Herodias, 65.
— Platalea, 105.
Albatros, Black-browed, 499.
— Great, 495.
— Sooty, 506.
— Wandering, 495.
albiceps, Lobivanellus, 348.
albiceps, Xiphidiopterus, 348.
albiventris, Turtur, 169.
albofasciatus, Rhinoptilus, 330.
Alechthelia, 252.
Alectorides, 277.
alleni, Porphyrio, 268. ,
Allen’s Reedhen, 268.
alexandrina, Aigialitis, 366.
Alopochen, 127.
ambiguus, Turtur, 168.
Anas, 133.
Anastomus, 41.
angulata, Gallinula, 264,
Anhinga, 13.
Anous, 445.
Anseres, 112.
antarcticus, Stercorarius, 452.
antiquorum, Phenicopterus, 108.
Aplopelia, 182.
aquaticus, Rallus, 244,
aquila, Fregata, 22.
Arctic Tern, 442.
Ardea, 55,
Ardeide, 54.
Ardeola, 75.
ardeola, Dromas, 321,
ardesiaca, Ardea, 70, 72.
ardesiaca, Melanophoyx, 70.
Ardetta, 86.
Arenaria, 342,
— Calidris, 410.
argala, Ciconia, 46.
ariel, Prion, 492.
armatus, Hoplopterus, 352.
arquatrix, Columba, 163.
arquatus, Numenius, 386.
asiatica, Adgialitis, 363.
asiaticus, Charadrius, 363.
— Eudromias, 363.
assimilis, Puffinus, 470.
atlantica, Procellaria, 478.
atricapilla, Butorides, 80.
atricollis, Ardea, 60.
auritus, Nettopus, 122.
— Podiceps, 511.
australis, Struthio, 525.
autumnalis, Himantopus, 380.
—- Plegadis, 103.
Avocet, 383.
avocetta, Recurvirostra, 383.
ayresi, Coturnicops, 257.
batlloni, Porzana, 251.
Baillon’s Crake, 251.
bairdi, Tringa, 406.
Baird’s Sandpiper, 406.
balenarum, Sterna, 442.
Bald Ibis, 97.
Balearica, 283.
Bank Duiker, 8.
Banks’ Blue Petrel, 489.
banksi, Prion, 489.
barrovii, Otis, 307.
Barrow’s Knorhaan, 307.
Bell Crane, 279.
Berg Gans, 128.
Berg Patrijs, 201.
— Eend, 131.
bergii, Sterna, 436.
bicinctus, Cursorius, 327.
— Pterocles, 189.
bicolor, Tympanistria, 178.
bitorquatus, Charadrius, 367.
Bittern, African Dwarf, 89.
— Cape, 91.
— European Little, 88.
— Little Red-necked, 86.
Black Crake, 260.
— Duck, 136.
— Haglet, 475.
— Heron, 70.
INDEX
Black Knorhaan, 292.
— Night Hawk, 475.
— Oyster Catcher, 377.
— Pigeon, 163.
— Spur-winged Goose, 118.
— Stork, 39.
— Tern, White-winged, 431,
— -bellied Knorhaan, 302.
—— — Petrel, 462.
— -backed Gull, 423.
— -browed Albatros, 499.
— -footed Penguin, 517.
— -headed Heron, 60.
Blacksmith Plover, 352,
Black-quilled Snipe, 416.
— winged Plover, 357.
——_——— Stilt, 380.
Blue Bird, 506.
— Crane, 281.
— Knorhaan, 305.
— Petrel, 488.
————-— Banks’, 489.
————— Broad-billed, 490.
——_——— Fairy, 492.
————— Narrow-billed, 491.
— Quail, 226.
Bocage’s Red-winged Dove, 168.
Bonte Elsje, 383.
Booby, Brown, 21.
— Masked, 20.
Bosch-duif, 161, 163.
Botaurus, 91.
brachypus, Sterna, 442.
brachyrhyncha, Herodias, 66.
brevirostris, Prion, 492,
Broad-billed Blue Petrel, 490.
Bronze-wing Courser, 329,
Brown Booby, 21.
brunnea, Nyroca, 147.
Bubulcus, 72.
bubulcus, Ardea, 72.
Buff-backed Egret, 73.
Bugeranus, 278.
burchelli, Cursorius, 323.
Burchell’s Courser, 323.
Bush Knorhaan, 290.
Bustard, Stanley, 300.
Butorides, 79.
Biittikofer’s Francolin, 207.
Button-Quail, 238.
cerulea, Prion, 488.
533
534
czrulescens, Otis, 305.
— Rallus, 244.
caffrensis, Hagadashia, 100.
cafra, Otis, 300.
calceolata, Ardea, 71.
Calidris, 410.
calidris, Totanus, 390.
calva, Ibis, 97.
calvus, Geronticus, 97.
camelus, Struthio, 525.
candida, Gygis, 448.
candidus, Himantopus, 380.
canescens, Totanus, 392.
cantiaca, Sterna, 437.
cantianus, Aigialitis, 366.
cana, Casarca, 131.
canutus, Tringa, 405.
Cape Bittern, 91.
— Cormorant, 6.
— Dabchick, 513.
— Egmont Hen, 452.
— Gannet, 17.
— Hawk, 452.
— Hen, 475.
— Parson, 478.
— Partridge, 201.
— Pheasant, 210.
— Pigeon, 485.
— Quail, 221.
— Redwing, 203.
— Sheep, 495.
— Shoveller, 145.
— Turtle Dove, 169.
— Wigeon, 138.
capense, Nettion, 138.
capensis, Aythya, 148.
— Botaurus, 91.
— Coturnia, 221.
— Daption, 485.
— Dysporus, 17.
— Francolinus, 210.
— Fuligula, 147.
-—— Graculus, 5.
— Hematopus, 378.
— Mareca, 138.
— Microparra, 341.
— Nyroca, 148.
— Gdicnemus, 315.
— Gina, 174.
-- Parra, 341.
— Phalacrocorax, 5.
INDEX
*
capensis Plotus, 13.
— Podicipes, 513.
—- Querquedula, 138.
— Rhynchea, 418.
— Rhynchaspis, 145..
— Rostratula, 418.
— Spatula, 145.
— Sula, 17.
capicola, Turtur, 169.
carunculatus, Bugeranus, 278.
Casarea, 131.
caspia, Sterna, 434.
Caspian Plover, 363.
— Tern, 434,
Catarrhactes, 520.
catarrhactes, Stercorarius, 452.
Cattle Hgret, 72.
Chalcopelia, 180.
chalcopterus, Rhinoptilus, 329.
chalcospilos, Columba, 180.
Charadriide, 342,
Charadriine, 342.
Chenalopex, 127.
chloropus, Gallinula, 262.
chlororhynchus, Thalassogeron, 503.
chrysocome, Catarrhactes, 521.
chrysolophus, Hudyptes, 521.
chrysopelargus, Ardea, 39.
— Balearica, 284.
Ciconia, 37.
ciconia, Ciconia, 38.
Ciconiide, 32.
cinctus, Cursorius, 328.
cinerea, Ardea, 58.
cinerea, Terekia, 398.
cinereus, Priofinus, 472.
— Totanus, 398.
Cinnamon Dove, 182.
cirrhocephalus, Larus, 427.
clamator, Francolinus, 210.
clypeata, Spatula, 144.
Coast Partridge, 213.
Columba, 160.
Columbe, 155.
Columbide, 159.
comata, Ardea, 75.
Comb-duck, 119.
Common Sandpiper, 399.
— Tern, 440.
communis, Coturnix, 221,
congensis, Plotus, 13
conspicillata, Procellaria, 475.
Coot, Red-knobbed, 270.
Coqui, 197.
coqui, Francolinus, 197.
.Corethrura, 252.
Cormorant, Cape, 6.
— Long-tailed, 9.
Corn Crake, European, 246.
cornuta, Numida, 228, 281.
coronata, Chetusia, 355.
— Numida, 227.
coronatus, Graculus, 9.
— Stephanibyx, 355.
Coturnicops, 257.
Coturnix, 220.
colurnix, Coturnix, 221.
Courser, Bronze-wing, 329.
— Burchell’s, 323.
— Seebohm’s, 328.
— Temminck’s, 325.
— Two-banded, 327.
Crab Plover, 821.
Crake, African, 248.
— Baillon’s, 251.
— Black, 260.
— Hartlaub’s, 258,
—- Jardine’s, 253.
— Red-chested, 255.
— Spotted, 250.
— White-spotted, 254.
— White-winged, 257.
Crane, Bell, 279.
— Blue, 281.
— Crowned, 284.
— Kaffir, 279, 284.
— Stanley, 281.
— Wattled, 278.
crassirostris, Hoplopterus, 350.
crepidatus, Stercorarius, 453.
Crested Francolin, 199.
— Guinea-fowl, 233.
— Tern, Smaller, 438.
Crex, 245.
crex, Crex, 246.
— Ortygometra, 246.
cristata, Eupodotis, 309.
— Fulica, 270.
— Numida, 233.
cristatus, Podicipes, 509.
Crown Duiker, 9.
Crowned Crane, 284.
INDEX 535
Crowned Guinea-fowl, 227.
— Lapwing, 355.
crumeniferus, Leptoptilus, 46.
cucullatus, Calherodius, 85.
culmivatus, Thalassogeron, 501.
Curlew, 386.
— Sandpiper, 408.
Cursoriine, 322.
Cursorius, 322.
cyanops, Sula, 20.
Dabchick, Cape, 513.
dactylisonans, Coturnix, 221.
Damara Tern, 442.
— Turtle Dove, 171.
Damaraland Guinea-fowl, 231.
damarensis, Charadrius, 363.
damarensis, Turtur capicola, 171.
Daption, 485.
Darter, 13.
decipiens, Turtur, 168.
Defilippia, 350.
delagorguei, Coturnix, 224.
— Turturena, 165.
Delagorgue’s Pigeon, 165.
Delalande’s Green Pigeon, 157.
delalandii, Treron, 157.
-- Vinago, 157.
demersus, Spheniscus, 516.
Dendrocyena, 124.
desolatus, Prion, 491.
Dicawka, 228.
Dikkop, 315.
— Knorhaan, 296.
—, Water, 318.
dimidiata, Corethrura, 255.
Diomedea, 494.
Diomedeine, 494.
Dissura, 34.
Diving Petrel, 493.
dominicanus, Larus, 423.
Double Snipe, 414.
— -banded Sandgrouse, 189.
dougalli, Sterna, 439.
Dove, Bocage’s Red-eyed, 168.
— Cape Turtle, 169.
— Cinnamon, 182.
— Damara Turtle, 171.
— Emerald Spotted, 180.
— Laughing, 172.
~- Lemon, 182.
536
Dove Namaqua, 174.
— Red-eyed, 167.
— Tambourine, 178.
— White-breasted, 178.
Dromadide, 320.
Dromas, 320.
Duck, Black, 136.
— Knob-billed, 119.
— Maccoa, 153.
— Masked, 124.
— Whistling, 126.
— White-backed, 150.
— White-faced, 124,
Duiker, Bank, 8.
— Crown, 9.
— Reed, 9.
— Sweet-water, 13.
— Trek, 5.
— White-breasted, 4.
Dwarf Bittern, African, 89.
— Goose, 122.
Eared Grebe, 511.
East African Guinea-fow], 232.
Eastern White Pelican, 25.
Edada, 136.
edouardi, Guttera, 233.
egregia, Crex, 248.
Egret, Buff-backed, 73.
— Cattle, 72.
— Great White, 65.
— Little, 68.
— Yellow-billed, 66.
egretta, Ardea, 66.
Egyptian Goose, 128,
elegans, Sarothrura, 254.
Emerald-spotted Dove, 180.
emini, Coturnix, 226.
— Galactochrysea, 336.
Emin’s Pratincole, 336.
Ephippiorhynchus, 43.
episcopus, Ciconia, 35.
Erismatura, 152.
erythreus, Phenicopterus, 108.
Erythrocnus, 77.
erythrophthalma, Nyroca, 147.
erthrophrys, Turtur, 167.
erythropus, Porphyrio, 266.
erythrorhyncha, Poscillonetta, 141.
Esikwi, 116, 128.
Ethiopian Snipe, 416.
INDEX
European Corn Crake, 246.
— Little Bittern, 88.
— Shoveller, 144.
Excalfactoria, 226.
exul, Pelicanoides, 493.
exulans, Diomedea, 495.
Fairy Blue Petrel, 492.
. falcinellus, Plegadis, 103.
Fazant, 211, 216.
Finfoot, Peters’, 274,
Fischer’s Sand Plover, 370.
Flamingo, Greater, 108.
— Lesser, 111.
flavimana, Ardea, 71.
flavirostris, Anas, 134.
— Herodias, 66.
— Limnocorax, 260.
— Rynchops, 449.
fluviatilis, Sterna, 440.
Forked-tail Petrel, Leach’s, 467.
fornasini, Coturnix, 224.
forsteri, Procellaria, 488.
Francolin, Biittikofer’s, 207.
— Crested, 199.
— Humboldt’s, 216.
— Natal, 212.
— Noisy, 210.
— Orange River, 205.
— Red-billed, 209.
— Red-necked, 214.
— Shelley’s, 208.
— Swainson’s, 217.
Francolinus, 195.
Fregata, 22.
Fregatide, 21.
Fregetta, 461.
Frigate Bird, 22.
Fulica, 269.
Fulicarie, 241.
fuliginosa, Pheebetria, 506.
—, Sterna, 444.
fulva, Dendrocycna, 126.
fusca, Glareola, 333.
Galachrysea, 336.
Galactochrysea, 336.
galericulata, Sterna, 436.
Galline, 194.
Gallinago, 412.
Gallinula, 261,
gambensis, Plectropterus, 115.
Gannet, Cape, 17.
gariepensis, Francolinus, 205.
Garrodia, 460.
Garrod’s Petrel, 461.
garzetia, Ardea, 68.
— Herodias, 68.
Gavie, 421,
Geelbec, 134.
geoffroyi, Augialitis, 362.
Geronticus, 97.
Gheel Patrijs, 186.
Giant Petrel, 482.
gigantea, Ossifraga, 482.
glacialoides, Priocella, 473.
Glareola, 332.
glareola, Totanus, 395.
Glareolide, 322.
Glareoline, 331.
Glossy Ibis, 103.
glottis, Totanus, 392.
Glutton Bird, 482.
Golden Snipe, 419.
goliath, Ardea, 55.
Goliath Heron, 55.
Gom Paauw, 308.
Goney, 495.
Goose, Black Spur-winged, 118,
— Dwarf, 122.
— Egyptian, 128.
— Nile, 128.
— Spur-winged, 115.
Gould’s Little Shearwater, 470.
—- Yellow-nosed Mollymawk, 501.
grallaria, Fregetta, 463.
gravis, Puffinus, 468.
Great Albatros, 495.
— Crested Grebe, 509.
— Grey Petrel, 472.
— Locust Bird, 38.
— Sand Plover, 362.
— Shearwater, 468.
— Snipe, 414.
— White Egret, 65.
Greater Flamingo, 108.
Grebe, Eared, 511.
— Great Crested, 509.
— Little, 513.
Green Pigeon, Delalande’s, 157.
—_———_-—— Schalow’s, 159.
— Sandpiper, 397.
— -shank, 392.
INDEX
Green-backed Heron, 80.
Grey Heron, 58.
— Plover, 359.
— -headed Gull, 427.
— -wing, 201.
griseus, Nycticorax, 82.
— Puffinus, 471.
Gruide, 277.
guinea, Columba, 160.
Guinea-fowl, Crested, 233.
——_——_—— Crowned, 227,
——— -——- Fast African, 232.
—————— Damaraland, 231.
Gull, Grey-headed, 427.
~—- Hartlaub’s, 425.
— Southern Black-backed, 423.
Guttera, 233.
gutturalis, Ardea, 89.
— Pterocles, 187.
Gygis, 447.
Hadada, 100.
Hematopodine, 377.
Hematopus, 377.
hagadash, Geronticus, 100.
hagadash, Hagadashia, 100.
Hagadashia, 100,
Hammerkop, 51.
Haplopelia, 182.
Harlequin Quail, 224.
hartlaubi, Larus, 425.
— Otis, 304.
Hartlaub’s Crake, 258.
— Gull, 425.
— Knorhaan, 304.
Heliornithide, 273.
helvetica, Squatarola, 359.
Hemiparra, 350.
Hemipode, Hottentot, 237.
— Kurrichane, 238.
— Natal, 240.
Hemipodii, 236.
Herodias, 64.
Herodiones, 29.
Heron, Black, 70.
— Black-headed, 60.
— Goliath, 55.
— Green-backed, 80.
— Grey, 58.
— Night, 82.
— Purple, 62.
— Red-throated, 72.
537
538
Heron, Rufous-bellied, 77.
— Squacco, 75.
— White-backed Night, 85.
hiaticola, Avgialitis, 364.
Hill Red-wing, 203.
Himantopus, 380.
hirundo, Sterna, 440, 442.
histronica, Coturnix, 224.
Hoplopterus, 351.
Hottentot Hemipode, 237.
— Teal, 139.
hottientota, Querquedula, 139.
— Turnix, 237.
humboldti, Pternistes, 216.
Humboldt’s Francolin, 216.
hybrida, Hydrochelidon, 430.
Hydrochelidon, 429.
hypoleucus, Totanus, 399.
Ibidide, 94.
Ibis, 94.
— Bald, 97.
— Bubulcus, 72.
— Glossy, 103.
— Pseudotantalus, 49,
— Sacred, 94.
— Tantalus, 49.
— Wood, 49.
agneus, Falcinellus, 108.
Igombosa, 175.
Igwampi, 279.
Themu, 284.
Thobi, 167, 169.
Tkala Kalu, 292.
Impangele, 228.
Impennes, 515.
incerta, Gistrelata, 480.
Inciniba, 525.
Indwe, 281.
Ingagane, 100.
Ingolantete, 38.
Inkanka, 232.
Inkankatori, 234.
Inkwali, 200.
Inkwari, 216.
inornatus, Stephanibyx, 358.
Ingangolo, 316.
Insekweble, 213.
Intendele, 201.
intermedia, Herodtas, 66.
— Porzana, 251.
INDEX
intermedius, Aigialitis, 364.
interpres, Arenaria, 343.
— Strepsilas, 343.
Tntye, 525.
Asagwityi, 221.
Isebelu, 178.
Iseme, 299, 301, 309.
Isendele, 208.
Isikombazena, 180.
Isikwatsha, 201.
Iswempe, 198.
Itegwana, 52.
Itendele, 203.
Ititihoya, 355.
Ivukutu, 161.
Izuba, 163.,
Jabiru, African, 43.
Jacana, African, 338.
Jacana, Smaller, 341.
Jackass Penguin, 516.
Jardine’s Crake, 253.
jardinu, Gallinula, 253.
jugularis, Francolinus, 207.
Kaffir Crane, 279, 284.
— Rail, 244.
Kelkje Wijn, 192.
Kentish Plover, 366.
Kerguelen Tern, 439.
Khoho-a-dira, 316.
Kiewitje, 355.
King Reed Hen, 266.
kitthtzt, Charadrius, 374.
Kittlitz’s Sand Plover, 374.
Klein Springhaan Vogel, 334.
Knob-billed Duck, 119.
Knorhaan, Barrow’s, 307.
— Black, 292.
— Black-bellied, 302.
— Blue, 305.
— Bush, 290.
— Dikkop, 296.
— Hartlaub’s, 304.
— Red-crested, 290.
— Riippell’s, 298.
— Vaal, 296.
— White-quilled, 294.
Knot, 405.
Koning-Reit-Haan, 266
Kori, 309.
kori, Otis, 308.
kubli, Puffinus, 469.
Kurrichane Hemipode, 238.
Kwartel, 221.
lamelligerus, Anastomus, 41.
Lapwing, Crowned, 355.
— Long-toed, 350.
Laride, 422.
Larus, 422.
larvata, Haplopelia, 182.
lateralis, Lobivanellus, 346.
Laughing Dove, 172.
layardi, Thalassogeron, 505.
Layard’s Mollymawk, 505.
Leach’s Fork-tail Petrel, 467.
Leguatha, 224.
Leopard Bird, 482.
Leptoptilus, 45.
lepurana, Turnix, 238.
leschenaulti Charadrius, 362.
Lesogo, 213.
Lesser Flamingo, 111.
— Moorhen, 264.
— Noddy, 447.
lessoni, Géstrelata, 479.
Lesson’s Petrel, 479.
leucocapillus, Micranous, 447.
leucocephala, Ciconia, 35.
leucogaster, Oceanitis, 463.
leucogastra, Sula, 21.
leuconota, Thalassiornis, 150.
leuconotus, Nycticorax, 85.
leucopareia, Hydrochelidon, 430.
leucopolius, Charadrius, 371.
leucoptera, Ardea, 75.
— Comwpsotis, 295.
— Hemiparra, 350.
— Hydrochelidon, 431.
leucorrhoa, Oceanodroma, 467.
levaillanti, Francolinus, 203.
— Plotus, 13.
Limicole, 311.
Limnobcenus, 258.
Limnocorax, 259.
lineata, Corethrura, 253.
— Sarothrura, 253.
Linongolo, 41.
Little Bittern, European, 88.
——_——_——_— Red-necked, 86.
— Egret, 68.
INDEX
Little Grebe, 513.
— Locust Bird, 334.
— Stint, 406.
— Tern, 443.
littoreus, Totanus, 392.
Lobivanellus, 345.
Long tailed Cormorant, 9.
— -toed Lapwing, 350.
— -winged Petrel, 478.
Locust Bird, Great, 38.
—————\— Little, 334.
lucidus, Graculus, 4.
— Herodias, 73.
— Phalacrocorax, 4.
ludwigi, Otis, 298.
Ludwig’s Paauw, 298,
Macaauw, Wilde, 116.
Maccoa Duck, 153.
maccoa, Hrismatura, 153.
Machanoka, 52.
macroptera, Gistrelata, 478.
macrura, Sterna, 442.
maculosus, Hidicnemus, 316.
madagascariensis, Nettapus, 122.
—_——_ ——— Porphyrio, 266.
Mafudsangombo, 73.
Majaqueus, 474.
major, Gallinago, 414.
— Puffinus, 468.
Mahem, 284.
Malagash, 17.
Man of War Bird, 495.
Marabou, 46.
marginalis, Crez, 258,
— Linanobenus, 258.
marginata, Adgialitis, 371,
Marsh Sandpiper, 394.
maruetta, Porzana, 250,
Masked Booby, 20.
— Duck, 124.
media, Gallinago, 414.
— Sterna, 438.
Mediterranean Shearwater, 469.
melanocephala, Ardea, 60.
melanogaster, Fregetta, 462.
—_——_—— Otis, 302.
melanonota, Sarcidiornis, 119,
Melanophoyx, 70.
melanophrys, Diomedea, 499.
melanoptera, Chettusia, 357.
539
540 INDEX
melanoptera, Glareola, 333.
melanopterus, Himantopus, 380.
— Stephanibyx, 357.
Micranous, 446,
Microparra, 341.
microscelis, Dissura, 35.
minor, Pheenicopterus, 111.
— Podiceps, 513.
minuta, Ardetta, 86, 88.
— Ortygometra, 251.
— Sterna, 443.
— Tringa, 406.
mitrata, Numida, 232.
mitratus, Pelecanus, 25.
mollis, Gistrelata, 481.
Mollyhawk, 499.
Mollymawk, 499.
———— Gould’s Yellow-nosed, 501.
———— Layard’s, 505.
Yellow-nosed, 503.
Moorhen, 262.
— Lesser, 264.
moquini, Hematopus, 377.
mossambicana, Podica, 274.
Mother Carey’s Chicken, 465.
Mud-lark, 52.
Mutton Bird, 479.
Nacht Patrijs, 187.
Namaqua Dove, 174.
— Partridge, 192.
— Pheasant, 213.
— Pterocles, 192.
— Pteroclurus, 182,
— Sandgrouse, 192.
nana, Turnix, 240,
Narrow-billed Blue Petrel, 491.
Natal Francolin, 212.
— Hemipode, 240.
natalensis, Francolinus, 212.
Nehe, 525.
nebularius, Glottis, 392.
neglectus, Phalacrocorax, 8.
— Graculus, 8.
Nelly, 482.
nereis, Garrodia, 461.
' Nettion, 138.
Nettopus, 121.
niger, Limnocorax, 260.
— Plectropterus, 118,
Night Heron, 82.
—_—_—_——_. White-backed, 85.
nigra, Ciconia, 39.
— Sterna, 431.
nigricollis, Podicipes, 511.
nigripennis, Gallinago, 416,
Nile Goose, 128.
Noddy, 446.
— Lesser, 447.
— White, 448,
Noisy Francolin, 210.
nordmanni, Glareola, 334.
Nordmann’s Pratincole, 333.
nudicollis, Francolinus, 214.
— Pternistes, 214.
Numenius, 385.
Numida, 227.
Nycticorax, 82.
Nyroca, 146.
obscura, Porzana, 251.
oceanicus, Oceanites, 459.
Oceanites, 458.
Oceanitide, 457.
Oceanodroma, 467,
ochropus, Totanus, 397.
Ochthodromus, 361.
Odontoglossz, 107.
Cidicnemide, 314.
Cédicnemus, 315,
Gina, 174.
Cistrelata, 477.
Olive Pigeon, 163.
Oliven-duif, 163.
onocrotalus, Pelecanus, 25,
Open-bill, African, 41.
Orange River Francolin, 205.
Ortygometra, 249.
Ossifraga, 482.
Ostrich, Southern, 525.
Otide, 288.
Otis, 288.
Oxyechus, 361.
Oyster Catcher, Black, 377.
Paauw, Gom, 308.
— Ludwig's, 298.
— Veld, 300.
Paddefanger, 52,
Painted Snipe, 418.
pallida, Aigialitis marginata, 378.
papillosa, Numida, 231,
paradisea, Grus, 281.
— Tetrapteryx, 281.
Parride, 337.
Partridge, Cape, 201.
— Coast, 213,
— Namaqua, 192,
parvus, Phenicopterus, 111.
Patrijs, 201,
Pavoncella, 401.
payesi, Ardetta, 86.
pecuaria, Aigialitis, 374.
Peele Peele, 116.
pelagica, Procellaria, 465.
Pelecanide, 24,
Pelecanus, 24,
Pelican, Eastern White, 25.
— Pink-backed, 27.
Pelicanoides, 493.
Pelicanoidineg, 493.
Penguin, Black-footed, 517.
— Jackass, 516.
— Rock-hopper, 521.
petersi, Podica, 274.
Peters’ Pinfoot, 274.
Petrel, Banks’ Blue, 489.
— Black-bellied, 462.
— Blue, 488.
—— Broad-billed Blue, 490,
— Diving, 493.
— Fairy Blue, 492,
— Garrod’s, 461.
-— Giant, 482.
— Great Grey, 472.
— Leach’s Forked-tail, 467.
— Lesson’s, 479.
— Long-winged, 478.
— Narrow-billed Blue, 491.
— Schlegel’s, 480.
— Silver-Grey, 473.
— Soft-plumaged, 481.
— Storm, 465.
— White-bellied, 463.
— Wilson’s, 459.
pheonota, Columba, 160.
pheopus, Numenius, 388.
Phaéthon, 23.
Phaéthontide, 23.
Phalacrocoracide, 2
Phalacrocoracine, 2.
Phalacrocorax, 2.
Phasianide, 195.
Pheasant, 211, 215.
— Cape, 210.
INDEX
Pheasant, Namaqua, 213.
Pheebetria, 505.
Pheenicopteride, 107.
Pheenicopterus, 107.
Phyllopezus, 337.
picturata, Otis, 298.
Piew, 506.
Pigeon, Black, 163.
— Cape, 485.
— Delagorgue’s, 165.
— Delalande’s Green, 157.
— Olive, 163.
— Rameroon, 163,
— Schalow’s Green, 159.
— Speckled, 160.
pileatus, Francolinus, 199.
Pink-backed Pelican, 27.
Piv, 506.
Platalea, 104.
Plataleidz, 104.
Plectropterus, 114.
Plegadis, 102.
Plotine, 11.
Plotus, 9.
Plover, Blacksmith, 352.
— Black-winged, 357.
— Caspian, 363.
— Crab, 321.
— Fischer’s Sand, 370.
— Great Sand, 362.
— Grey, 359.
— Kentish, 366.
— Kittlitz’s Sand, 374.
— Ringed, 364.
— Swainson’s, 358.
— Three-banded, 367.
541
— Tropical White-fronted Sand, 373.
— Wattled, 346.
— White-fronted Sand, 371.
— White-headed Wattled, 348.
Pochard, South African, 147.
Podica, 273.
Podiceps, 508.
podiceps, Ardetta, 87.
Podicipedide, 508.
Podicipes, 508.
Peecilonetta, 141.
potocephalus, Larus, 427.
pomarinus, Stercorarius, 455.
Pomatorhine Skua, 455.
pomatorhinus, Stercorarius, 455.
542
Porphyrio, 266.
porphyrio, Porphyrio, 266.
Porphyriola, 266.
Porzana, 249.
porzana, Ortygometra, 250.
porzana, Porzana, 250.
pratensis, Crex, 246.
pratincola, Glareola, 333.
Pratincole, 333.
Pratincole, Emin’s, 336.
— Nordmann’s, 333.
Pretty Bird, 503.
Priocella, 473.
Priofinus, 472.
Prion, 487.
Procellaria, 464.
Procellaride, 464.
Pseudotantalus, 48.
Pternistes, 214.
Pterocles, 185.
Pterocletes, 184.
Pteroclide, 185.
Pteroclurus, 191.
pucherani, Numida, 233.
Puffinine, 467.
Puffinus, 468.
pugnax, Machetes, 402.
— Pavoncella, 402.
pulchra, Corethrura, 254.
pumila, Gallinula, 264.
punctatum, Nettion, 139.
Purple Heron, 62.
purpurea, Ardea, 62.
— Phoyzx, 62.
pusilla, Ardea, 87.
— Ortygometra, 251,
pygmea, Ortygometra, 251.
Pygopodes, 507.
Quail, Blue, 226.
—- Cape, 221.
— Harlequin, 224.
Querri-querri, 346.
Rail, Kaffir, 244.
Rallide, 243.
ralloides, Ardeola, 75.
— Herodias, 73, 75.
Rallus, 243.
Rameroon Pigeon, 163.
Ramier Roussard, 160.
Ratite, 523.
INDEX
Recurvirostra, 382.
Red-bill, 141.
Red-billed Francolin, 209.
—— chested Crake, 255.
— crested Knorhaan, 290.
—- eyed Dove, 167.
—_—_—_——— Bocage’s, 168.
— knobbed Coot, 270.
— necked Francolin, 214.
——_——— Little Bittern, 86.
Redshank, 390.
Red-tailed Tropic Bird, 23.
— throated Heron, 72.
Redwing, 206.
— Cape, 203.
— Hill, 203.
— Thorn, 208.
Reed Duiker, 9.
— Hen, Allen’s, 268.
King, 266.
Reit Kwartel, 237, 238.
regulorum, Balearica, 284.
religiosa, Ibis, 94.
Rhinoptilus, 326.
Richardson’s Skua, 453.
Ringed Plover, 364.
Rock-hopper Penguin, 521.
Roerdomp, 92.
Roodepoot elsje, 381.
Rooi-bles Reit-haan, 262.
Roseate Tern, 439.
roseus, Pelecanus, 25.
roseus, Pheenicopterus, 108.
Rostratula, 418.
rubricauda, Phaéthon, 23.
rueppelli, Otis, 298.
rufa, Sarothrura, 255,
rufescens, Pelecanus, 27.
Ruff, 402.
ruficollis, Corethrura, 253, 255,
ruficrista, Otis, 290.
rufiventris, Ardea, 77. ¢
—, Erythrocnus, 77.
Rufous-bellied Heron, 77.
rufus, Cursorius, 323.
— Plotus, 13.
Riippell’s Knorhaan, 298.
rutila, Casarca, 181.
Rhynchopide, 448.
Rhynchops, 448.
Sacred Ibis, 94.
INDEX
Saddle-bill, 43.
Sand Quail, 237.
— Plover, Fischer's, 370.
— -——— Great, 362.
—— —— Kitlitz’s, 374.
————- Tropical White-fronted, 373.
—— ———- White-fronted, 371.
Sanderling, 410.
Sand-grouse, Double-banded, 189.
-——_—— -—— Namaqua, 192.
—+—— —- Spotted, 186.
—— —— -—— Yellow-thtroated, 187.
Sandpiper, Baird’s, 406.
— Common, 399.
-—— Cnrlew, 408.
— Green, 397.
— Marsh, 394.
— Terek, 398.
— Wood, 395.
Sandwich Tern, 437.
Sarcidiornis, 118.
Sarothrura, 252.
Saunders’ Tern, 444.
saundersi, Sterna, 444,
schalowi, Vinago, 159.
Schalow’s Green Pigeon, 159.
schlegeli, Francolinus, 197.
Schlegel’s Petrel, 480.
Schoorsteen-veger, 95.
Scissor billed Tern, 449.
scolopacea, Otis, 296.
Scolopacine, 412.
Scopide, 51.
Scopus, 51.
Sea-cow Bird, 367.
Sea Hen, 452.
seebohmi, Rhinoptilus, 328.
Seebohm’s Courser, 328.
semitorquatus, Turtur, 167.
— Turtur, 169.
senegalensis, Cursorius, 325.
— Ephippiorhynchus, 43.
— Adicnemus, 318.
— Otis, 307.
— Podica, 275.
— Turtur, 172.
senegalus, Lobivanellus, 346.
sepheena, Francolinus, 199.
Setula tsipi, 352.
Shearwater, Gould’s Little, 470.
— Great, 468.
Shearwater, Mediterranean, 469.
— Sooty, 471.
Shelduck, South African, 131.
shelleyi, Francolinus, 208.
Shelley’s Francolin, 208.
Shoveller, Cape, 145.
— European, 144,
Silver-grey Petrel, 473.
Skimmer, African, 449.
Skua, Pomatorhine, 455.
— Richardson’s, 453.
— Southern, 452.
Slop, 145.
Smaller Crested Tern, 438.
— Jacana, 341.
smaragnotus, Porphyrio, 266.
Smee-Eendje, 141.
Snake-Bird, 13,
Snipe, Black-quilled, 416.
— Double, 414.
— Ethiopian, 416.
— Golden, 419.
— Great, 414.
— Painted, 418.
— Solitary, 414.
Soft-plumaged Petrel, 481.
Solitary Snipe, 414.
Sooty Albatros, 506.
— Shearwater, 471.
— Tern, 444.
South African Pochard, 147.
—- -—~—— Shelduck, 131.
Southern Black-backed Gull, 423.
— Ostrich, 525.
— Skua, 452.
sparsa, Anas, 136.
Spatula, 143.
speciosus, Hoplopterus, 352.
Speckled Pigeon, 160.
Spheniscus, 515.
spinicauda, Stercorarius, 453.
Spook-vogel, 416.
Spoonbill, African, 105.
Spotted Crake, 250.
— Sandgrouse, 186.
Spring-haans Vogel, 38.
- ——- Klein, 334.
Sprinken vogel, 383.
Spur-winged Goose, 115,
—_—_——_— — Black, 118.
Squacco Heron, 75,
543
544 INDEX
Squatarola, 359. tenutrostris, Thalasseca, 473.
stagnatilis, Totanus, 394. Terek Sandpiper, 398.
Stanley Bustard, 300. Tern, Arctic, 442.
— Crane, 281, — Caspian, 434.
stanleyanus, Anthropoides, 281, — Common, 440.
Steganopodes, 1. — Damara, 442.
stellaris, Botaurus, 91. — Kerguelen, 439.
Stephanibyx, 354. — Little, 443.
Stercorariide, 451, — Roseate, 439,
Stercorarius, 451. — Sandwich, 437.
Sterna, 433. — Saunders’, 444,
Sternide, 428, — Scissor-billed, 449.
Stilt, Black-winged, 380. — Smaller Crested, 438.
Stinker, 475. — Sooty, 444.
Stinkpot, 475, 506. — Swift, 436.
Stint, Little, 406. — Whiskered, 430.
stolidus, Anous, 446. — White-winged Black, 431.
Stork, Black, 39. Tetrapteryx, 281.
— White, 37. Thalassiornis, 150.
— White-bellied, 32. Thalassogeron, 501.
— Woolly-necked, 35. Thicknee, 316.
Storm Petrel, 465. Thorn Redwing, 208.
Strandlooper, 367. Three-banded Plover, 367.
Struis-vogel, 525. Tick-bird, 73.
Struthio, 523. Toby, 378.
Struthiones, 523. torquata, Glareola, 333.
Struthionide, 523. Tortel-duif, 169.
sturmi, Ardetta, 89, Totanine, 385,
— Botaurus, 89. Totanus, 389.
subarquata, Tringa, 408. Tourtelette, 174.
subtorquatus, Francolinus, 197. transvaalensis, Numida, 228.
Sula, 16. Trek Duiker, 5.
sula, Sula, 21. Treronide, 156.
Sulide, 16. tricollaris, Agialitis, 367.
Sun-Grebe, 275. trigonera, Columba, 161.
swainsoni, Francolinus, 217. Tringa, 404.
— Pternistes, 217. Tropic Bird, Red-tailed, 23.
Swainson’s Francolin, 217. tropica, Oceanitis, 462.
— Plover, 358. Tropical White-fronted Sandplover, 373.
Sweet-water Duiker, 13. Tubinares, 455,
Swift Tern, 436. Turnicide, 236,
Turnix, 236.
tachypetes, Pterocles, 192. Turnstone, 343.
Tambourine Dove, 178. Turtle Dove, Cape, 169.
Tarantal, 228. ——_——_—— Damara, 171.
Teal, Hottentot, 139. Turtur, 166.
Teal-eendje, 138. turtur, Procellaria, 491,
temmincki, Cursorius, 325. Turtureena, 164.
Temminck’s Courser, 325. Two-banded Courser, 327.
tenellus, Charadrius, 373. Tympanistria, 177.
tenwirostris, Platalea, 105. — Columba, 178.
INDEX 545
urobretta, Scopus, 51. Whistling Duck, 126.
Umewangele, 98. White Egret, Great, 65.
undulata, Anas, 134. White Night Hawk, 479.
Unofunjwa, 303. — Noddy, 448.
Utekwane, 52. — Stork, 37.
Uwhamba, 334. — -backed Duck, 150.
— Night Heron, 85.
Vaal Knorhaan, 296. — -bellied Petrel, 463.
varia, Squatarola, 359. — Stork, 32.
variegatus, Pterocles, 186. — -breasted Dove, 178.
varius, Aigialitis, 375. —— ———- Duiker, 4.
Veld Paauw, 300. — -faced Duck, 124.
velox, Sterna, 486. — -fronted Sand Plover, 371.
venusta, Aigialitis, 370. 7 Tropical, 373.
vermiculatus, Gidicnemus, 318. — -headed Wattled Plover, 348.
verreauxi, Numida, 234. — -quilled Knorhaan, 294.
vetula, Larus, 424. — -spotted Crake, 254.
viduata, Dendrocycna, 124. — -winged Black Tern, 431.
vigorsi, Otis, 296. — -winged Crake, 257.
vinaceigula, Melanophoyx, 72. Wideawake, 444.
vinaceus, Turtur, 167. Wigeon, Cape, 138.
Vinago, 156. Wild Turkey, 98.
vittata, Procellaria, 490. Wilde Kalkoen, 98.
— Sterna, 439. — Macaauw, 116.
vittatus, Prion, 489. wilsoni, Thalassidroma, 459.
vittata, Prion, 489. Wilson’s Petrel, 459.
Wood Ibis, 49.
wakefieldi, Treron, 159. — Sandpiper, 395.
Wandering Albatros, 495. Woolly-necked Stork, 35.
Water Dikkop, 318. *
Waterhen, 262. xanthorhyncha, Anas, 134.
Water-treader, 275. Xiphidiopterus, 348.
Wattled Crane, 278.
— Plover, 346. Yellow Bill, 134.
—— White-headed, 348. Yellow-billed Egret, 66.
Whale Bird, 491. — -nosed Mollymawk, 508.
Whimbrel, 388. —_——— —_—— Gould’s, 501.
Whiskered Tern, 430. — -throated Sandgrouse, 187,
35 VOL. Iv.
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