274 TIMELIIP.!!:. 



The male is a little larger, and measures : — Total length 5-4 

 inches, wing 2'15, tail 2-55, tarsus 0-85. 



Ohs. I have examined the type of D. elegans, which is preserved 

 in the Bremen Museum. I cannot admit the species to be distinct, 

 and believe it to bo only the female of D. levaillantii. I have com- 

 pared it with a Natal bird, and it agrees exactly in dimensions, but 

 the head and flanks are more thickly streaked with black. These 

 differences, however, are worthless for specific distinction, for in 

 nearly all Cisticolce the plumages vary between a uniform and a 

 striped head. In the present species, too, they seem to be of 

 particularly little value, as the head is as often nearly uniform as 

 streaked ; and in the breeding-plumage, where the general tone of 

 colour is more fulvous below, the streaks on the flanks are traced 

 with some difficulty. 



A young bird, " taken from the nest " by Mr. Lucas, on the 7th of 

 April, 1877, is everywhere duller than the adult, and much more 

 rufous, the quills and their coverts being- externally broadly rufous, 

 while there is a strong shade of rufous on the rump, and the back 

 is pervaded with a rufescent tinge ; the head is nearly uniform 

 rufous, with a few, scarcely ])erceptible, dusky streaks on the centre 

 of the crown ; the under surface of the body is yellowish white, a 

 little more tawny buff on the flanks. 



The ^/oimr/ after their first moult are similar in plumage to the 

 adult ; but can be told by the breadth of the light margins to the 

 feathers of the upper surface and of the tail-feathers and by the 

 general fidvescent tone of the underparts. The Ireeding-plumage 

 is gradually attained by the attrition of these margins, whence the 

 plumage becomes much darker, the back becoming gradually black 

 with sandy-buff edgings, producing a striped appearance. No rule 

 seems to guide the presence or absence of the blackish stripes on the 

 head, which seem to be always confined to the centre of the crown 

 and nape. Both sexes have them and want them occasionally ; nor 

 are they a sign of maturity, as young birds sometimes have them 

 very plainly marked, and sometimes show none at all. 



The following are the measurements of an adult male from the 



Transvaal : — 



Total 



length. Wing. Tail. Tarsus, 

 in. in. in. in. 



rt. (5 . Potchefstroom, March 1877 47 2-11 215 08 



Birds in winter ph;mage rather exceed the above, which is still 

 in its breeding-dress. 



b. S hiem. Potchefstroom, July 1871. .5-5 2-2 2-5 0-8 



c. 5 hiem. Potchefstroom, June 1876. 4-8 2-1 2-2o 0-8 



Hah. The whole of South Afiica. 



a. 6. Ad. sk. South Africa. Sir A.Smith [C.]. (Types 



of C. levaillantii.) 



