4. C0MP30TI8. 295 



Otis Ipucoptera, Heugl. Orn. N.O.-Afr. ii. pt. 1, p. 964, note 



(187;{). 

 Etipndotis afra (nen L.), Barratt, Ibis, 187(5, p. 192 (LydenTjurg) ; 



Shi-llcy, Ibis, 1882, p. 362 (]5orarain<rani Pan). 

 Otis atra, Bryden, Kloof ^- Karroo, pi. to p. 308, %. 15 (1889). 



A'lult male. General colour above dark sandy buff, regularly 

 barred across with black and irroratcd or vermiculatcd; scapulars 

 like the back; lower back, rump, and upper tail-coverts rather 

 more dusky and shaded with ashy, the black bars not so pronounced 

 and the sandy-buff ones paler, being replaced on the upper tail- 

 coverts by white bars somewhat irregular in shape ; lesser wing- 

 coverts like the back, the external ones with fewer markings and 

 becoming ])ure white like the rest of the coverts, the greater series 

 white with a few concealed black markings or bars ; bastard-wing 

 feathers black with white tips ; primary-coverts and quiUs black ; 

 primaries white for the greater part of their webs, the secondaries 

 with white at the base of the outer web increasing in extent 

 towards the inner secondaries, which are white mottled with 

 white and black, the innermost secondaries barred with sandy 

 colour and black like the back ; tail-feathers ashy grey tipped with 

 white, mottled with black irrorations, mostly on the outer web, 

 and crossed by two black bands, the second subtcrminal, these 

 black bands less pronounced on the centre feathers, which are like 

 the upper tail-coverts ; crown of head ashy, some of the feathers 

 crossed with narrow blackish bars, with a circle of white feathers 

 round the nape ; occiput, nape, and hind neck black ; forehead, lores, 

 and a narrow eyebrow black, as well as the sides of the hinder crown ; 

 sides of face and cheeks black like the entire under surface of body ; 

 ear-coverts white, forming a patch ; on each side of the chest a large 

 white patch extending backwards across the lower hind neck and 

 forming a collar, which separates the black of the hind neck from 

 the back ; under wing-coverts and quill-lining white ; axillaries 

 black : " bill liglit greyish brown, with the basal half pale rose- 

 pink, which changes after death to pale chromc-ycUow ; tarsi and 

 feet dark gamboge-yellow ; iris light tawny brown, darkest towards 

 the centre " {T. Ai/res). Total length about 19 inches, culmcn 1-4, 

 wing 11*2, tail 4-7, tarsus 3-2. 



AdxU female. Differs from the male in the absence of black on 

 the neck, throat, and breast, the black being confined to the ab- 

 domen, under tail-coverts, and axillaries. Total length about 16 

 inches, culmen 1-2, wing 10-5, tail 4, tarsus 3*75. 



The >/oi(i)>/ iiKih's have the arrowhead markings of sandy rufous 

 all over the upper surface ; the head blackish, spotted with sandy 

 rufous and narrowly barred on the occiput, and with a concealed 

 black patch on the nape ; ear-coverts sandy buff, as also the fore 

 ])arts of the cheeks and throat, the latter mottled with black bases ; 

 iiinder cheeks white, extending to the sides of the nape : lower throat, 

 fore neck, and sides of the neck sandy buff, narrowly barred with 

 white, the chest a little more broadly barred. 



JIab. South-eastern Africa. 



