570 



STRUTHIONID.T;. 



scattered some whitish feathers ; feathers of the back deep black 

 as in >S'. moh/fn/ophanes ; quills and tail-feathers pure •white, but 

 sometimes mixed black and white ; upper wing-coverts black. The 

 shields on the tarsus are horn-colour, but during the breeding- 

 season thej' become bright red. Size of »§. molyhdophanes. 



Female. Similar to that of /S'. mohjhfhphames, but has no horny 

 shield on the vertex ; " colour of the feathers of the body from pale 

 grey to dark brown" {Nolle). 



Egg-shell with numerous small, generally dark-coloured pores. 



Hah. Southern Africa *. 



n,h. (S 2 ad. st. 



c-f. Pull. St. 

 g. Skeleton. 



h. Skeleton. 

 i. Skeleton. 



Hales Owen Farm, Cape 



Colony. 

 Cape of Good Hope. 

 S. Africa {Sir George Grey). 



S. Africa. 



Cradock, Cape Colony. 



Purchased. 



Capt. Alexander [C.]. 

 Zool. Soc. (Type of 

 species.) 



Capt. W. Hume 

 Middlemass[P.]. 



* We do not know to which bird the following name refers. Dr. Sclater says 

 that he is not sure " that this name is intended for either the Northern or 

 Southern bird." 



Stkuthio epoasticus. 



Struthio epoasticus, Bp. Comft. Bend, xliii. p. 841, n. 1 a (1856); Sclat. 

 Ibi% 1860, p. 75 (note) ; id. P. Z. S. 1860, p. 210 (note) ; id. Tr. Zool. 

 Soc. iv. p. 355. 



Prince Bonaparte, speaking of this supposed species, says : — " Une notable 

 difference anatomique dans les os du pied (s'il n'^tait pas possible quelle fiat le 

 r^sultat d'une ruonstruosite), la petitesse de la taille (dont je ne m'esagere pas 

 Timportance dans les oiseaiix du desert), la denudation plus etendue du tibia 

 (pour ne pas parler de la difference dans la texture des plumes si cliaiigeanles 

 par I'age et par d'autres circonstunces), et la non-incubation des oeuf's (variable 

 avec les conditions atmospheriques ?), autorisent-elles I'etablissement de oette 

 seconde Autruche ? " 



The following references belong to a mythical bird established on an unpub- 

 lished and probably fanciful figure of Le Vaillant : — 



Struthio bidactylu.s. 



Petit Gralle bidactyle, Temm., ubi ?; G. R. Gr. List Gen. B. 2nded. p. 84 



(note) (1841). 

 Autruchon (^Temm.), G. B. Gr. List Gen. B. 2nd ed. p. 84 (note) (1841); 



Hartl. Ibis, 1859, p. 344 ; Sclat. Trans. Zool. Soc. iv. p. 355 (1862). 

 Charadriua bidactylus, G. B. Gr. Gen. B. iii. p. 544, n. 46 (1847) (type 



of Autruchon, Temm.). 

 Struthio bidactylus, Temm. fide Heiigl. Cm. N.O.-Afr. ii. 1, p. 935 (1873). 

 Didaetyle Ostrich, Hetigl. Ibis, 1859, p. 344 (south of Fazogloa, near Djebei 



Dul). 

 Autruchon bidactylus, G. B. Gr. Hand-list, iii. p. 1, no. 9841 a (1871). 



Dr. Sclater (/. c.) says; — " In the interior of Africa there is .said, by some of 

 the older writers, to exist a diminutive Ostrich {L'Au(ruchon). I have lately 



