Birds from South-easter?! Africa. 367 



with the culmen dusky brown ; tarsi and feet pale greenish. 

 Adult female — iris bright reddish brown; bill pale yellow, 

 with the culmen and shield bright scarlet ; tarsi and feet pale 

 flesh-colour, with the upper surface suffused with pale yel- 

 lowish green. 



This bird is scarce, but widely distributed over South 

 Africa. The pans, which are the resort of so many Waders 

 during this portion of the year, are entirely dried up during 

 the winter rainless months, and the surrounding country so 

 parched that travelling becomes difficult. I took an appa- 

 rently perfect egg out of the adult female ; it was of a 

 greenish-white colour^ with a few very minute brown specks 

 about the obtuse end, in shape very similar to that of a com- 

 mon hen^s egg, and measured 1*4 inches by 1. 



213. PaRRA AFRICANA, Gm. 



(152) (^ , Kooroomoorooi Pan, 2nd January. Iris dark 

 hazel; bill and frontal shield pale ashy blue; tarsi, feet, and 

 claws pale ash-colour. 



Although there were several on this pan^ we only succeeded 

 in shooting one, owing to their cleverness in hiding amongst 

 the water-grasses thinly growing in the shallow water. 



214. PoDicA PETERsi, Hartl. 



(4) Elands river, Rustenburg district, Transvaal, 11th 

 May. Irides light tawny brown ; bill dull red, with the cul- 

 men dusky brown ; tarsi and feet brilliant light vermilion. 

 The crop contained insects. This is a very scarce bird, and 

 exceedingly shy and retiring in its habits. We never met 

 with them in any of the Matabele or Mashoona rivers. 



215. Sarkidiornis melanotus (Penn,). 

 (164) cJ, Molopo river, 12th January. 



Rather sparingly distributed over this part of the country. 

 In February I saw several flying over the Hart river. They 

 are also to be found occasionally in the Transvaal. 



216. Chenalopex ^GYPTius (Linn.). 



Mashoona, September and October. Seen^ but not 

 procured. 



2c2 



