Birds of Gazaland. 4'S7 



262. NuMiDA MiTRATA. East African Guinea-fowl. 

 Chindao : " Ihanka/' Siuguni : " Impangela." 



Rh., P. These Guinea-fowls are particularly plentiful in 

 old Kafir lands about Chirinda in winter, and I came across 

 large flocks of them in August in the bush on the Kuru- 

 madzi, obtaining some very good sport. In the low veld 

 they appeared to be common from the Zinyumbo Hills to 

 the Umtefu, and again about Chibabava in December and 

 January. Some which I reared in my aviary died within a 

 few days of being liberated, when three-quarters grown; they 

 had evidently partaken too freely of a large scarlet bug with 

 which I found their crops crammed. N. coronata, to which 

 I had previously referred my specimens, does not appear to 

 occur with us, even Mashonaland (Mazoe) specimens being 

 undoubtedly referable to N. miirata. Apart from the 

 differences in the horn and wattles, the fine barring of 

 the feathers of the lower neck appears to be quite a 

 useful character in distinguishing the present species from 

 N. coronata, in which the spotting is carried up practically 

 to the bare skin. This is also the case in young birds of 

 N. viitrata, but in these the highest feathers are white with 

 black edgings, producing a conspicuous longitudinally-striped 

 appearance. An adult bird in my collection measured 

 23"5 inches. The horn is usually ochreous brown, becoming 

 bright red at the base, as are also the tips of the gape-wattles 

 and the base of the bill, the tip of which is greenish grey. 

 The neck is pale greenish blue, becoming dusky cobalt in 

 front. A broad dusky stripe with irregular margins runs 

 down the back of the neck. 



263. GuTTERA EDouARDi. Crcstcd Guinea-fowl, 

 Chindao : " Ndhori ■'•' or " Ihangatori.^' 



Rh., P. I noted these birds several times in the dense 

 bush on the Kurumadzi during August 1906, though they 

 were then by no means so common there as Numida mitrata. 

 In Chirinda I heard them calling throughout the afternoon 

 of November 3rd ; but they appear to visit this forest 

 very rarely. Their call is quite distinctive, far more 

 like Aristophanes* ^peK€K€Ke^ than that of any frog I have 



