266 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFIU- 'A. 



iiiiited by a membrane at their base ; the inner toe shorter 

 than the outer ; and the hind toe rather short and elevated ; 

 the claws short, and very slightly curved. 



519. Numida Mitrata; PaUas. Spic. Zooi. IV., 



t. 3, f. 1. 

 General colour, dark- grey, profusely spotted with round 

 white spots; on the outer edges of the wing- feathers these 

 spots are replaced by dashes ; and on the neck they are very 

 small, run into each other, and become indistinct bars ; head 

 bare, with a casque in some specimens I" 6'" in length ; tip 

 horny, yellow ; base, with top and back of head, cere, and 

 tip of wattles, pendant from base of upper mandibles, bright 

 crimson; neck bare, sparsely sprinkled with hairs, and toge- 

 ther with bare space round eye, brilliant sky-blue. Length, 

 16" to 17"; wing, 11^"; tail, 6". 



Tkis species extends over tlie whole of the frontier districts, into 

 Ovampoland on the West, and to the Mo9ambie on the East. It is 

 still abundant in some places within the colony, where the mimosa 

 bush affords it sufficient shelter. It feeds on grain and insects, and 

 lays from seven to ten eggs, rather sharply pointed at the small and 

 rounded at the obtuse end, of a dark cream colour, minutely dotted 

 all over with pin-point spots of brown : axis, 2" I'" ; diameter, 1" 7'". 



In reply to some queries of mine, as to whether my friend Mrs. 

 Barber had ever seen a wild bird with white quill-feathers, she 

 writes : — " With regard to guinea-fowl. They are still very numerous 

 in several partially-wooded districts of the Eastern Province, but 

 more especially in the valley of the Great Fish Eiver, which is their 

 stronghold, and I have been accustomed to see them occasionally all 

 my life ; but I have never seen a wild one with white feathers in its 

 wings. It is contrary to the laws of natural selection (in which I am 

 a believer) for nature to produce any form that is useless or hurtful to 

 her, such as white wing-feathers would be to wUd guinea-fowls, for 

 they would at once point out to wild-cats, owls, hawks, and sports- 

 men, the direction in which the bird had flown or ran (for in crossing 

 all rough places they open their wings while running) ; and I am 

 inclined to think that if they do occur in any part of the colony with 

 white wings, it is when they have accidentally been crossed with the 

 tame, white-breasted guinea-fowl, that is so common (especially 

 amongst the Dutch colonists) nearly all over the colony. Our wild 

 ones are easily tamed, and you frequently see both sorts together upon 

 farmers' homesteads on the frontier. Our South African species is 

 altogether a much handsomer and larger bird than the tame, white- 

 breasted sort, and is of a much deeper colour, with the white spots 

 larger and more conspicuous. They are good layers, and rear their 

 young much in the same way as our pheasants do. If the female bird 

 is startled she flies off and leaves her'young ones, who at once disperse 

 in every direction, and hide so cunningly amongst the grass and bushes 

 that they are seldom found ; and the dear little creatiires will reixioin 



