OTIDID^. 285 



chin, and top of throat, jet-black, surrouuded by a pale-yellow 

 edging ; a black halfmoon-shaped mark at the back of the 

 head, which is slightly crested. The whole of the body 

 plumage in the live bird is glossed with a beautiful pink 

 lustre, which fades after death ; each plume on being with- 

 drawn shows a delicate ferruginous and very lax web 

 throughout two-thirds of its basal portion. Length, 20"; 

 wing, 14"; tail, 8". 



The Vaal Knorhaan is common on the Karroo, about Beaufort West 

 and Zoetendals Viey. It is usually found in pairs, and prefers running 

 among the scanty herbage, and trusting to its dusky plumage to effect 

 its escape, to takiug flight. If it fancies itself unobserved, it will 

 suddenly squat, and unless the spot is correctly marked, so great is 

 its similarity to the soil and stones among which it is found, that it is 

 next to impossible to detect it. It is so well aware of this, that it will 

 remain immoveable till the sportsman walks direct towards it, on 

 which it instantly takes flight ; but if it is approached in a series of - 

 concentric circles, it remains until tbe sportsman is within a few paces. 



It feeds on seeds, insects, and small reptiles, constructs no nest, 

 but deposits its two eggs in a depression of the soil in the open veldt. 

 The eggs vary much in colour — some are olive, some light-brown, and 

 others rick nankin. All are, liowever, more or less spotted and 

 blotched with brown and indistinct purple. Axis, 2" 8"' ; diameter, 

 1" 10'". 



544. Eupodotis Cserulescens. (vieii.) pi. Coi. 



532 ; Otis Verrauxii, Smith ; 0. Gana, Licht ; Blue- 

 Knorhaan of Colonists. 



Upper parts, ferruginous, minutely mottled with dark-brown 

 and black ; less so on the wings, the quills of which are 

 black, in some places edged with blue ; the ends of the tail- 

 feathers are also black ; top of head, back, and lower portion 

 of front of neck, breast, belly, and vent, blue ; forehead, eye- 

 brow, spot under the eye, and upper part of throat, black ; 

 a white patch arising on the chin extends backward to the 

 hinder part of the head ; a similar but smaller patch extends 

 from the forehead, and joinc it over the ears ; legs yellow. 

 Length, 20" ; wing, 13" ; tail, 7". 



This beautiful bird is locally distributed. I have received it from 

 Eiversdale, and from the neighbourhood of Hanover, and have been 

 told that it is plentiful on the Eastern frontier in certain favoured 

 spots. 



545. Eupodotis Senegalensis. (Vieii.) Less.Enc. 



Meth., p. 833; Otis Rkaad, Rlipp. ; Otis Barrowii, 

 Gray; Blue-necked Bustard, Lath. ; Cuv.,Vol. 3, p. 304. 



General colour above, bright rufous, variegated with black ; 

 tail barred with four cross bars, that near the point being the 



