236 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
221. SaxicoLa sINuATA. Sickle-winged Chat. * 
Like the preceding species this Chat belongs to the plain-coloured 
group, but is distinguished from S. galtoni by the peculiar sickle- 
shaped emargination of the first long primary, and by the pale 
ashy brown colouring of the lower parts. The “ Klappertje,” as it 
is called by the Dutch colonists, is not uncommon at Nel’s Poort 
and to the eastward, having been received from Colesberg and 
Kuruman. We found it at the first-named place, breeding in 
November, in holes of buildings, and occupying the place of 
S. galtoni. It makes a nest of hair, roots, and feathers, and lays 
three to five eggs, of a light blue, speckled with rufous. These 
speckles generally assume the shape of a ring at the obtuse end. 
Axis, 10’’’; diam. 7”. 
In October 1868 we observed it for the first time abundantly 
at Groenfontein, near Cape Town, and we subsequently found it in 
February 1869 at Cape Point, at the extreme end of the promontory; 
it seems now permanently stationed in the western end of the 
colony. Mr. Rickard says that it is common at Port Elizabeth, but 
that its habits are very different from those of the preceding bird, 
being much more lively in its manners, and never being seen on 
houses. Mr. Ayres shot a specimen of this Chat on the open plains, 
some thirty miles from Potchefstroom. He writes:—“‘It was on 
stony ground; and I put it up twice or thrice, when it invariably 
settled on some small stone. The stomach contained insects.” 
222. Saxicona LayarDI, Sharpe. Layard’s Chat. 
Only a single specimen of this apparently well characterised 
species has fallen under our notice. It is now in the British 
Museum, having been formerly in the editor’s collection, and is the 
individual mentioned by Messrs. Blanford and Dresser as being 
probably new to science in their paper on the genus Sawicola. 
Haying carefully compared it with a large series of South African 
Chats, we have no hesitation as to its distinctness, and before very 
long we shall doubtless hear of additional specimens being found by 
some of our friends in South Africa. 
The species is very similar to S. sinwata, but has not the emargi- 
nation in the primary which distinguishes that bird; the rump is 
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