530 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
518. Muirarra nigricans, Sundev. Dark-coloured Lark. | 
This large species, remarkable for its size and peculiar coloration, 
is apparently a rare bird in all parts of South Africa. It was 
originally discovered by the late Professor Wahlberg in the district 
of the Upper Limpopo, and we have seen one specimen obtained by 
Dr. Bradshaw in the Makalaka country. ‘Two specimens have been 
forwarded by Anchieta from Humbe and Quillengues in South- 
Western Africa, and from one of these kindly lent to us by Professor 
Barboza du Bocage, we have drawn up the following description :— 
Adult.—General colour above blackish-brown with obsolete 
sandy-coloured edgings to the feathers of the upper surface, the 
wing-coverts more broadly margined, the edgings being whiter and 
more distinct ; quills dark brown, the inner primaries and secondaries 
tipped with white, the innermost secondaries broadly margined with 
sandy buff; upper tail-coverts and tail blackish brown, with almost 
obsolete fulyous tips; lores and plumes above and below the eye 
white slightly spotted with black ; cheeks and sides of face also dull 
white, the ear-coverts conspicuously ending in black and a line of 
black feathers drawn across the cheeks from below the eye; entire 
under surface of body white, the throat, abdomen and under tail- 
coverts unspotted ; the lower throat and fore-neck thickly mottled 
with black spots, becoming smaller and more ovate on the breast ; 
sides of the breast ashy black; under wing-coverts and axillaries 
dull black, very broadly tipped with buffy-white, the edge of the 
wing entirely of the latter colour, the lower series ashy brown like 
the inner lining of the quills, which are pale rufous at the base and 
for the greater part of the inner web; bill horn brown, yellowish 
' near the base ; feet dull fleshy brown; iris brown. Total length, 8:3 
inches; culmen, 0°7; wing, 4°8; tail, 3°3 ; tarsus, 1:15 (mus. Lisb.). 
Fig. Bocage, Orn. Angola, pl. vii. fig. 1. 
Fam. MOTACILLIDZA. 
519. Macronyx capensis, D. Cape Long-claw. 
Anthus capensis, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 120. 
This handsome Pipit, which is called the “ Cut-throat Lark” by 
the English colonists, “ Kalkoentje” by the Dutch, is common 
throughout all the open country of the colony; it would be better 
to say the forest itself is the only place where it is not to be found. 
