612 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
Their flight is weak, and seldom sustained for more than fifty yards.” 
Mr. F. A. Barratt meutions one specimen procured in the Lydenburg 
district, and the late Mr. Frank Oates records one from Tati in 
the Matabele country, while a single specimen was obtained by 
Mr. Jameson’s expedition at Palatswie Pan in December. 
All the feathers on the upper parts of the plumage, dark-brown, 
edged with pale-ferruginous ; wing-coverts and quills, deep-chestnut ; 
fore-parts of neck and breast, pale-cinereous; belly yellowish- 
white ; sides, thighs, and vent, rufous, marked with white bars. 
Length, 92"; wing, 54”; tail, 1” 5”. 
Fig. Dresser, B. Eur. vii. pl. 499. 
588. Crex nareaia (Peters). Greater African Crake. 
A single specimen of this bird was killed in Natal and sent to us 
by Mr. Windham. Mr. Ayres has met with one specimen in the 
Transvaal, shot ‘whilst trying for Snipe in a marsh close by 
Potchefstroom. It must be exceedingly rare here.” Mr. Frank 
Oates obtained the species at Gubuleweyo; “shot in marsh by 
‘Spruit,’ December 26th, 1873.” Professor Barboza du Bocage has 
only recorded it from localities to the north of the Quanza. 
Feathers of the upper parts black, with a broad border of brown, 
giving the bird a scaled appearance ; markings on the head very 
minute; line from bill over the eye white ; cheeks and sides of head 
grey ; chin and throat white ; chest grey; sides of the same greenish, 
rest of under parts barred black and white. Length, 7’ 6’’; wing, 
4” 8’"; tail, 1° 3’". “TIrides orange, eyelids bright red; bill pale 
bluish horn-colour, dusky on the ridge, and pale at the base of the 
under mandible ; tarsi and feet dusky pale ” (Ayres). 
589. Crex mararnatis (Haritl.). Olive-margined Crake. 
Mr. Andersson has recorded five instances in which he procured 
this bird in February and March, 1867, at Ondonga, in Ovampo 
Land. The eggs were brought to him on the 23rd of February ; 
they were of a yellowish ground colour, almost hidden near the 
thicker end by a broad zone of light brownish red. On the Ist of 
March he himself found a nest containing four eggs, situated just on 
the edge of a marsh in a dry tuft of grass. ‘Two of Mr. Andersson’s 
specimens were sent home in his last collection, one of which is now 
