HOPLOPYERUS SPECIOSUS. 667 
blackish-brown ; breast and belly, dove-colour; flanks and thighs, 
dark grey-brown ; vent white ; a yellow wattle tinged with orange-red 
extends upwards and downwards from before the eye ; bill greenish- 
yellow, tipped with black ; legs greenish-yellow ; wings armed with 
aspur. Length, 13’ 6"; wing, 9”; tail, 4”. 
Fig. Smith, Il. Zool. 8. Afr. pl. 23. 
641. LoprvaneLius aLpicers, Gould. White-crowned Wattled Plover. 
Hoplopterus albiceps, Layard, B. 8. Afr. p. 298. 
In Dr. Hartlaub’s ‘Ornitologie West-Afrikas” the locality 
“ Buffels River”? is given on the authority of Alexis Verreaux, but 
Mr. Harting and other good authorities have doubted this occurrence, 
and think that H. speciosus may have been mistaken for it. It must 
be mentioned, however, that Mr. Ayres records a specimen as haying 
been shot by him in the neighbourhood of Potchefstroom, of which 
he forwarded the skin to England; unfortunately it was stolen 
during the voyage. Sir John Kirk procured a single specimen on 
the Zambesi during the first Livingstone expedition. 
Head, throat, middle of the wing, rump, belly, and vent, white ; 
sides of head and neck, cinereous-purple ; back brownish ; scapulars, 
three external feathers, and apical half of the tail, black; bill 
greenish-yellow ; tip black; wattles yellow, attached at right angles 
to the beak, pendulous, narrow, pointed, 1”-6” long ; wing-spur about 
an inch long. Length, 13”; wing, 8”; tail, 4”. 
Fig. Fraser, Zool. Typ. pl. 64. 
642. Hortoprerus spucrosus (Wagl.). 
Black-and-white Spur-winged Plover. 
Forwarded in some abundance from Colesberg by Mr. David 
Arnot, who describes their habits as similar to those of C. coronata. 
It occurred constantly in all the collections formed in the interior 
by our several contributors. From Natal Mr. Ayres writes: 
“These Plovers are plentiful in our bay during the winter, but I 
believe they are not here in summer. They congregate in large 
flocks and are very shy, but they are also frequently found solitary. 
They feed on the mud banks when the tide recedes, together with 
the herons, sandpipers, &c. ; their flight is very rapid, and they run 
with considerable swiftness.” In the Transvaal, the same gentleman 
observes: “ These Plovers are plentiful about Potchefstroom ; they 
frequent the borders of swamps and snipe-grounds, and are some- 
