670 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 
chin, rump, thighs, vent, and stripe along the wing, white; wing- 
feathers and band across the chest black; back of head, neck, and 
chest, grey; basal half and tip of tail-feathers, white. Length, 
10” 6”; wing, 8" 9” ; tail, 3” 8”. 
Fig. Cretzschm. in Riipp. Atlas, pl. 31. 
645, CxHerrusra coronata (J'emm.). Crowned Lapwing. 
Hoplopterus coronatus, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 294. 
The “ Kiewit” is scattered throughout the country in small parties, 
and frequenting grassy places, where it subsists on worms and small 
insects. Its nest, usually a mere depression in the soil, contains 
two, and sometimes three eggs, of a deep greenish-brown ground, 
blotched with rather coarse brown and indistinct purple, chiefly in a 
ring at the obtuse end: axis, 1’ 9"; diam., 15”. Mr. Atmore has 
seen five eggs in a nest; Mr. Kotze never saw more than two. 
During the day this bird does not stir about much; but as soon as 
the cool shades of evening fall on the earth, the “ Kiewit’ makes 
known its presence by its loud plaintive call. This, with the pipe 
of the “ Dikkop” (d?. maculosus), and the wail of the jackal, are 
nearly the only sounds that break the silence of the night about the 
solitary dwelling of the Cape farmer. Mr. Rickard tells us that it 
is rather rare near Port Elizabeth and East London, and Capt. 
Trevelyan says the same respecting its occvrrence in British 
Caffraria, replacing O. melanopterus to the west of the Fish River. 
In Natal, according to Mr. Ayres, this species is not found near the 
coast districts, but he met with them first under the Drakensburg. 
Majors Butler and Feilden and Capt. Reid state that it was abundant 
everywhere on the “ veldt” in small flocks. No nests were found, 
though the birds were evidently breeding in October and November. 
Mr. Ayres has found it nesting in the Transvaal. Mr. Frank Oates 
procured the species at Tati in the Matabele country, and it was met 
with at Spalding’s, on the Hart River, by Mr. Jameson’s expedition. 
The following note is given in Andersson’s work on the birds of 
Damara Land: “This handsome species is widely diffused through- 
out Damara and Great Namaqua Land, in the Lake regions, and on 
the River Okavango; it was very plentiful at my late residence at 
Otjimbinque, where a flock or two were generally to be found 
throughout the year; and I have no doubt that it breeds there, as I 
have found young birds in almost every stage of plumage. It is a 
