TURNIX HOTTENTOTTA. 



HOTTENTOT BUTTON-QUAIL. 



(Plate 3(5.) 



Hemipodius hottentottus, Temminck, Pig. et Gall., iii, pp. 636, 757 



(1815). 



Turnix hottentotta, Sharpe's ed. Layard Birds of S. Afr., p. 607 (part) 

 (1875-84) ; Nicolls and Eglington, Sportsman in S. Afr., p. 107 

 (1892) ; Ogilvie-Grant, Cat. Birds Brit. Mus., xxn, p. 542 (1893) ; 

 Woodward, Natal Birds, p. 167 (1899) ; Reichenow, Vogel Afrikas, 

 I, p. 303 (1900-01) ; Sclater & Stark, Birds of S. Afr., iv, p. 237 

 (1906) ; Sclater, Ann. S. Afr. Mus., iii, p. 355 (1905). 



Local Names. " Sand-Quail " of the English ; " Reit-Quartel " of 

 the Dutch. 



Description. The specimen figured is a female. Length about 6 in. 

 The female is slightly larger than the male. 



I was unable to obtain a skin of a male in South Africa, and 

 give the following description of one by Mr. Sclater : General 

 colour above, dark rufous ; most of the feathers barred with 

 black and edged with white, giving a general mottled appearance ; 

 scapulars conspicuously margined with golden-buff ; wing-quills 

 blackish-brown, the outer primary strongly margined with white ; 

 lores, space romid the eye, and cheeks mottled buff and white, 

 chin and throat white ; rest of the under-parts also white, covered 

 with semi-circular black spots, most numerous on the chest ; 

 a slight wash of pale buff on the chest ; tail elongated and 

 pointed. 



Distribution. The Hottentot Button-Quail is apparently confined to 

 the southern part of Cape Colony, where it is a resident and not 

 a very common one. It has not been recorded from Natal nor 

 has it been met with north of the Orange River. 



It is a curious fact that in the Button-Quail family the female 

 bird is nearly always the larger and more brilliantly coloured. 



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