CERTHILAUDA SEMITORQUATA. 25 



Certhilauda semitorquata. 



Certhilauda semitorquata, Smith, Eep. Exped. C. Afr. p. 47 (1836) E. 



Cape Col. ; Chapm. Trav. S. Afr. ii. p. 400 (1868) Gt. Namaqua. 

 Alaemon semitorquata, Butler, Fielden and Eeid, Zool. 1882, p. 302, 



Natal; Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 521 (1890) Beiujuela, Damara, 



Cape Col., Natal, Transvaal; Kuschel, J. f. 0. 1895, p. 344 egg; 



Shelley, B. Afr. I. No. 180 (1896) ; Nehrkorn, Kat. Eiers. p. 132 



(1899) egg; Stark, Faun. S. Afr. B. i. p. 228 (1900). 

 Certhilauda rufopalliata, Lafr. Mag. Zool. 1836, Ois. p. 4, pi. 59. 

 Certhilauda subcoronata, Smith, III. Zool. S. Afr. Aves. pi. 90, fig. 2 



Cape Col. 

 Certhilauda coronata (laps. cal. pro subcoronata) Layard, Ibis, 1869, 



p. 371. 



Adult male. Above bright cinnamon, slightly paler on the hind neck, 

 and with narrow blackish shaft-stripes to the feathers of the crown, neck, 

 and mantle. Wing brown, with pale cinnamon edges to the feathers, which 

 are narrow on the primary coverts and primaries and broad on the other 

 feathers, increasing in breadth towards the inner secondaries, which are 

 mostly rufous. Tail brown with rufous edges to all the feathers. Eye- 

 brows and cheeks rufous buff; ear-coverts uniform cinnamon ; under parts 

 sandy buff washed with cinnamon on the crop and sides of the body ; 

 crop strongly spotted with angular blackish shaft-marks ; under wing- 

 coverts rufous buff; quills brown with narrow buff inner edges. "Iris 

 brown ; bill dark brown with the base of the lower mandible flesh colour ; 

 legs brownish flesh colour" (S. Eeid). Total length 8-4 inches, culmen 09, 

 wing 4-2, tail 3-25, tarsus I'O. 3 , 10. 6. 81. Newcastle (E. A. Butler). 



Adult female. Very similar to the male but smaller. Total length 6'6 

 inches, culmen 0-7, wing 3-7, tail 2-8, tarsus 1-1. 5,1.6. 81. Newcastle 

 (E. A. Butler). 



In a specimen labelled " <y , 22. 10. 78, Potchefstroom (T. Ayres)," the 

 dark shaft-stripes are almost absent. 



Specimens labelled " 30. 5. 66, Otjimbinque (Andersson)," are very much 

 paler, the general tone of colouring of the upper parts is pale sandy shaded 

 cinnamon ; eyebrows, cheeks, and under surface white with only an 

 obsolete tinge of buff on the top. 



A speciman labelled " Benguela (Monteiro) " is very similar to the 

 Damara specimens, but is duller brown above, with scarcely any rufous 

 shade. Those from Cape Colony have the upper parts dark like the Natal 

 and Transvaal birds, and the eyebrow and under parts white like the 

 Damara and Benguela specimens, and show a good connecting link between 

 the extreme forms. 



