64 MIRAFRA CANTILLANS. 



open glades in the bush country, and is usually met with in 

 small flocks or pairs. He also informs us : " It breeds abun- 

 dantly in the Transvaal in the neighbourhood of the Limpopo 

 and Marico rivers. A hole is scratched in the ground under 

 shelter of a tuft of grass, and this is lined with dry grass ; 

 many of the surrounding grass-blades are bent over the nest 

 and intertwined with long pieces of dry grass, so as to shelter 

 it from above, a side entrance being left for the ingress and 

 egress of the bird. From two to four eggs are deposited about 

 the first week in December. These vary considerably, but are 

 usually of a pale bluish ground colour, mottled and speckled 

 all over with different shades of reddish brown and grey or 

 slate colour, the spots frequently forming a zone round the 

 greatest diameter. They average 0"80 x 0'62. 



Mirafra cantillans. 



Mirafra cantillans, Blyth, Journ. As. Soc. xiii. p. 960 (1844) Madras ; 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 605 (1890) ; Grant, Nov. Zool. 1900, 

 p. 248 Arabia; id. Ibis, 1901, p. 628 S. Abyssinia. 



Geocoraphus simplex, Heugl. J. f. 0. 1868, p. 226 Arabia. 



Mirafra simplex, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xiii. p. 695, note (1890). 



Mirafra marginata. Hawker, BiiU. B. O. C. vii. p. 55 (1898) Ujawaji ; id. 

 Ibis, 1899, p. 64, pi. 2, fig. 2 Somali. 



Adidt. Above pale brown, with dark centres to the feathers. Wing- 

 coverts and inner secondaries with broad buff edges, which on the latter are 

 margined internally with an ill-defined line of dark brown ; remainder of 

 the quills and the primary-coverts with broad pale cinnamon edges not 

 reaching across to the shafts ; under surface with broad inner edges and 

 the under coverts buffy cinnamon. Tail brownish black with the two centre 

 pairs of feathers paler and more rufous ; outer feather and shaft white, 

 with a wedge-shaped blackish patch covering about half of the inner web, 

 and the entire outer web of the next feather is pure white. Eyebrow, sides 

 of head and sides of upper neck buff, strongly mottled with dark brown on 

 the cheeks and ear-coverts ; under parts buff with the middle and upper 

 throat white ; lower throat, crop and sides of front chest with angular 

 spots of dark brown, which colour forms a large patch on sides of the 



