502 ANNUAL REPORT SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, 1909. 
lumba pha@onota). Its coloration is particularly helpful toward the 
effective concealment of the bird when among the rocks, ete., of its 
nesting haunts. 
Order PrerRoc.etes. 
This is another group where every member may be assumed to 
possess nature’s gift of protective resemblance. I have seen the 
namaqua sand grouse (Pteriocles namaqua) among the scrub and 
sand of its Karoo home and in the stunted grass of the Transvaal 
“ winter” veld, and in both cases the assimilative coloration of the 
bird was admirable. 
It seems to me as if the majority of the game birds of South 
Africa are possessed of this type of coloration, and I need, therefore, 
not go into detail with regard to the francolins, which are all more 
or less of the “veld” tint, and consequently the reverse of 
conspicuous. 
Orders Orrpipa% and GALLINe. 
I have just referred to the general veld tint possessed by most of 
the members of these orders. I have hunted the various bustards 
in the O. R. C. and Transvaal and, even guided by their harsh croak, 
it is often no easy matter to locate them without a dog. Their 
coloration is very similar to the surrounding grass of the veld, and 
unless the males protrude their dark-colored heads above the grass 
you will find your horse almost on them before they take wing. The 
male of Otis afra is much more conspicuous than the female, with 
its dark head and white wing patches, so that the protective coloring 
is much more developed in the female, being particularly helpful to 
the latter during the nesting-season. 
Other observers have also noticed the assimilative nature of the 
South African bustards. Writing of Otis cwrulescens in the Jour- 
nal of the South African Ornithologists’ Union, Mr. Guy C. Short- 
ridge says: “ When on the ground these birds, in spite of their size, 
are very difficult to see, even when the very spot they have alighted 
on has been marked.” The cape quail (Coturnix capensis) is also 
of this veld color. I have often been startled by one suddenly 
whirring up from under my feet, so closely do they sit and so well 
does their coloration fit in with that of the surrounding herbage. 
Order Limt1cou®. 
The Dikkop (@dicnemus capensis) has the advantage of a won- 
derfully assimilative coloring. Anyone who has observed this bird 
in its native haunts must have been struck with the wonderful re- 
