388 A Description of the Birds 



the feathers of the neck and nape each with a spot of brovvn 

 at tips ; interscapulars and back dirty brown ; upper tail 

 coverts brown, with the tips pale tawny; throat, sides of 

 neck, and anterior part of breast blackish brown; flanks, 

 belly, thighs, and vent reddish brown, inclined to dirty ferru 

 ginous ; shoulders variegated brown and pale tawny ; inside 

 of wings dark tawny, spotted with brown. Primary and secon- 

 dary wing coverts brown, with tawny tips ; primary quill 

 feathers dark brown, with the exception of the greater part of 

 the inner vanes, towards quills, which are light tawny, varie- 

 gated by longitudinal waved dusky lines; secondaries simi- 

 larly colored. Tail nearly even, dark brown, with the three 

 outermost feathers of each side distinctly marked by transverse 

 interrupted tawny bands ; centre ones with indistinct light 

 colored bands on inner vanes ; tips of all the feathers tawny. 

 Legs and toes greenish yellow ; claws black. Length from 

 bill to base of tail ten and a half inches ; length of latter eight 

 inches. 



Female. — With the exception of being a little larger, she 

 exactly resembles the male. 



Young. — When it leaves the egg, it is covered with a white 

 down, that in time is succeeded by an uniform dark brown 

 plumage, which is only very slightly variegated by some 

 streaks of bright tawny about the chin, front, and anterior 

 edges of shoulders. The brown of the upper parts is dark 

 and clear; that of the lower reddish brown or ferruginous. 

 Tail feathers nearly uniform brown, with tawny tips, and some 

 similarly colored spots towards quills. Bill blackish blue, 

 with the lower mandible yellow at base. Legs and toes dirty 

 yellow. 



This bird is met with about the sandy flats near Cape Town, 

 as well as in low marshy or damp situations along both the 

 southern and western coasts. On account of its habitats and 

 manners, it has generally been considered as identical with 

 the last described species ; but its constant and invariable 

 characters prove it to be a separate and independent one. 

 This is evidently the same species as is obscurely described by 

 Le Vaillant, and stated by him to have been procured near 

 Ateoa Bay.* 



Ohs. — The bands on the tail are much more distinct in some 

 specimens than in others, and appear sometimes on all the 

 feathers, at other times only on the inner vanes of the middle 

 ones. In some examples the white of the front, nape, 

 cervix, and breast, is clear and abundant, whilst in others it is 

 scarcely distinguishable. 



* Histoire Natiirelle des Oisseau d'Afriqne, torn. 1, p. 97. 



