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238 MOTACILLID^ MACEONYX 



Key to the Species. 



a. Throat bright orange-red, contrasting with the orange- 



yellow of the breast and abdomen ........................ M . ca-pensis, p. 2 



b. Throat bright yellow, similar to the breast and abdomen M. croceus, p. 239. 



c. Throat and centre of breast and abdomen bright pink... M. amelice, p. 240. 



135. Macronyx capensis. Orange- throated Long-claw. 



Alauda capensis, Linn, Syst. Nat. i, p. 288 (1766). 



L'Alouette Sentinelle, Levaitt. Ois. d'Afr. iv, p. 132, pi. 195 (1805). 



Anthus capensis, Gray, Gen. B. i, p. 206 (1847) ; Layard, B. S. Afr. 

 p. 121 (1867). 



Macronyx capensis, Bp. Consp. i, p. 247 (1850) ; Holub and Pelzeln, 

 Om. Siidafr. p. 86 (1882) ; Sharpe, ed. Layards B. S. Afr. p. 530 

 (1884) ; id. Cat. B. M. x, p. 623 (1885) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 13 (1896). 



"Kalkoentje" (Little Turkey) of the Dutch. 



" Cape Lark " and " Cut-throat Lark " of the English. 



Description. Adult male in summer. Above, brown, the feathers 

 centred with darker brown ; wing-coverts and quills dark brown 

 edged with paler brown, the least-coverts with orange, the primaries 

 with yellow, the outer web of outer primary white ; tail-feathers 

 brown, all but the two centre ones tipped with white, the outer 

 feathers most strongly, the outer web of the outermost white ; crown 

 like the back ; eyebrow orange ; lores and eye-ring yellow ; ear- 

 coverts brown ; throat bright orange-red contrasting with the orange- 

 yellow of the breast and abdomen ; sides, flanks and thighs shaded 

 with greyish-brown : under tail-coverts buff-yellow ; a black band 

 separates the throat from the chest and extends on each side across 

 the neck to the base of the bill ; axillaries and under wing-coverts 

 orange. 



Iris brown ; bill dark brown ; legs and feet pale brown. 



Length 8-00 ; wing 3-85 ; tail 3-30 ; tarsus 1-30 ; culmen 0-65. 



Adult female. Slightly smaller and with a narrower black 

 throat-band. 



In winter both sexes are darker and more distinctly mottled. 



Young. Darker than the adults ; the throat dull yellowish and 

 the black throat-band represented by a few black spots. 



Distribution. Over the greater portion of Cape Colony, the 

 higher "veldt region" of Natal, the Orange Free State, and the 

 Transvaal, ranging into Matabili and Mashonaland. Bare in the 

 Karroo. 



