18 IRRISORID.E 



RHINOPOMASTUS 



p. 52 [Eovi Eand] ; Symonds, Ibis, 1887, p. 328 [Kroonstad] ; Salvin, 

 Cat. B. M. xvi, p. 24 (1892) ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 113 (1896) ; 

 Sowerby, Ibis, 1898, p. 570 [Ft. Chiquaqua] ; Woodward Bros. 

 Natal Birds, p. 82 (1899) ; Alexander, Ibis, 1900, p. 100 [Zambesi] ; 

 Marshall, Ibis, p. 245 [Salisbury]. 



Irrisor cyanomelas, Layard, B. S. Afr. p. 73 (1867) ; Gurney, 

 Andersson's B. Damaraland, p. 67 (1872) ; Buckley, Ibis, 1874, 

 p. 366 [Bamangwato] ; Holub <& Pelz. Orn. Siid-Afrikas, p. 71 

 (1882). 



Description. Adult male. Crown and back glossy purple, wings 

 of a bluer shade ; across the primaries a white bar, always on the 

 inner web, usually on the outer web also of the inner primaries, 

 some of the inner greater coverts with white tips ; tail indigo blue, 

 strongly graduated, the outer two pairs of rectrices with white spots 

 at the tip of the feather ; below black throughout with hardly any 

 metallic gloss. 



Iris brown ; bill and legs almost black. 



Total length about 10-5 ; wing 4-4 ; tail 5-1 ; culmen 1-90 ; 

 tarsus 0-70. 



Female similar to the male but with the tips of the primaries 

 somewhat greyer and the throat somewhat browner. 



Young like the female but with the throat and chest quite brown. 



The amount of white on the wings and tail varies considerably 



with different individuals. A male from near Upington on the 



Orange river in the South African Museum has no white on the 



tail and wing-coverts at all. 



Distribution. This bird only comes just as far south as the 

 Orange Eiver Valley and is therefore not found in the greater part 

 of the Colony. It is rare in Natal but commoner in Zululand, and 

 from there is found throughout the country to the Zambesi. 



The following are the chief recorded localities : In Cape Colony 

 Colesberg, Griqualand West (whence came Burchell's type of 

 U. purpurea), Upington on the Orange river, and Kuruman ; Natal 

 Ladysmith and Eshowe ; Orange Eiver Colony Kroonstad ; 

 Transvaal the Marico and Lydenburg districts ; Bechuanaland 

 Kanye and Lake Ngami ; Rhodesia Tati, Fort Chiquaqua and 

 Zambesi-; Great Namaqualand and Damaraland to the Okavango. 



Beyond our limits the Scimitar-bill has been obtained in 

 Angola, Nyasaland and East Africa as far north as Kilimanjaro and 

 and Lamu. 



Habits. This bird seems to be somewhat a rare one throughout 

 South Africa and has not attracted very much notice ; it is found 



