OTID-E OTIS 303 



Lissotis melanogaster, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 306 (1894) ; Wood- 

 ward Bros., Natal B. p. 177 (1899) ; Marshall, Ibis, 1900, p. 263 ; 

 Oates, Cat. B. Eggs, ii, p. 366 (1902). 



" Unofunjwa " of Natal Zulus (Woodward). 



Description. Adult Male. General colour above dark brown, 

 the feathers vermiculated with pale sandy and dark brown, the 

 latter colour forming conspicuous round or arrow-shaped patches on 

 most of the feathers; crown of the head buff, slightly freckled 

 with black, becoming sandy-buff posteriorly, separated from the 

 ear-coverts and nape by a line of black, bordered within by an 

 obscure line of white, ear-coverts and neck all round pale sandy- 

 freckled buff; chin and throat black with a greyish tinge; this con- 

 tinued as a narrow line down the neck to the breast ; lesser wing- 

 coverts like the back, but paler, others, except those of the primaries, 

 white ; those along the ulnar portion and bend of the wing, pure 

 white, the others slightly banded with black ; primaries, primary 

 coverts and outer secondaries, black ; the coverts banded and 

 freckled at the tips with white; the inner primaries and outer 

 secondaries with a good deal of white, especially on the inner webs ; 

 tail-feathers freckled dark brown and buff, with three or five narrow 

 transverse bands of brown, the outer pair almost pure black ; a 

 patch of white on either side of the breast ; rest of the under parts, 

 including the under wing-coverts and axillaries, black ; wing-quills 

 partly black and partly white below. 



Iris light brown, darker towards the centre ; bill pale yellow ; 

 culmen dark brown ; legs and feet yellowish-brown. 



Length about 20 - 0; wing 15-0; tail 8-0; tarsus 5-25; culmen 

 1-55. 



The female resembles the male on the upper surface, but is more 

 profusely spotted with sagittate spots of black, relieved by a creamy- 

 white line, which borders the black spots and brings them into 

 strong relief; head blackish spotted with sandy-buff; eyebrows, sides 

 of the face and ear-coverts also sandy-buff, with no black on the face 

 or sides of the crown ; chin and upper throat white ; lower throat 

 and chest sandy-buff, minutely freckled with blackish ; feathers of 

 the breast with longitudinal lines and spear-shaped markings of 

 black ; rest of the under surface white, tinged with sandy-buff, with 

 large blotches of black along the sides of the body ; under wing- 

 coverts black, barred with white ; axillaries black. 



Distribution. This Knorhaan, which was first met with in 

 Abyssinia by Riippell and described by him some years later, is 



