308 OTID^E OTIS 



A young bird has the crown dusky, freckled especially pos- 

 teriorly with pale rufous; the ear-coverts, lores and eyebrows are 

 pale tawny, the black patch on the throat is smaller and freckled 

 with white ; the fore-neck is not slaty-blue but tawny-rufous like 

 the hind-neck and slightly freckled with brown ; the central tail 

 feathers have three black cross-bars on a freckled ground ; the 

 outer rectrices have two cross-bars, the subterminal one, the broader, 

 and the basal portion and extreme tip of the feathers being slightly 

 freckled. Wing 10-5 ; tarsus 3-30. 



An examination of the specimens in the South African Museum 

 leads to the conclusion that the adult males and females are alike, 

 the younger birds are as described above. 



Distribution. This species is found over much the same area 

 as the Blue Knorhaan, from the central portion of the Colony to 

 the Transvaal, but not north of the Limpopo. 



The following are localities : Cape Colony Tarka division 

 (Krebs), Albany (S. A. Mus.), Mafeking division (Bryden) ; Natal 

 Ladysmith and Newcastle (Butler, Feilden and Eeid) ; Orange 

 Eiver Colony Vredefort Eoad (B. Hamilton) ; Transvaal Swazi- 

 land (Buckley), Potchefstroom (Ayres), Bank and Marico (S. A. 

 Mus.), Piet Eetief district, common, August (Crawshay in S. A. 

 Mus.) ; Bechuanaland Kanye (Exton). 



Habits. Butler states that this bird is the commonest of the 

 Knorhaans in the upper part of Natal ; he found it wild and diffi- 

 cult to approach. When they get up they utter a harsh note 

 resembling the words " Kuk-pa-wow," repeating the call several 

 times as they fly away ; the crop of one examined by Feilden was 

 full of insects, chiefly beetles. 



Capt. E. Crawshay, in the Field, states that he has found a 

 quantity of formic acid about the bills and feet of these birds, 

 and concludes that they feed on ants and termites. 



Ayres informs us that two eggs are laid by this Bustard in open 

 country under the shelter of a tuft of grass, and that they vary 

 considerably in colour and markings. 





^ 

 701. Otis kori. Gom Paauw. 



Otis kori, Burclicll, Travels, i, p. 393, sketch on p. 402 (1822) ; Euppell, 

 Mus. Senc~k. ii, p. 213, pi. 13 (1834) ; Murie, P. Z. S. 1868, p. 471 ; 

 Gates, Matabeleland, p. 326 (1881) ; Butler, Feilden and Eeid, Zool. 

 1882, p. 339 ; Sliarpe, ed. Layard's B. S. Afr. p. 632 (1884) ; Bryden, 

 Kloof and Karoo, pp. 306, 316 (1889) ; Distant, Nat. Transvaal, 



