CHARADRIID^ LOBIVANELLUS 347 



hind toe about 0-35. The female is smaller ; wing about -8-5 ; 

 tarsus 3*25. 



Distribution. The Wattled Plover was first described by Sir A. 

 Smith, who obtained a single example on the banks of the lower 

 Tugela River in Natal. There is only one notice of its occurrence 

 in Cape Colony, which is perhaps due to error, but it becomes more 

 abundant north of the Vaal, and is common in Rhodesia, Northern 

 Bechuanaland and Ovampoland, especially in the wet season. 

 Beyond our limits it extends to Angola, Nyasaland and German 

 East Africa, as far as Victoria Nyanza. The following are locali- 

 ties : Cape Colony Port Elizabeth (Rickard) ; Natal Tugela River 



FIG. 113. Head of Lobivanellus lateralis. x |i. 



(Smith), Zululand (Millar); Transvaal Potchefstroom, April, 

 August, December (Ayres), Swaziland (Hutchinson) ; Bechuana- 

 land Lake Ngami, rainy season (Andersson) ; Rhodesia Khami 

 River, near Bulawayo (S. A. Mus.), Upper Zambesi (Holub), Fort 

 Chiquaqua, rainy season (Sowerby) ; German South-west Africa 

 Okavango River and Ondongo, rainy season (Andersson) ; Portu- 

 guese East Africa Zambesi (Kirk and Alexander). 



Habits. The Wattled Plover is, so far as our present know- 

 ledge goes, only a migrant during the rainy season, between October 

 and March, to our region. It is generally found in small flocks, 

 though sometimes seen singly or in pairs ; it haunts flats near rivers 

 and vleis, where it searches for beetles and other insects and small 

 mollusca, on which it preys ; it is a roving bird, circling round like 



