358 CHARADRIID.E STEPHANIBYX 



Length 10'5 ; wing 8-5 ; tail 3-0 ; culmen 1-05 ; tarsus 2-35. 



A young bird has the whole head, including the forehead, brown 

 like the back, the throat and foreneck are also light brown and the 

 chest-band is not so distinctly marked. 



Distribution. The Black-winged Plover is found throughout 

 Eastern and Southern Africa, from Abyssinia southwards to Nyasa- 

 land and Cape Colony. It was first described by "Eiippell from 

 Jeddah on the Arabian coast of the Red Sea. Within our limits it 

 has hitherto only been noticed in Natal and the Cape Colony, where 

 it appears to be a resident. 



The following are recorded localities : Cape Colony Malmes- 

 bury, Mossel Bay and Grahamstown (S. A. Mus.), East London and 

 Port Elizabeth (Eickard), Elands Post (Atmore), Cathcart (Boulger), 

 King William's Town, April and May (Bt. Mus.) ; Natal Maritz- 

 burg, common (Fitzsimmons). 



Habits. Ayres is the only observer who has remarked on the 

 habits of this bird ; he states that it is found in open country and 

 away from the coast, and that it is a noisy bird with a loud harsh 

 note like that of the Green Bee-eater. It is bold and fearless, 

 circling round in the air above dogs and endeavouring, often success- 

 fully, to drive them away. 



An egg taken by Eickard from a bird shot near East London on 

 August 23, 1869, is in the South African Museum. It is some- 

 what elongated, conical and tapering, of a greenish- grey ground- 

 colour, moderately covered with darker and lighter purplish-brown 

 spots and blotches ; these are less abundant at the pointed end ; it 

 measures 1-7 x !!. 



/ ^' 



722. Stephanibyx inornatus. Swainson's Plover. 



Vanellus inornatus, Swains. B. W. Afr. ii, p. 239 (1837); SeeloJnn, 

 Ibis, 1887, p. 350 ; id. Geogr. Distr. Charadr. p. 225, with fig. (1888). 



Charadrius frontalis, Sundev. Oefvers. K. Vet. Akad. Fork. 1850, p. 110. 



Stephanibyx inornatus, Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 181 (1896) ; Shelley, 

 B. Afr. i, p. 188 (1896) ; Reichenoiv, Vog. Afr. i, p. 179 (1900). 



Description. Adult. General colour above brown with a slight 

 oily-greenish gloss ; a white patch on the forehead ; primary coverts 

 and wing-quills black, the inner primaries and the outer secondaries 

 tipped with white, the inner secondaries almost entirely white ; tail- 

 coverts and tail white, the middle feathers with a terminal black 

 band, the black decreasing to the outer pair of feathers which are 



