-> Fauna: Birds 



Mr. Maitland Pye-Smith in March, 1905. An account of this 

 bird is given by Mr. Chubb in the appendix. This web-footed 

 wading bird, related to woodcocks and snipe, is usually an 

 inhabitant of northern not to say Arctic regions, and its 

 occurrence in Africa had never been noted before. It was 



297. THE YELLOW-WATTLED SPUR-WINGED PLOVER (XIPHIDOPTERUS ALBICEPS) 



therefore remarkable to find it so far afield as Equatorial 

 Liberia a belated winter visitor, of course. 



Most of the West African types of the rail order are found 

 in this country, amongst them the aberrant and peculiar finfoot 

 (Podica senegalensis). This is a bird the size of a duck, with 

 a whitish breast and belly. The upper parts are brown, of 

 various shades, with a greenish black gloss on the shoulders 



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