288 BIRDS OF SOUTH 



Genus (EDICNEMUS, Temrfinck. ^ Y / . 



Bill rather longer than the head, the culmen straight, with 

 the apical half arched and curved to the tip, the sides com- 

 pressed, and the gonys nearly half the length of the bill, 

 angulated, and advancing upwards to the tip ; the nostrils in 

 a subtriangular membranous groove, with the aperture 

 longitudinal and anterior ; wings of moderate length, pointed, 

 with the first quill shorter than the second, which is longest, 

 and the tertials the length of the quills ; tail moderate and 

 wedge-shaped ; tarsi lengthened, three or four times the 

 length of the middle toe, and covered with hexagonal scales ; 

 toes short, the inner shorter than the outer, and both united 

 to the middle one by a membrane at their base, especially 

 the outer ; the claws short and slightly curved. 



550. CEdicnemus Maculosus,* Temm., Less., 



Vol. 2, p. 337 ; Cuv., Vol. 3, p. 306 ; (Edic. Gapensis 

 Licht. ; Dikkop of Colonists. 



GROUND colour, pale- rufous, fading on the belly and part 

 of the wings into white, everywhere (with the exception of 

 the chin, and upper part of throat, which are pure white), 

 mottled with- dark-brown blotches, which become longitudinal 

 stripes on the neck, chest, and flanks ; under tail-feathers, 

 rufous and immaculate ; wing-quills, deep brown, approach- 

 ing to black, the first three crossed near the tips with a 

 white bar ; a few of the others tipped with whit* ; base of bill 

 and legs green ; eye yellowish-green, and very large. Length, 

 16" to 17"; wing, 9" 6'" ; tail, 5". 



Kaffraria and Cape Colony generally, arid Natal, frequenting open, 

 uiiwooded country. It feeds on seeds, insects, and small reptiles, and 

 lays, in a mere depression of the soil, unprotected by stone or bush, 

 two eggs of a light fawn-yellow ground, profusely spotted and blotched 

 throughout with brown of various shades: axis, 2" 1'" ; diam., 1" 6"'. 



The Sub-Family, CURSORIN^l, or Coursers, 



have the bill moderate, slender, with basal portion of the 

 culmen weak, and somewhat cultrated above the nostrils, 

 beyond which it is slightly arched to the tip ; the nostrils 

 lateral, placed in a short, subtriangular membranous groove, 

 with the opening longitudinal and exposed ; the wings 

 lengthened and pointed ; the tail short : the legs lengthened, 

 scutellated before and behind, and with only three slender 

 toes in front. 



* J. W. Grill includes (E. Scnegalensis, Sw., in the list of birds collected by 



Victorinein South Africa. ' n 



mention, but '"which I 

 Yic-torine. 



ica. I conclude it is the present species, which he docs opt 

 have seen in abundance in the localities frequented by M. 



