294 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



of the tail, black ; bill greenish-yellow ; tip black ; wattles 

 yellow, attached at right angles to the beak, pendulus, nar- 

 row, pointed, 1" 6'" long ; wing- spur about an inch long. 

 Length, 13" ; wing, 8"; tail, 4". 



Found near the Buffel's River, teste Alexis Verreaux.- Hartb. loc. 

 cit. Sed non vidi. 



Dr. Smith says it does not extend into South Africa. Can M. 

 Verreaux have mistaken his H. Lateralis for it ? 



560. Hoplopterus Ooronatus ; 



Coronatus, Temrn., Vol. 2, p. 328 ; Shaw, Vol. 11, p. 

 489 ; Cuvier, Vol. 3, p. 316; C. Alexandrinus, Lath. ; 

 G. Atricapillus, Pen. Less., Vol. 2, p. 328 ; Kiew'it 

 of the Dutch Colonists. 



GENERAL colour above, grey-brown, glossed with purple ; 

 paler on the throat, and darkening on the breast, to a bold 

 black bar, which is succeeded by the pure white of the belly 

 and vent ; top of the head black, divided into two portions 

 by a pure white crown streak, which springs from the fore- 

 head, and passes round to the back of the head ; a white line 

 extends down the closed wings, the quills of which have 

 their inner webs more or less white ; tail-feathers white, 

 broadly barred at the ends with black ; "extreme tips white. 

 Length, 13" ; wing, 8" ; tail, 4" 6'". 



Scattered throughout the country in small parties, and frequenting 

 grassy places, where it subsists on worms and small insects. Its nest, 

 usually a mere depression in the soil, contains two, and sometimes 

 three eggs, of a deep greenish-brown ground, blotched with rather 

 coarse-brown and indistinct purple, chiefly in a ring at the obtuse 

 end: axis, 1" 9"'; diam., 15"'. 



During the day this bird does not stir about much ; but as soon as 

 the cool shades of evening fall on the earth, the " BLiewit " makes 

 known its presence by its loud plaintive call. This, with the pipe of 

 the " Dikkop," (M. Maculosus) and the wail of the jackal, are nearly 

 the only sounds that break the silence of the night about the solitary 

 dwelling of the Cape farmer. 



561. Hoplopterus Melanopterus, 



Atlas, T. 31. 



GENERAL colour of back, brown, with a purple gloss ; fore- 

 head, chin, belly, rump, thighs, vent, an,d stripe along the 

 wing, white ; wing-feathers and band p across the chest, black ; 

 back of head, neck, and chest, grey ; basal half and tip of 

 tail-feathers, white. Length, 10" 6'"; wing, 8" 9'" ; tail, 3" 8"'. 

 This Plover has been found at Natal, and is abundant in certain 

 circumscribed localities in the neighbourhood of Mossel Bay, where it 

 was procured by the Messrs. Atmore, who forwarded the only speci- 

 mens which have fallen under my notice. 



