328 BIRDS OF SOUTH AFRICA. 



617. Recurvirostra Avocetta, Linn. ; PL Eni., 



353 ; " The Avoset" Bewick's Brit. Birds, p. 58. 



UPPER part df head and hind-neck, for half its length, 

 black ; the rest white, excepting some of the scapulars, the 

 smaller wing-coverts, and the primary quills and coverts, 

 which are black; legs and feet black, the latter partially 

 webbed ; bill black, very long, slender, and turned consider- 

 ably upwards. Length, 18"; wing, 9" 3'": tail, 3" 3"' ; 

 bill, 3" 3"'. 



Occurs periodically in the colony in small flocks. It does not 

 appear to be very shy, as many have been yearly procured on Zeekoe 

 Vley, on the Simon's Town and Wynberg road ; among them several 

 specimens in very young plumage. I cannot, however, hear of their 

 breeding here. Mr. Henry Jackson killed two or three specimens 

 near Joel's Poort in February, 1866 ; at the same time, Mr. W. Keal 

 procured some near Beaufort. What they could have been doing in a 

 country so far from the sea and so badly watered, is a mystery. They 

 only remained a few days in that locality, so were probably migrating. 



Genus HIMANTOPUS, Brisson. 



Bill much longer than the head, very slender and straight, 

 with the sides grooved to the middle, and compressed towards 

 the tip, which is acute ; the nostrils basal, and placed in the 

 groove, with the opening long, linear, and closed by a mem- 

 brane ; wings long and pointed, with the first quill the 

 longest ; tail short, arid nearly even ; tarsi very long, slender, 

 and covered in front with reticulated scales ; toes moderate, 

 and united at the base by a small membrane, especially the 

 outer toe ; the hind toe wanting ; the claws small, com- 

 pressed, and acute. 



618. Himantopus Candidus, Bonn.; PL 



878 ; Himantopus Melanopterus, Temm. ; Gharadrius 



Himantopus, Linn. ; The Black-ivinged Stiltplover, 



Bewick's Brit. Birds, Vol. 2, p. 6 ; H. Albicollis, Vieil. 



GENERAL colour, pure white; wings black; back with a 



small brown patch near the shoulders; tail tinged with 



brown ; in some phases of plumage the head and neck are 



also tinged with the same. This bird may at once be distin- 



guished from all our waders by the disproportionate length 



and slenderness of its legs, which are of a bright-red colour. 



Length, 15"; wing, 8" 9"'; tail, 3"J5'"; legs, 10". 



But one specimen has been obtained within the colony. It was 

 killed on the Cape Flats by Mr. Dumbleton, to whom I am indebted 

 for many rare birds, shot by his own hand. A pair were seen, but the 

 other escaped'. I hare seen this species very abundaatly in Ceylon, in 



