A^ANELLUS LATERALIS. 



and fourth are a little shorter. Tail slightly rounded ; legs very long and 

 slender, the lower half of the thigh bare ; tarsus covered in front by transverse 

 plates, behind by several rows of scales ; toes rather short, the middle and 

 outermost connected at the base by a rudimentary web, hinder toe extremely 

 short ; immediately below the bend of the wing a short curved and pointed 

 spur. 



DIMENSIONS. 



Inches. Lines. 



Length from the point of the bill to 



the tip of the tail 13 6 



of the bill from the angle of 



the mouth 1 6 



of the wings when folded ... 9 



of the tail 4 



Length of the tarsus 



the outer toe 



the middle toe 



tlic hinder toe 



the carpal spur 



In ihefemale the back of the neck is scarcely if at all streaked with brown ; 

 in other respects the colors of both sexes are alike, only those of the female 

 are not quite so bright. 



Tills is the third African species of the genus Vanellus, witli which I am acquainted, that 

 lias the head ornamented with membranous wattles, and the only one which has yet, I believe, 

 been discovered south of the Equator; the other two, Vanellus alhicapillus, Vieillot,* and 

 V. albiceps, Gould,t are both of Northern Africa. Our species cannot be confounded with the 

 latter, though it may possibly require a little attention to distinguish it from the former. By 

 reference to the flanks and femoral coverts, we are at once furnished with the diagnostic 

 characters; in Vieillot's species, those are like the other parts of the belly, white; in the 

 South African species, they are of a very difierent hue, being a dark slate colour or even 

 bluish black. Should such differences, however, not be regarded as sufficient to establish them 

 as two species, numerous other peculiarities are to be leadily detected on a careful examination 

 of the two birds. 



Vanellus lateralis, as far as I know, lias never been found to approach the southern ex- 

 tremity of Africa ; it would appear to be an inhabitant of the south-east coast, and not to 

 extend its range west of Port Natal. When about to cross the U'Tugale river, some fifty miles 

 eastward of Port Natal, I observed two specimens feeding near to the edge of the water, both 

 of which were procured after great exertions. They manifested extreme watchfulness, always 

 kept upon the bare sand, and cautiously avoided approaching spots where thickets or any kind 

 of cover existed from which they might be shot. During their movements to and fro, they 

 carried their bodies erect and never indulged in any of those jerking motions, which we 

 observed constantly practised by all the species of Pluvianus. They were discovered to have 

 been feeding upon water insects, small molluscce, &c. 



* Vieillot, Gal. des Oisseaux, Plate 28G. 



t Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1836, p. 4o. 



