VANELLUS. 

 No geographical races of this species are known. 



223 



Charadrius coronatus, Boddaert, Tabl. PI. Enl. no. 800, p. 49 (1783). 



Charadrius atricapillus, Gmelin, Syst. Nat. i. p. 686 (1788). 



Pluvianus coronatus {Bodd.), Stephens, Shaw's Gen. Zool. xi. p. 488 (1819). 



Chettusia coronata {Bodd.), Gray, List Birds Brit. Mus. iii. p. 64 (1844). 



Hoplopterus coronatus {Bodd.), Gray, Genera of Birds, iii. p. 543 (1847). 



Vanellus coronatus {Bodd.), RUppell, Syst. Ueb. Vog. N.O.-Afr. p. 117 (1845). 



Vanellus dinghami, Verreaux, Rev. Zool. 1855, p. 220. 



Stephanibyx coronatus {Bodd.), -v 



„i , ., T 1 . ,Tr \ S-Bonap. Compt. Rend, xliii. p. 419 (1856). 



Stephambyx dmghami (Kerreawir), J ^ r- r \ i 



Variations. 



Synonymy. 



Plates.— Daub. PI. Enl. no. 800. 



Habits. — Sharpe, Layard^s Birds of S. Africa, p. 670. 



Eggs. — Harting, Proc. Zool. Soc. 1874, p. 456 ; Thienemann, Abbild. Vogeleiern, pi. Iviii. fig. 6. 



Literature. 



cal distribu- 

 tion. 



The Crowned Lapwing may be distinguished from the other species which, hke it, have Specific 

 neither wattle, spur, nor hind toe, by the crown-like arrangement of the colours of its head. " "^° ^^^ 

 In the adult bird the crown is black, surrounded by a white ring, which in its turn is again 

 encircled with black. A more reliable character, which appears to be constant at all ages, 

 is to be found in the colour of iYiQ primary-coverts, which are /or the most part lohite. 



The Crowned Lapwing is a resident in most parts of South Africa, but only on the Geo?raphi 

 " veldt " at a considerable elevation above the level of the sea. It is very common in 

 Benguela (Bocage, Orn. d' Angola, p. 426) ; it is widely diS'used throughout Damara-Land 

 and Great Namaqua-Iiand (Andersson, Birds of Damara-Land, p. 268). Layard records it 

 from various highlands throughout the Cape Colony ; it is common in the Orange Free 

 State (Barratt, Ibis, 1876, p. 191), and in the Transvaal (Buckley, Ibis, 1874, p. 387). 

 I met with it in flocks near Colenso in Natal. Mr. Frank Gates found it in the Matebele 

 Country, and Dr. Fischer obtained it in Masai-Land (Reichenow, Journ. Orn. 1887, p. 47), 

 which is the northern limit of its known range. 



It is difficult to say which species is most nearly allied to the Crowned Lapwing. The 

 white primary-coverts are a very curious character, which partially appears in V. leucurus 

 and in V. cayanus. In the former the inner primary-coverts have white bases, and in the 

 latter the innermost primary-covert is nearly white. Two species of Lobivanellus have 

 white primary-coverts, L. tectus and L. albiceps, so that possibly very great importance 

 cannot be attached to the character as denoting near affinity. 



It is possibly nearest related to F. melanopterus, of which it appears to be the western- 

 representative in South Africa. 



Ifearest 

 allies. 



