IBIDID^ 



HAGEDASHIA 



101 



by a whitish band ; under tail-coverts and wing-coverts and 

 axillaries dusky-purplish, slightly metallic. 



Iris dark brown (with a narrow outer ring nearly white, 

 according to Ayres) ; bill black, the culmen crimson towards the 

 base ; legs dull red. 



Length about 30 ; wing 14-75 ; tail 6-5 ; culmen 5 25 ; tarsus 27 ; 

 middle toe and claw 2-9. 



The sexes are alike ; the nestlings are covered with nearly black 

 down. 



Fig. 28. — Head of Sagedashia hagedash. 



Distribution. — The Hadada is found throughout the whole of the 

 Ethiopian Region from Senegal, Kordofan and Somaliland south- 

 wards to Cape Colony. In South Africa this bird is apparently 

 confined to the well-wooded and watered districts of the south and 

 east coasts, and does not occur on the high plateau of the centre of 

 the country, nor did Andersson come across it in German South- 

 west Africa, although he met with it in the Lake Ngami region. 



The following are recorded localities : Cape Colony — Knysna 

 district (Sparrman, Victorin and Layard), Port Elizabeth division 

 (Sparrman and J. G. Brown), East London (Rickard and Wood), 

 Port St Johns (Shortridge) ; Natal — Ifafa River (Woodward), Pine- 

 town, Balgowan and Upper Mooi Eiver (Stark), Ingagane River and 

 Colenso (Reid) ; Transvaal — Vaal River, near Potchefstroom, very 

 rare (Ayres); Bechuanaland — Lake Ngami region (Andersson); 

 Portuguese East Africa — Urema River, near Beira (S. A. Mus.), 

 Zambesi River (Alexander). 



Habits. — During the winter the Hadada is gregarious, being 

 found in flocks of varying number ; these resort in the evening to 

 a special tree, usually one overhanging a river, to roost. It is then 

 fairly easy to approach them and shoot them, as they seldom leave 



