240 TURNICIDi! TUENIX 



— Gt. Namaqualand (Andersson) ; Portuguese East Africa — Senna 

 and Chicowa, September (Alexander). 



Habits. — The Kurrichane Hemipode seems to be everywhere 

 somewhat scarce ; it is found in the valleys among thick, dank 

 grass, near the water of pools or rivers, and, as a rule, is solitary, 

 never more than two being found together ; it runs with great speed 

 and lies very close, almost allowing itself to be trodden on rather 

 than rise on the wing ; its food consists of small seeds and insects. 



Apparently from the dates given it must be a partial or irregular 

 migrant, its movements probably depending on rain and the presence 

 of suitable food. 



Andersson noticed it only iu the rainy season, Symonds only in 

 April, at Kroonstad. Mr. Eriksson found a number of nests on the 

 Limpopo, in the Eustenburg district of the Transvaal, in December. 

 These were merely slight hollows in the ground lined with grass, 

 and contained four eggs in each case when incubation had com- 

 menced. The eggs were abruptly pointed, of a dirty, green-coloured 

 ground, densely spotted with indistinct purple, and light and dark 

 brown. 



Mr. Oates gives the measurements of '87 to -88 x -68 to72 in 

 the case of eggs taken in East Africa. 



669. Turnix nana. Natal Hemipode. 



Hemipodius nana, SundevaU, Oefvers. K. Vet. Alcad. Fork. 1850, 



p. 110. 

 Turnix hottentotta {nee Temm.), Shelley, Ibis, 1875. p. 85 [Natal] ; 



Sharpe, ed. Layard's B. 8. Afr. p. 607 (1884). 

 Turnix nana, Grant, Ibis, 1889, p. 463 ; id. Cat. B. M. xxii. p. 541 



(1893); Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 178 (1896); Grant, Game Bds. ii, p. 275 



(1897) ; Beichenow, Vdg. Afr. i, p. 308 (1900). 



Description. Adult Male. — General colour above, black, mottled 

 and barred with white and rufous ; the rump and upper tail-coverts 

 nearly pure black ; scapulars margined with golden-buff ; winc- 

 quills brown, the outer ones margined with white ; wing-coverts 

 chestnut, most of the feathers with subterminal or terminal bands 

 of black and white ; lores, sides of the head and nock, mottled 

 rufous and white ; chin and throat pure white ; chest rust colour ; 

 sides of the chest and flanks barred with black and white ; abdomen 

 white ; under tail-coverts pale buff; tail elongated and pointed. 



Iris brown ; bill horn ; upper mandible darker than the lower ; 

 legs and feet pale flesh. 



