EALLID^ PULICA 271 



Dresser, B. Eur. vii, p. 328, pi. 504, fig. 1 (1879); Oates, Mata- 

 beleland, p. 324 (1881) ; Holub Sj- Pelz., Orn. Sud-Afr. p. 295 (1882) ; 

 Butler, Feilden ^ Beid, Zool. 1882, p. 426 ; Sharpe ed. Layard's 

 B. S. Afr. p. 621 (1884); Bryden, Own S Camera, p. 349 (1898); 

 Sharpe, Cat. B. M. xxiii, p. 215 (1894) ; FlecTc, Journ. Ornith. 1894, 

 p. 383 ; Shelley, B. Afr. i, p. 175 (1896) ; Woodward Bros., Natal 

 B. p. 171 (1899) ; Beichenow, Vog. Afr. i, p. 296 (1900) ; Oates, Cat. 

 B. Eggs, i, p. 130 (1901) ; Haagner, Ibis, 1902, pp. 574, 580; White- 

 head, Ibis, 1903, p. 235 ; Sharpe, Ibis, 1904, p. 8 [Deelfontein]. 



Description. Adult Male. — General colour throughout ashy, 

 becoming black on the head, neck and under tail-coverts, and 

 greyish-ashy on the abdomen. 



Iris red ; bill and frontal shield light blue ; the two rounded 

 fleshy knobs at its posterior edge reddish-brown to crimson ; legs 

 very dark green. 



Fig. 87. — Head of Fiilica cristata. x \i 



Length about 16-0, in flesh 16'75; wing 8-0; tail 2'0; tarsus 

 2-45 ; middle toe 3-80 ; culmen 2'4. 



The female resembles the male in plumage and does not appear 

 to differ in dimensions. 



A young bird is ashy-brown above, with white edges to some of 

 the feathers of the head and neck ; the lores, cheeks and throat are 

 white ; bill dusky, ashy-whitish at tip ; iris light ashy-brown ; the 

 fleshy knobs on the frontal shield are not nearly so large. 



A very curious pied variety, obtained in the neighbourhood of 

 Cape Town, by Mr. H. H. Hill and preserved in the South African 

 Museum, has the sides of the head and neck, chin and throat, a 



