326 GLAEEOLIDa: EHINOPTILUS 



the outer pair white on the outer web throughout ; below, the chin, 

 flanks, abdomen and under tail-coverts white, the breast rufous- 

 brown, becoming richer posteriorly ; a patch of black in the centre 

 of the lower breast, under wing-coverts black, axillaries ashy-brown. 

 ^ Iris dusky to reddish-brown ; bill dusky, paler on the lower 

 mandible ; legs and feet white. Length about 8-0 ; wing 5'0 ; tail 

 1-75 ; culmen 0-8 ; tarsus 1-6. 



The sexes are alike. A young bird has a much paler crown, and 

 there are traces of mottling on the back. 



Distribution. — Temminck's, Courser, though far more widely 

 spread in Africa than ^urchell's, is certainly not so common in 

 South Africa. It has been found in the eastern half of the Colony, 

 in Natal, the Transvaal and Ehodesia, and in the south, at any rate, 

 appears to be a winter visitor only. Beyond our limits it is spread 

 over the greater part of Africa, ranging as far north as the Gold 

 Coast and Senegambia on the west, and to Kordofan and Abyssinia 

 on the east. 



The following are recorded localities : Cape Colony — Dagga- 

 boer's Nek in the Bedford division (Bxton), Port Elizabeth, April 

 to September (Brown), Peddie, March (S. A. Mus.), King William's 

 Town, May (Bt. Mus.) ; Natal — near Colenso (Eeid), Ivuna Eiver 

 in Zululand (Woodward) ; Transvaal — Komatipoort, January 

 (Francis in S. A. Museum), Macamac, July and Potchefstroom 

 April (Ayres) ; fairly common in Mashonaland (Marshall) ; German 

 south-west Africa — Ondonga, November (Andersson). 



Habits. — This bird does not appear to possess any special traits 

 of character distinguishing it from Burchell's Courser. It is not 

 known to breed in South Africa. 



Genus II. RHINOPTILUS. 



Type. 

 Rhinoptilus, Strichl. P. Z. S., 1850, p. 220 E. chalcopterus. 



Bill shorter than the middle toe, without claw, broad at the 

 base ; lower mandible not decurved throughout, but ascending 

 gently from the gonys to the tip ; wings long and pointed, the 

 first three primaries sub-equal, the second usually the longest; 

 tail short and square ; tarsus and toes as in Gursorius ; one or two 

 black transverse bands across the chest. 



Of this genus, which differs from Gursorius in only very slight 

 particulars, eight species are generally recognised, all confined to 



