PAEEID^ ACTOPHILUS 339 



below the gape, running through the eye and over the ear-coverts to 

 join its fellow from the other side and thence down the back of the 

 neck to the mantle ; rest of the face and neck white ; general colour 

 above rich chestnut, becoming maroon on the rump and tail ; wing 

 quills and primary coverts black, the latter and the inner secon- 

 daries with more or less rufous at the base and on the inner web ; 

 below including the axillaries and under wing-coverts maroon- 

 rufous ; the lower neck golden-yellow, separated from the rufous by 

 a row of black feathers forming an incipient transverse band. 



Iris blackish-brown ; crown of the head and basal half of the 

 bill leaden-blue, greyish towards the tip; legs and feet slate-coloured, 

 slightly darker on the feet and ankles ; a blunt spur on the first 

 metacarpal. 



Pig. 109. — Head of Actophihis africanus. x \^. 



Length about 10-0 ; wing 5*5 ; tail 1-7 ; culmen 1-25, to posterior 

 edge of frontal shield 2-0 ; tarsus 2-5 ; middle toe and claw 3-3. 



The sexes are ahke, the female being slightly larger, frontal 

 shield 2-2, tarsus 2-75, wing 6-0. 



A young bird has the crown and hind neck brown ; the back an 

 oily-brown ; the rump and tail dusky-brown and the breast and 

 lower parts white, with traces of the coining maroon. They pro- 

 bably only attain adult plumage at the second year. 



Distribution. — The Jacana is found throughout the greater part 

 of Africa from Senegal and Abyssinia southwards to Cape Colony. 



Within our area it is widely distributed where suitable condi- 

 tions exist, and appears to be specially abundant on the coast of 

 Natal and Zululand, along the Zambesi, and about the Okavango 

 River. It is not at all common in Cape Colony. 



The following are recorded localities : Cape Colony— Cape division, 



