CHAKADRIID.E 



HIMANTOPUS 



381 



Hiiuantopus liimantopus, Sliarpe, Cat. B. M. xxiv, p. 310 (1896) ; 



Shellei/, B. Afr. i, p. 193 (1896); licichcnow, Vbg. Afr. i, p. 207 



(1900). 

 " Roodepoot elsjc " (i.e., Red-legged cobbler's awl) of the Dutch. 



Description. Adult Male. — Mantle and wings black with a 

 greenish gloss ; all the rest of the plumage, including the axillaries, 

 pure white, except the tail-coverts and tail, which are a very pale 

 grey. 



Iris rose ; bill blackish ; legs and feet rose-pink. 



Length about 16-5; wing 95; tail 3-25 ; tarsus 4-8 ; culmen 2-5. 



A female has the mantle, scapulars and inner secondaries ashy- 

 brown instead of black. Young birds in their first plumage are like 

 the female, but have white tips to the inner wing-quills and the 

 crown of the head and nape brown or black, the amount of which 

 appears to vary considerably. 



Fig. 12.3. — Head of liimantopus candidus. x ]i. 



Distribution. — The Black- winged Siilt is a resident in Southern 

 Europe and Asia from Spain to Western China, but is only an 

 irregular visitor to Northern Europe and the British Islands. It is 

 spread all over Africa and Madagascar and breeds in suitable 

 localities. It is not a very common bird in South Africa and has 

 only been noticed in one or two isolated localities ; these are : Cape 

 Colony — Cape division, July, November (S. A. Mus.), Berg Eiver, 

 breeding in September (Layard), Zak Eiver in Praserburg (Bur- 

 chell) ; Natal— Durban, breeding (Woodward) ; Transvaal — Potchef- 

 stroom, July (Ayres) ; Bechuanaland — Ngami region, August 



